The world according to Mahmoud
I woke up this morning to the sounds of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yammering on the TV, giving us enough sound bites to last through the rest of what will hopefully be his short reign. I mean, where does one start? Iran is supposedly gay-free, women are treated with respect when not being clubbed by religious police for showing skin, and the Holocaust needs further skeptical research like -- and he specifically said -- any other scientific issue like physics theories or math equations (thank you, Dr. Mengele). Ahmadinejad doubted al-Qaida's involvement in 9-11, and when asked to answer if he sought the destruction of Israel -- with a simple "yes" or "no" answer -- he wouldn't respond and went off on a tangent.
It's not surprising that Ahmadinejad said any of these things. It is sad that some people in the audience applauded some of his assertions. But as my friend Gay Patriot West (gays -- purely an American phenomenon, according to Mahmoud) points out, Ahmadinejad's Bush-hatred frankly makes him attractive to many Americans who have taken the mantra "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" way too far. GPW latches onto a Daily Kos post where a writer describes her crush on Ahmadinejad, passion stoked by mutual Bush-hatred.
And, in response to my earlier thoughts, apparently Columbia would welcome Adolf Hitler to speak! A dean at the school said:
"If (Hitler) were willing to engage in a debate and a discussion, to be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him."
Gee, would students then be assigned term papers to debate the merits and drawbacks of his "final solution"? If Hitler waltzed into New York to speak at a college campus, was given security by the state, was given a platform for his hate, how much culpability would those who welcomed him then have when it comes to the continuance of his rule and the crimes he'd commit?
So a quick recap of Ahmadinejad's speech:
"Women are respected more than men are."
Well, Iran does extend the courtesy of shrouding women before they brutally stone them to death:
And, of course:
"Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it."
That would be because they exterminate gays every chance they get:
As I referred to in another post below, Columbia U just gave this guy a platform to spew vague niceties about peace and the importance of scientific research (huh?)... giving the dim-witted a chance to view him as a good guy.
Well, I just came from running errands and listening to my car radio - when what did I hear?
Callers saying things like "He sounded quite reasonable and rational."
"I was told this man was a monster. But he spoke of peace and science."
Yikes!!
That's exactly what I suspected. For those without any idea of what really goes on in Iran, he might haved sounded like a man of peace.
I have a very good friend from Iran who can only hold his head in astonishment at the naivete of some of our country's citizens. It's a shame.
Great post.
Could we find someone, a Congressman, a Senator, an Iranian refugee, even Vice President Chaney, willing to go to Iran and speak openly about that country as Ahmadinejad is doing here, speaking about ours?