Who's Feeding the Bin Laden Legend?
/Robin Hood and not Osama Bin Laden is the most celebrated outlaw in the
English-speaking world. Part reality and part fantasy, Robin Hood has
been written into children's stories and adult poems, portrayed on the
stage and in movies, examined and reexamined in scholarly research.
Even in the realm of law, Robin folk tales raise intriguing questions
about law and lawlessness. Is Robin Hood a good lead to understanding
Osama Bin Laden? At first blush, any comparison between (Ro)bin Hood
and Bin Laden seems odd, most certainly to the English-speaking world
for whom 'Bin Hood is a romantic robber whereas Bin Laden is a despised
terrorist. The comparison might also displease Muslim militants who see
Bin Laden as a spiritual sheikh fighting the crusaders. In the realm of
manufacturing legends, however, the similarities between the two
outlaws are so real and so fantastic that very little brush work is
needed to draw them together. [more]
