The velocity of instant fame overtakes a pair of different men this weekend.
Barack Obama eulogizes an American who “laid down his life for his friends, Libyan and American–and for us all” after the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, killed in Benghazi during an attack on the U.S. consulate over snippets of an anti-Muslim film online.
Chris Stevens, the President says, “was everything America could want in an ambassador, as the whole country has come to see–how he first went to the region as a young man in the Peace Corps…how he believed in Libya and its people and how they loved him back.”
“The world needs more Chris Stevenses,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton adds.
In a murkier world, renown is trying to catch up with the maker of the movie that killed Stevens and three colleagues.
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a 55-year-old Coptic Christian activist, is being questioned in California after false reports that it was produced “with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors.” It turns out that film permits were issued to a group called “Media for Christ,” headed by a Christian from Egypt.
It will take time to untangle the truth about the apparent violator of parole for bank fraud and convicted drug manufacturer, but Nakoula or whoever he really is will eventually be unmasked and given his hard-earned 15 minutes of insane fame.
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