Oddly Enough Blog

News, but not the serious kind

Saving face in economic disaster…

By Robert Basler
April 20, 2010
humor | photography

GREECE-FINMIN/

Memo to photo staff:

Okay, we all know the Greek economy is, to use a very technical term, going down the toilet.

greek finmin vertical combo 200Greece needs the world’s help and support, in large part because I’m thinking of going there on vacation in a few months and I want it back to normal.

I personally believe the more readers see Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou in the news, the more upset they get, so I’m proposing a somewhat radical shift in coverage.

Let’s stop showing the guy’s full face. His name is already too long to use in headlines, and if folks stop recognizing his face, pretty soon they will stop obsessing.

Johnson, I want you to cover Papacons… Papa… this guy’s news conference today, but no matter what, I don’t want to be able to identify him.

Get creative! I don’t care if you have to use a Lone Ranger mask, just don’t show his whole face anymore!

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Top: Greece’s Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou listens to reporters’ questions during a news briefing in Athens April 11, 2010. REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis

Middle: Papaconstantinou gestures during a news conference at an Ecofin meeting in Madrid April 17, 2010. REUTERS/Andrea Comas

Bottom: Papaconstantinou drinks coffee at the start of Eurogroup meeting in Madrid April 16, 2010. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

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Comments
9 comments so far | RSS Comments RSS
Apr 20, 2010
12:51 pm UTC

All this time I thought he changed his name to Papa Istanbul not Constantinople.

Posted by Billl | Report as abusive
 
Apr 20, 2010
1:09 pm UTC

Yeah but then everyone will just recognize him from that monsterous five-head of his!

Posted by iflydaplanes | Report as abusive
 
Apr 20, 2010
1:58 pm UTC

Billl, even Old New York was once New Amsterdam.

:P

E.

Posted by egeria | Report as abusive
 
Apr 20, 2010
3:45 pm UTC

Papa… That doesnt sound greek!

Posted by Shra | Report as abusive
 
Apr 20, 2010
4:25 pm UTC

Hey, in that first picture – let’s just call him Killroy, or possibly Papa Killroy.

Posted by zeitgeist | Report as abusive
 
Apr 21, 2010
4:44 am UTC

Come on, be fair. He’s only doing what he can to cover up the “Teabagged By Goldman” tattoo.

Posted by HBC | Report as abusive
 
Apr 21, 2010
9:55 am UTC

Zeitgeist, are you sure Papaconstantithingy doesn’t mean Killroy in Greek? I wouldn’t know, it’s all greek to me!

Posted by justM | Report as abusive
 
Apr 21, 2010
2:19 pm UTC

We must never make fun of miseries, unless they aren’t ours… ;-)

Posted by fwd079 | Report as abusive
 
Apr 21, 2010
6:39 pm UTC

That is exactly what a lot of reality television shows are for fwd. :)

Posted by iflydaplanes | Report as abusive
 

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