In Iran, the president isn't what a president is in the United States. Ahmedinijad isn't the alpha dog of Iran; that would be Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mahmoud, with his mangy beard and 80's vintage polyester jacket looks more like a cab driver or someone who hustles bags at JFK on weekends for a few extra bucks. It even seems as though he's a comparative liberal back home on issues like women's rights, so it's not surprising that Iranians wonder why we pay so much attention to him.
He's good at what he does however and what he does is push American hot buttons to the same effect as kids tossing peanuts at the primate house until the apes get hysterical and start shrieking and tossing dung. He's an expert in rattling our cage. So just what do we do with Ahmadinejad when he gets here? We don't have the discipline to ignore him and he knows it. Do we let him talk? Do we let him visit the holy hole in the ground? Do we let him control the situation?
Libby at Newshoggers suggests that we arrange to have some half naked college girl lay a big smooch on old stubbleface and maybe blow his chance for paradise -- or maybe worse: a young man in a tight speedo. ( I would suggest red with sequins) Perhaps a toilet paper parade or mass moon-in would send him home without that trademark smirk, but I have little doubt that we will play along with his game by hooting and flinging banana peels and making him feel important.
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5 comments:
You wouldn't suggest that any other world leader receive such disrespectful treatment. Why him?
Stop falling for the propaganda you dedicate this blog to debunking.
There are any number of world leaders to whom I wouldn't mind showing substantially more disrespect, including our domestic crew.
Of course arranging for a kiss on the cheek isn't half as disrespectful as our official position or the opinions of our hysterical countrymen nor is it to be taken as more than an obvious joke.
I'm always in favor of dialog, official and unofficial and I'm advocating here that we grant him entry and the right to be heard, even though most Americans say we shouldn't and while he would hardly reciprocate and allow me to make speeches in Iran. I'm advocating that we just leave him alone and not make a fuss and either listen or not listen as we prefer - I think that's respect enough.
I don't have warm feelings about governments that treat women as chattel and that hang homosexuals and deny liberty of most every kind to their citizens or that pronounce sentences of death on writers and cartoonists and newspaper editors and although I'm well aware of our history with Iran, none of it justifies the actions of the current government against its own people.
In fact I think I may be on the side of many Iranians for disrespecting him and his bloody handed totalitarian theocracy. Would it even be possible for me to survive in Iran? Do you think his government respects me? How then is there a burden placed to me to show deference as though he deserved more dignity than he allows his own citizens?
And of course if some Americans wave signs and shout rude taunts, I'm not doing that but instead seeking to have respect for ourselves and retain our own dignity and not act like monkeys as we so often do -- but we're still not taking him prisoner, are we, or placing death sentences on anyone for insulting our various and jealous gods or questioning the State Religion.
Perhaps while he's here, he will apologize for disrespecting and kidnapping our diplomats and to Salmon Rushdie. If and when he does, I will show him more respect.
Would it even be possible for me to survive in Iran?
I dunno. Is that the operative question? Why do you believe that is a concern?
In my view, the operative question is why this guy is branded as Hitler on the front page news, juvenile idiots in the blogosphere suggest mocking his religious beliefs, while Saudi leaders - who are far more tyrranical and oppressive than anything Iran could ever do - attend American universities, buy property all over the country and have greater access to our leaders than Americans do are given a free pass without a peep of protest.
Not a peep from the juvenile hypocrites.
The Saudi Royals are friends of the Bush cartel and the bin Laden family has helped George financially. They have made the two Georges wealthy just as Hitler made old Prescott Bush wealthy.
I don't think I have shown favoritism when it comes to trashing prince Bandar, for instance. But he moves around quietly, bestowing gifts and favors and receiving them without making speeches or getting the public riled up. I'm very aware that they are terrorist supporters and tyrants and of the hypocrisy we show in befriending them and scapegoating the Iranians.
If there is any doubt about who the Bush family will favor and why, look at the videos of George escorting Taliban leaders around Texas trying to sell them a gas pipeline deal. They seem like the best of friends.
Would I be mocked and harassed as a Jew in Iran? Would I be allowed a visa? I'm not aware of any significant freedom of religion under the current regime. I have reason to suspect that I would be less than safe except under extraordinary circumstances. Mocking me for religious beliefs I don't actually have and ascribing hideous practices to me and associating me with a country of which I am not a citizen wouldn't be unexpected in many Muslim countries and indeed, it goes on here in my own country.
As far as I know, there are no American TV programs teaching American children that Muslims eat babies or drink blood or that they should grow up to martyr themselves in the cause of killing anybody - at least not yet.
I tend to mock everybody's religious beliefs if they are mockable and that includes every leader from the Pope to the Dalai Lama and I don't feel guilty since they exist by mocking what they presume to be mine.
We have a long and troubled history with Iran and we are guilty of things we need, as Ron Paul says, to acknowledge publicly and we need leaders who can dispense with the "great Satan" and "axis of Evil" crap and make a new start. I don't think either country has those leaders at the moment.
Would I be mocked and harassed as a Jew in Iran? Would I be allowed a visa? I'm not aware of any significant freedom of religion under the current regime.
This article took a humorous look at that issue.
http://www.counterpunch.org/cook08032007.html
There is an interesting problem with selling the “Iran as Nazi Germany” line. If Ahmadinejad really is Hitler, ready to commit genocide against Israel’s Jews as soon as he can get his hands on a nuclear weapon, why are some 25,000 Jews living peacefully in Iran and more than reluctant to leave despite repeated enticements from Israel and American Jews?
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As far as I know, there are no American TV programs teaching American children that Muslims eat babies or drink blood or that they should grow up to martyr themselves in the cause of killing anybody - at least not yet.
Have you watched Fox News lately? If you listen to them, every Muslim on the planet is a potential terrorist in waiting; members of sleeper cells waiting for orders from some grand poobah in a turban. People who live in glass houses...
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