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]