First and foremost, because the photograph is not a selfie.
Somewhere along the line, the definition of a selfie – a photograph taken with one’s camera phone by oneself and including oneself in the image – has been bastardized to encompass any old photo of oneself, preferably with someone notable.
The photograph above, if you don’t know, pictures a 26-year-old British man, Ben Innes, right, and Seif Eldin Mustafa, who is credibly alleged to have hijacked an EgyptAir flight yesterday. During an ensuing hostage standoff, Innes asked a flight attendant to translate his request to Mustafa that they pose for what Innes and countless headline writers would later contend “has to be the best selfie ever.”
Not even close.
The unnamed flight attendant, who is not pictured, took the photo, making it in no way a selfie, never mind the best ever, though it may indeed be the best photo ever of a hostage mugging it up with a hijacker wearing a fake bomb belt.
Selfie. Self-ie. What part of that is hard to understand?
(Update, March 31: Seem the flight attendant did more than just take the picture above, she got in on the act. Mashable has passenger video.)
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