Liz’s Notebook: ‘Selfie with hijacker’ says it all about world

Ben Innes took what he called the “selfie of a lifetime” on Tuesday.

The British citizen was among those taken hostage that morning by Seif Eldin Moustafa, an Egyptian-American man who donned a fake suicide vest and took the Alexandria-to-Cairo flight off-course to see his ex-wife in kids and Cyprus.

And, though Innes was scared at first because hello, this is a hijacking, the odds aren’t in your favor, sir, he decided to go for it anyway.

Because this is the world we live in.

For his effort, we all get to see what happens to a man’s face when he tries to pretend that taking a photo with a hijacker is a sane and normal thing to do. Turns out, we’ve seen the look before. I believe it’s called “The Garfield Grin.”

Innes is getting beaten up today by the usual Weigh-in From the Outraged, but I support his effort.

Why not take a selfie with a hijacker?

Sure, OK. It’s not actually a selfie ... Innes’ arms are clearly both present in the photo so I’m not even sure why we’re calling this a “selfie.” You have to take a selfie yourSELF in order to qualify for this title. But also, yeah. I get it. You shouldn’t take a selfie with a hijacker because “don’t anger the hijacker.” He could maybe blow up the plane and hurt everyone.

Selfies with hijackers, though, are simply the new selfies with tigers, selfies with alligators, selfies at funerals ... just another dangerous, inappropriate and ego-driven thing for us to do to temporarily elevate our standing and put ourselves at the center of whatever action is happening.

But unlike those other selfies, Innes’ “selfie” gave me a tiny moment of satisfaction, like seeing Bugs Bunny comically kiss Elmer Fudd during Fudd’s pursuit of him. It says “Come on, man. This is silly. You’re not going to win.”

It’s a double absurdity happening at once: Innes’ notion that this moment is a good one for this and the fact that the plane is being hijacked in the first place.

And it is an absolute perfect portrait of humanity as it exists in this moment.

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 10:38 AM with the headline "Liz’s Notebook: ‘Selfie with hijacker’ says it all about world."