Burundi's Almost Overthrown President Playing Football

There is a report on BBC, complete with photographs showing the almost overthrown president of Burundi playing football even as his country goes up in flames. I am just not quite sure what to make of it. Perhaps for the president, nothing is as important as his physical health, not even the health of his country. He will therefore not sacrifice his physical health to look after the health of the country. After all, of what good is a sick president to a country?

What we see here is a microcosm of the larger issue of this man's focus on himself, the narcissism that is now throwing his country in turmoil. The image of the president, or more importantly, the body of the president, is more important than the body of the state. Or perhaps the body of the president is the body of the state so that when the body of the president can play football, it means that the body of the state is at peace. Following this reading of what is going on, the president does not see any difference between himself and the state, which explains why he thinks that he should remain president even though people are rejecting his bid. His equation of himself with the state makes it difficult for him to understand why people are protesting against his rapacity. It is a strange site to behold, a president playing while his country is in turmoil. It says a lot about why he should not be president even if he were to be legitimately elected.

Ecce Homo! (Photo from BBC Web page)