Final Word from Tuesday, May 3, 2011
In the teaser for its late-night news program yesterday, Czech TV asked, "What isbehind the fact that not a single official photograph of [Osama bin Laden's] bodyhas been released. And why was he cast into the sea?" In the actual news broadcast,ČT didn't dwell on the conspiracy issue, but it did give some airtime to the claimby Václav Klaus's deputy chief of staff, Petr Hájek, that bin Laden is merely a mediafiction who never existed as we were made to see him. Hájek's view is presumablyshared by many of the Czechs who question the official version of 9/11, which somepolls have put at greater than 70% of respondents. Conspiracy theorists are usuallydismissed as crackpots, but they are in many cases merely a logical product of thegrowing mistrust of government. Czechs have learned with great chagrin that democracyis no guarantee of a government that can be trusted, respected or believed.
Glossary of difficult words
teaser - a short introductory advertisement for a show or product;
to cast - to throw something forcefully in a specific direction;
to dwell on something - to think, speak, or write at length about something;
crackpot - an eccentric or foolish person;
chagrin - annoyance, irritation, displeasure.