Short People Are Evil

Today's Vancouver Sun lamented Canada's failure to gain a seat on the UN Security Council, beaten out by Germany and Portugal. One of the staff writers referred to Portugal as an "afterthought nation of just 10 million," which I thought was a little rude. A spokesperson for policy thinktank Rideau Institute referred to the failure to win the seat as "Canada's Hindenburg moment," attributing the vote to "Canada's dismal performance on climate change, foreign aid, peacekeeping, asbestos, reproductive rights and the Middle East." All sounds very Amerika-lite to me, but the Hindenburg comment did bring back fond memories of this picture:

Speaking of pictures, this one from the Sun:

struck me not only as highlighting what a diverse bunch people are, but also as depicting with great impact the emotional state of this crowd in Copiapo, Chile, as they watched the first of the long-trapped miners emerge from the rescue pod. Originally it was the guy in the upper left corner who caught my eye, with his round face, high collar and happy-clapping upper-teeth-only joyousness, but the longer I looked the more the guy in the lower right stole the limelight. Not the orgasmic guy with the sombrero in the middle; the guy to his left / our right. The little one. The evil dwarf midget one, with the clasped hands and the hairless noggin. What strikes me most about him is that even he - long steeped in evil, sidekick of some horrendous mad scientist guy, hardened to deeds that would make even Josef Fritzl or Graeme Capill blanch - is showing some very raw, near-transcendental elation. Hard to reconcile that he's going to leave this happy crowd with a young girl in tow, take her back to the underground lair, and immobilise her with leather straps and metal buckles for his master to use as an unwilling plaything and/or experimental subject*.

Fact: Short people = evil.

* = Ralphus has details. And feets.