I’ll remark on this. Bush doing a sideswipe attempt at massaging German Chancellor Andrea Merkel’s shoulders. Mediagirl points to Majikthise and she points to others.
The first pic I saw of George’s affront was Merkel raising her arms and throwing his hands off in indignation. Saw that “I’m looking elsewhere, not really doing anything here, nothing’s happened” expression on GB’s face and thought, “Jeez, he pulled this? On the world stage? On a Chancellor? He’s pulled the, “This means nothing, I did nothing, see I’m cool, she’s the one turning nothing into a big deal” look away look away expression on which is the signal to all to ignore but take note?
Because it is so true what Majikthise writes,
Every woman will recognize the guy who sidles up and starts “casually” giving you a backrub without even looking at you, because he wants to preserve deniability in case you freak out. Like any practiced groper, Bush stares right past Merkel as she recoils from his touch.
The play fails, but he just moves on, eyes averted, like it’s her problem. (“Oh my God, there’s a hysterical woman displaying inappropriate behavior! I’ll just pretend I don’t notice her egregious gaffe.”)
Have you had this happen to you? I’ve had it happen to me, and recognized it right off, no pics even seen yet of George’s hands on Merkel’s shoulders, just her “What? No!” expression alongside his “Nothing happening here, no matter what crazy face she’s making”.
Which is the interesting part to me, that this maneuver has the built in script of, “I just exposed the crazy lady, she’s the one making the fuss over my casual attempt to be friendly, I’ll just move right along without comment, it’s obvious who’s not to be trusted here if she can’t take a little take-down groping and keep her mouth shut about it” .
Majikthese has pointed to Idealistic Pragmatist discussing this in cultural terms between nations.
Far from showing his great “love” for the chancellor, what this event really illustrates is Bush’s appalling insensitivity to the fact that not everybody else’s culture is just like his own. In Germany, this will be perceived not as a joke, but as a man showing a woman her place. Don’t look so shocked, Mr. President–there are actually places in the world where you don’t get to massage the shoulders of a woman (and a fellow world leader) whom you barely know.
Not just a cultural nation-to-nation faux pas though when women look at the pictures and feel their hair stand on end, recognizing the maneuver. The few times I’ve had this happen I’ve felt an attempt at authority being expressed and an attempt at subjecting you, yet also always a muddled question in the hands, they never being quite sure what you’re going to do, thus the sideswipe approach. Long ago I used to think of it as a one-on-one interaction, a sort of test drive. But it is a public thing and so I eventually saw in it a signal being sent to the rest of the group.
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