The things you find when moving... Iggy's GQ article

A former co-worker of mine is moving, and came across this the other day... it's the 1990 British GQ article entitled "Why is this man smiling?" about Michael Ignatieff. Interesting stuff... seems that his ivory tower aloofness and arrogance is just who he is.







UPDATE: Well, seeing that Macleans.ca has picked up on this post, I'd like to welcome all the visitors coming over from there. I'll post my response to Mr. Wherry's somewhat personal attack in his post...

Mr. Wherry, while I appreciate the increased traffic sent to my post, I do think your comments are somewhat unfair... I posted the article in the context of "well isn't that an interesting coincidence" because my co-worker, in all honesty, just happened to come across a copy of the article in question that he's had filed away for years as he's packing up to sell his house. For the record, he's not a political animal of any sort, but he thought I'd find it of interest. In the present context of Ignatieff's installation as Liberal leader, of course it's of interest!

In reading the article, the one thing that struck me was the first page, specifically the parts about his being aloof and a somewhat "snobby" intellectual. I think it's highly relevant, as Canadians are in the process of "getting to know" Michael Ignatieff, to point out that some of the things people have been saying about him are no different than things that people who've known him have been saying about him for years, and years, and years... that he's aloof, and not a very personable fellow.

Of course, I did also read with interest his recounting of helping out that elderly gentleman with his groceries... and good for him for doing that. Instead of simply relying on the Government to take care of the less fortunate, he got his hands dirty and chipped in himself. That's great, but having done that sort of thing myself for years, it didn't jump out at me as something extra-ordinary to comment on... aren't we, or at least shouldn't we be, all doing this sort of thing regularly anyway? Are you telling me that this is somehow unusual for people to do? It's certainly not amongst the Christian and conservative circles I hang amongst.

As for being aloof and cerebral, if memory serves, is the same thing that the Liberals have been commenting on negatively about Mr. Harper for years. Of course, it's a point I disagree with, as seen at the Q&A session the PM had in Cambridge, which few in the media covered. The PM was quite personable, and having met him a few times myself, he's not the cold fish that you folks in the media make him out to be.

Even though you brought attention to the article by attacking me personally, I suppose I should at least be grateful for the fact that at least you're bringing further attention to the unknown person of Michael Ignatieff, rather than sticking with the sickening media love-in we've been seeing for weeks since his installation as leader.

UPDATE II: Guess I should have posted this the other day, totally forgot... Aaron and I cleared it all up via e-mail, and I'm happy to say that it turns out I was just a little over sensitive about the whole thing.