Pigs And Lipstick, Free Will And Prayers

As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmahdenijad gets ‘ready for his closeup’ at Columbia University, a few realities need be addressed.

For years, the Iranian regime has said they had ‘no problem with Jews.’  Thy claim they  are tolerant and respectful of Judaism, noting they take issue with Zionists. Sounds reasonable, right?

Garbage.

Let’s be clear- there are well documented examples of the ‘tolerant’ Iranian regime persecuting the Baha’i and other religious minorities- including Christians for decades. Those for whom the death penalty is so abhorrent ought to be aware of the regime’s track record in executing women, gays and children. There is also the matter of public floggings and the stoning of women to death.

How can the leader of a regime that not only encourages such activities, but endorses and demands such behavior as religiously mandated, be taken seriously? How stupid does someone have to be to be satisfied with such drivel?

How on earth can anyone take the message of ‘religious tolerance’ from the leader of a regime for whom religious intolerance and persecution of individuals are part and parcel of an ideology of hate? If rewards for the execution of those who offend or disagree with Islam are commonplace, is anyone stupid enough to really believe that Jews in Iran are free to speak their mind? Iranian students are persecuted, arrested and sometimes murdered for their beliefs. Does this sound like the behavior of a religiously tolerant regime?

In Choices… Dr Sanity rightly speaks of Lee Bollinger, the idiot president of Columbia who extended the invitation to Ahmadenijad:

Indeed, the Iranian President must be rolling on the floor laughing along with the mullahs about the incredible victory handed to them by the morally bankrupt Bollinger, a man who symbolizes all that is most nauseating about the political left today.

Finally, we are republishing a post in which we discuss Neo-neocon’s treatment  the bigoted and tyrannical Iranian president’s cause celebre, Holocaust denial.

Neo-neocon has a terrific post, Holocaust denial: it’s catching, in which she gives us her insight on the Iranian president’s outrageous and outlandish display of antiSemitism.

Oh, I know; it’s become downright fashionable these days to compare all sorts of world leaders to Hitler–particularly President Bush. But Ahmadinejad really does exhibit parallels with Hitler, at least in his rhetoric, if not in his ability to fulfill that rhetoric by acquiring the vast territory Hitler conquered.

In what is elegant understatement, Neo-neocon’s reader, Ymarsker, corrals the sublime, in a comment:

But they are wrong, as wrong as Hitler was. Because it is not the Jews they should fear taking over the world, it is America and our focus not on purity of the soul or of blood, but on the consistency of human nature. That is what they should fear if their core beliefs were correct.

We believe in the free will of humanity, and our enemies are nothing more than the implements which shall bind humanity in darkness forevermore.

The Muslims are as near-sighted as Hitler. Makes sense, they believe in the same retarded philosophy.

We shall show them the true meaning of strength.

With   the acknowledgement of free will, Ymarsker hits on the nerve that singular truth that deflates reflexive hatreds. No matter how hard we might try, free will is a part of the human condition. It requires great effort, from an early age, to instill those real, reflexive and most profound of hatreds- and even that is no guarantee, as the brainwashed children of the Hitler Youth proved. When confronted with the truth and magnitude of their crimes, they too, cried in shame- and that stains the German nation, still.

As it is our legacy to eradicate racism and inequity where it exists in this country, so to it is the legacy of Germans to eradicate a different kind of racism. Someday, it will be the legacy of the Muslim Ummah, to address their sins, and be watchful for those who might make the same mistakes.

It was a choice of the Palestinians and German Baader Meinhof gang that hijacked the Air France 139 Airbus, to land in Entebbe, Uganda, and separate the Jews from the non Jews and threaten their lives. It was also the exercise of free will when the French airline captain and his entire crew, refused to abandon the terrified Jews. ‘Upon the announcement by the hijackers that the airline crew and non-Israeli/non-Jewish passengers would be released and put on another Air France plane that had been brought to Entebbe for that purpose, Flight 139′s Captain Michel Bacos announced to the hijackers that all passengers, including the remaining ones, were his responsibility, and that he would not leave them behind. Bacos’ entire crew, down to the most junior flight attendant, followed suit.’ In one room, at one time, good and evil were clear.

Good and evil are easy to distinguish when put side by side. It is when they are apart that the moral relativism begins- and it is when they are not side by side that we must be most vigilant and strong in our convictions, and our capacity to distinguish good from evil- and especially evil committed in the name of good.

Neo-neocon’s post is important. It is, in her understated way, a prayer. She is not asking any particular deity for a miracle- rather, she has turned around and faces the congregation, and reminds us that what precedes our hubris, is the truth that we were created in God’s image. Whether you believe that in a literal or metaphorical way, we can only hope that Neo’s prayer is answered.

God, literally or metaphorically, would be only too pleased to forgo our mea culpas and heartfelt grief that might come after the fact.

Neo-neocon’s post can be found here. Read it, think about it, and pass it on.

Mahomoud Ahmadenijad is trying to camouflage his hate and deceit on the Columbia stage. As we noted, “Good and evil are easy to distinguish when put side by side.”

With Mahomoud Ahmadenijad and Lee Bollinger in one room at the same time, trying to put lipstick on a pig, one can only hope that at Columbia, good- and reality will eventually make an appearance.