Two-sided sword

The president of Iran addressed Columbia University today, and did nothing to change the West's view of him as a bit of a nutter. I don't know what he could've expected, though, since a major academic institution would hardly give a warm or sympathetic welcome to a man who denies the Holocaust happened.

His denying the Holocaust and calling for the destruction of Israel are two of the main things the mainstream media focus on, along with the Iranian regime's nuclear programme and alleged support for international terrorism. So I was surprised, and pleased, to read this in an Associated Press story (and also see it covered on CBS Evening News):

Asked about executions of homosexuals in Iran, Ahmadinejad said the judiciary system executed violent criminals and high-level drug dealers, comparing them to microbes eliminated through medical treatment. Pressed specifically about punishment of homosexuals, he said: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country."

With the audience laughing derisively, he continued: "In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have this."

The man is either a moron, liar, fool or simply delusional, or possibly some combinaton of all of these things. Personally, I'd bet on the last one. But it was refreshing to see the mainstream media reporting on Iran's persecution of gay men, even if only obliquely. It's been pretty well documented by now that Iran does, in fact, execute men for being gay, but they usually make up some other charge to cover it up, possibly so they can perpetuate their lie that homosexuality doesn't exist in Iran.

What surprised me the most, however, was the near frenzy of hatred expressed toward this man. Apparently Dick Cheney's war machine has well and truly succeeded in demonising the man and his regime so that otherwise sensible people would use incredibly juvenile rhetoric and slogans to attack him.

Many referred to him as a “dictator”. There's no disputing that he talks like a brutal authoritarian, but he's hardly a dictator. That's not because he was elected under Iranian law, but because it's the religious people who actually run the country; nothing happens there without their okay. Normally, we'd call rule by an un-elected group of strongmen a junta. However, American politicians get a bit squeamish about criticising a religious elite, probably because they want to install a “christian” version in America. Nevertheless, Ahmadinejad is given far more credit than he deserves in the race to be named the “most evil”.

Better, I thought, for him to speak his own idiotic words, betraying his ignorance with every syllable and doing it all without it being filtered through Cheney's propaganda machine. This is a prime example of why free speech is so important.

One thing we can be certain of, though: State-sponsored murder of gay men will not be among the justifications used by Cheney when he attacks Iran.