The state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar is not known for its stellar headlines.
They are bad for a variety of reasons, but normally the reason is simple: the story is not much of a story so the headline writer is left scrambling to make it sound interesting.
Example from today’s paper: “Waw farmers face watermelon woes.”
So someone was either trying to jazz things up a bit or get a little poetic after this week’s tragic plane crash in Naypyitaw, which killed five members of the armed services.
The result? “TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN”
Hard to believe, but that is the main headline on the front page of the newspaper this morning.
The phrase, derived from Greek mythology and the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun on wings constructed with wax, which melted and sent him plummeting to his death, implies that the people on board were somehow responsible for their own demise because of their own hubris.
It is hard to explain no matter what way you look at it. But the message is clear: Never get poetic after plane crashes.
