It’s an easy enough lie to digest.
Ahmedinejad is a nutcase. Look at him; he’s been wearing the same jacket for years, ever since we ever laid eyes on him. He’s unshaven, looks scruffy. He exudes an informal, almost clumsy air and doesn’t seem like much of an orator. He’s soft-spoken enough to make a cynic disbelieve anything he says, and the claims that he’s still living in his old house and still driving his god-knows-how-old car all seem inherently ridiculous.
And then, of course, it was his idea to hold a conference on the Holocaust in an attempt to weed out the truth from the myths involved, and naturally, it was he who everybody credits with wanting to wipe out his Zionist neighbors.
It’s easy to paint Ahmedinejad as a “petty, cruel, and ignorant dictator” as he was described by his host, the President of Columbia University in New York, after accepting an invitation to speak there.
Yeah, it’s pretty easy.
I don’t know about the old house, nor can I confirm that Ahmedinejad still drives an old car, but I have read the letter he sent to George Bush Jr., while Bush was still in office, and perhaps you should give it a read too if you have the time or the inclination. It’s written simply, almost naively (considering who he was addressing), and is clearly unedited by anything resembling a professional political writer.
Once, during a television interview with some major U.S. network, I forget the interviewer’s name now. Still, it was considered a major scoop at the time – the American Interviewer noticed Ahmedinejad’s assistant whisper something to him during the interview. Sensing the sinister intent behind the whisper, the American Interviewer asked Ahmedinejad what his assistant had told him. “Oh,” said Ahmedinejad, adjusting his jacket, “he just told me to adjust my jacket because it looks a bit strange on the monitor.” Truly, investigative journalism at its best.
When Ahmedinejad – oh, wait – you’re still put off by the name, right?
Here, let’s play syllables: Ahmed (c’mon, you know that one, right?) DEE (like John Dee, for example) NE (like your NEck) JAD (like, er…Chad)…see? Simple Ahmed-Dee-Ne-Jad. See?
To continue:
What Ahmedinejad (don’t you feel better about him already, now that you can pronounce his name?) said about the Chicken Little that you like to call ‘Israel’ (okay, so it’s not worried about the sky falling on its head – but it is particularly obsessed with being pushed into the sea..) – is that the ZIONIST regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish in the pages of time. It seems redundant to say this, but apparently, there is a need – a regime is not a people, a regime is not a mother, a regime is not a boy, a regime is not a child. A regime is a mindset, and some regimes, such as the Apartheid Regime in South Africa, are certainly doomed to a morally bankrupt downfall.
So now, we have Ahmedinejad – and an Iranian Election.
When Ahmedinejad was insulted by his host at Columbia University before he had even spoken, he replied, when he did take the podium, by saying that he was unfamiliar with America but that in his country, guests are not invited to an occasion simply to be insulted and ridiculed. The same Columbia students who clapped when he was insulted by their President applauded Ahmedinejad when he made that statement.
Their minds, apparently, are easy to sway.
So now, we are told that Ahmedinejad has stolen the Iranian Elections! That his people actually support a pro-reform opponent called Mousavi (it’s certainly easier to pronounce, isn’t it?) – and that the election has been rigged! The people of Iran have lost their voices! Their democracy has been hijacked by the Hitler-Esque Madman of Tehran, the would-be Holocaust-Denier, the would-be Israeli-Decimator, the teacher who thinks he’s a preacher, if-he-gets-a-bomb-he’ll-beat-cha’ – Ahmedinejad!
Oh, gosh.
So here are the lies:
Ahmedinejad has less support than Mousavi. The U.S. and International Media know this. Ahmedinejad could not have gotten 62.6% of the votes since Mousavi is so well-supported. Mousavi is pro-reform, and the young population of Iran loves him because they yearn for a reformist who will bring Western Values to the country! The vote has been stolen, and Mousavi has been asking his supporters to stay calm while the issue is resolved. However, his supporters, those Valiant Iranians seeking the Western JuJu, will not be calmed. They are on the streets asking for their rights! Ahmedinejad and the ruling council are meeting them with an Iron Fist. Killing them in a brute display of force! Proving once and for all that the rule of the madman in Iran is monstrous!
Oh, gosh indeed.
The Independent (of the UK) publishes a story in which an agonized Iranian student referred to as Maryam tells of her disappointment – that her hopes have been destroyed, her voice stolen, her dreams dashed. I run into the story since a friend living in the UK sees it and sympathizes with the poor all-but-fictional ‘Maryam.’
Well-intentioned people fall for this story just as they fall for Obama and his recent speech to the Muslim World. Just as they fall for an invasion of Afghanistan that promises to liberate the women of Afghanistan from the dreaded tyranny of the Hijab – as only cluster bombs and an invasion force of rapists know how to.
The truth is this:
Ahmedinejad has always had more support than Mousavi – even a recent American pre-election poll proves that much. Not only that, but it proves that even in Mousavi’s supposed main demographic – the Azeri’s polled 2 to 1 in favor of Ahmedinejad previous to the election. In fact, the polling overwhelmingly demonstrated that Ahmedinejad would get not only 62.6% of the vote but 66% of the vote and that his strongest voting bloc was among 18-24-year-olds.
Mousavi is not as well-supported as his fans or the U.S. or England, or Israel would have you believe. That is, depending on how you see it – either a delusion of people who cannot believe that anybody could sincerely prefer a non-pro-western candidate – or an illusion designed to fool over-educated, well-intentioned do-gooders who still can’t get over the fact that the Iranians might not see things the way they do and might not share their intentions, hopes or dreams.
Mousavi only made things worse (and this is apparently, all he’s really designed, and perhaps more dangerously paid to do) by declaring himself a winner before the official election results came in. Thus making his supporters (mainly, by the way, composed of university graduates and the richer echelons of Iranian society) feel as though they had a victory and then had it stolen from them. In doing so, he has caused a great deal of fury, anger, and disappointment. Not only has he done this, but he has also specifically asked his supporters to continue to demonstrate, even though this is a legal issue – he is thus directly responsible for any bloodshed that occurs during those demonstrations and is the primary inciting force behind the violence.
But you don’t want to hear all that.
Like Axl said in ‘Sorry’ – “It’s harder to live with the truth about you than to live with the lies about me.”
And so it goes.
