Rhetorical Outbursts

Wolf Blitzer’s interview of CNN-founder Ted Turner this week was unbelievable. In his comments about North Korea, Turner demonstrated a remarkable combination of ignorance, naivete, and above all, narcissism. The net effect of his performance was to dismiss the horrific human suffering that plagues the North Korean people:

And I was really over there to try and persuade North and South Korea to make the DMZ into an international peace park when, when they sign a peace treaty, which I anticipate will be fairly soon, now that we have the six-party talks, we have agreement there. But I had a great time. I am absolutely convinced that the North Koreans are absolutely sincere.

Blitzer asks,”But this is one of the most despotic regimes and Kim Jong Il is one of the worst men on Earth. Isn’t that a fair assessment?”

Well, I didn’t get, I didn’t get to meet him, but he didn’t look, in the pictures that I’ve seen of him on CNN, he didn’t look too much different than most other people.”

Blitzer tries again, “But look at the way, look at the way he’s, look at the way he’s treating his own people.”

Well, hey, listen. I saw a lot of people over there. They were thin and they were riding bicycles instead of driving in cars, but ah

Blitzer interrupts, “Lot of those people are starving.”

I didn’t see, I didn’t see any, I didn’t see any brutality in the capital or out in the, on the DMZ.

I had a great time!?! Thin and riding bicycles?!? Just think about the level of narcissism that takes. If Ted Turner didn’t see it, it didn’t happen. People may say the guy is a sadistic, psychopathic, genocidal dictator, but Ted Turner can’t make a judgement about all that because Ted Turner hasn’t met him.

I wonder, since Ted can tell so much from a photograph of the “Dear Leader,” if he would think that this child looks “too much different than most other people.”