Anderson Cooper: "The Fact Is, I'm Gay." (Now, Fire Tank!)

If you follow Daily Dish, you know Sullivan and Co. love to post photos and to also think about what they mean. Given that fact, and because Sullivan was the one to reach out to Anderson Cooper, and then publish his “big deal-not a big deal” coming out statement, there was no way I could pass up mentioning the photos accompanying the post.

In the picture above, and in the one below, the second of three, we see Anderson as the solitary, badass figure in a war zone.

So the obvious question is, given Cooper’s news, why is it that The Dish chose to illustrate it with the most heroic, the most stereotypically manly and (given the erect cannon, and the placement and location of the video camera) the most phallic power-pics they could find?

I’m actually of two minds as to why. On the one hand, I’m thinking that defenses don’t break down overnight and that Team Sullivan, perhaps feeling a little awkward and responsible (even exposed?) for drawing Anderson out, instinctively went the Hemingway route in their photo edit to emphasize that Anderson is still that man you and his network want on the scene when all hell breaks loose. The other possibility, I think, would be way too bold. In that scenario, the pictures, especially the first one, qualify largely as camp, ironically playing up the fact a barely-closeted Cooper could have been identified for a dashing masculinity all those years.

By the way, the credit on the post reads: “photos courtesy of Anderson Cooper and CNN.” So perhaps it was CNN that picked the pics and the overcompensation is actually their issue?