Something in Ron Jr. speech just hit me...Re: "thumbs up." [View All]

I realize this is a longshot, but it's one of those things that make you go "hmmmm.." :crazy:

Remember during the invasion of Iraq and so many Iraqis were giving the "thumbs up" signal?

There was discussion here and elsewhere (but naturally not in the mainstream media) that this might be the oppoosite than the show of support that we interpreted it as. There were reports that in some Arab cultures, the "thumbs up" gesture is actually a gesture of contempt and defiance, like our version of the middle finger.

Perhaps it's a coincidence (or my English-major literary analytical past coming back to haunt me) but something in Ron Jr. speech yesterday struck me as a possible reference to that.

Was Ron Jr. making a very subtle and veiled dig at the Iraq war, using those leftie discussions regarding that? Or is my imagination making connections where connections don't really exist?
I dunno. Maybe it's just coincidence or synchronicity. Or grasping at straws for relief from the endless lovefest in the media.

Whatever, it's interesting possibility.



From speech:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040612/ap_on_re_us/reagan_ron_reagan_text_1

"He was, as you know, a famously optimistic man. Sometimes such optimism leads you to see the world as you wish it were as opposed to how it really is. At a certain point in his presidency, Dad decided he was going to revive the thumbs-up gesture. So he went all over the country, of course, giving everybody the thumbs up.


(UNINTELLIGIBLE) and I found ourselves in the presidential limousine one day returning from some big event. My mother was there and Dad was, of course, thumbs-upping the crowd along the way, and suddenly, looming in the window on his side of the car, was this snarling face. This fellow was reviving an entirely different hand gesture. And hoisted an entirely different digit in our direction. Dad saw this and without missing a beat turned to us and said, "You see? I think it's catching on."

End snippet