On Jun 22, 2009, at 10:01 AM, ken hanly wrote:
> So what significance is it that many Iranians are embarassed by
> Ahmadinejad that many on LBO think he is a clown and even call him
> fancy phallic names. Many Canadians were embarassed by Mackenzie
> King who consulted mediums and talked to his dead mom but they voted
> him in as prime minister
I really don't get this line of argument at all - and it's not just you, Dennis Perrin & Michael Smith are making similar points. I'm often deeply embarrassed by the leadership and prevailing ideology in the USA, not to mention actual material practices. But somehow there seems to be a wacky anti-imperialist line that holds that you can't criticize clowns abroad because we're afflicted with clowns at home. Well, yeah. But we're trying to understand what's going on in Iran now, and a large part of what's going on is that many Iranians are sick of the mullahs and humiliated that their rich culture is now represented by an ignoramus. Many Americans were embarrassed that their previous president was an ignorant religious fundamentalist too. Too bad we didn't go into the streets in large numbers after he stole an election in 2000 like Iranians are now.
Doug