In case you hadn't heard, US Vogue ran a glamorized profile on Syrian First Lady Asma Assad back in March of 2011, just before the uprising began, called "A Rose in the Desert." With her flowery language and general verbosity, you'd think writer (and former Vogue Paris EIC) Joan Juliet Buck was assigned a fluff piece. It wasn't until after the article ran that Vogue realized they made a grave mistake. Even then, Buck granted NPR an interview just months ago where she assured us that she regretted the positive light she handed to them.
I don't think I should have gone near the Assads. I think that Vogue is always on the lookout for good-looking first ladies because they're a combination of power and beauty and elegance. That's what Vogue is about. And here was this woman who had never given an interview, who was extremely thin and very well-dressed and therefore, qualified to be in Vogue.
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You hear that, ladies? If you're beautiful and, of course, extremely thin, it doesn't matter if you have a brain. Nor does it matter what you use that brain for, be it perfecting your “determined swath cut through space with a flash of red soles” or upholding the oppression of an entire country. Apparently the real news here is that Anna Wintour finally addressed everything that's going on in Syria, saying:
We were hopeful that the Assad regime would be open to a more progressive society. Subsequent to our interview, as the terrible events of the past year and a half unfolded in Syria, it became clear that its priorities and values were completely at odds with those of Vogue. The escalating atrocities in Syria are unconscionable and we deplore the actions of the Assad regime in the strongest possible terms.
Nice day-late-dollar-short attempt at damage control, Anna! What do you think about Buck's repsonse? Was Anna's any better?
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