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Guess The Politician
By Charley Reese
02/03/06 "ICH" -- -- A politician recently assessed the
challenges and threats facing the people of the world in the
21st century. See if you can guess from his remarks who he is:
"The prevalence of military domination, increasing poverty, the
growing gap between rich and poor countries, violence as a means
to solve crises, spread of terrorism — especially state
terrorism — existence and proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, the pervasive lack of honesty in interstate
relations, and disregard for the equal rights of people and
nations in international relations, constitute some of the
challenges and threats."
I'd say that is a pretty accurate assessment. Later, the man
described the role of government in this way:
"Government belongs to all the people. It has to address the
problems of every part of the country. All parts of the country
should move forward simultaneously. Every (citizen) is entitled
to equal right, especially in developing individual talent."
There's nothing in that statement with which I disagree. Now
listen to what the man says about nuclear weapons:
"A nation which has culture, logic and civilization does not
need nuclear weapons. The countries which seek nuclear weapons
are those which want to solve all problems by the use of force.
Our nation does not need such weapons."
That sounds not unlike something Martin Luther King Jr. or some
other pacifist might say. Listen to this man when he talks about
morality:
"Human excellence, the excellence of human society comes about
in the light of justice and spirituality. Measures that are
taken outside religious morality — politics minus morality,
economics minus morality, culture minus morality — only turns
the world into a hell for nations and humanity."
One can imagine Billy Graham or Jerry Falwell making a very
similar statement. You certainly cannot divorce any human
activity from morality without the danger of creating a hellish
situation.
Well, who is this guy?
He's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran. He's the man
you would think is nothing more than a raving lunatic if you
judged him on the basis of sound bites presented on American TV.
Take it from someone in the business. You can never form an
accurate assessment of someone based on sound bites and snippets
of quotes (frequently out of context or misquoted) in news
stories.
I first realized this when I met James Farmer, one of the
civil-rights leaders in the 1960s. The image I had formed of him
based on sound bites and newspaper quotes was 180 degrees from
reality. Rather than a hostile, snarling militant, Farmer was a
gentle, intelligent, well-educated and extremely eloquent man
who brought an all-white audience, myself included, to its feet
with thunderous applause for the wisest speech I've ever heard
on the subject of civil rights and racial prejudice.
It's sad to say, but you simply cannot trust the press,
especially television, to give you an accurate picture of the
world. Now, I'm not trying to sell you the idea of Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad as a saint. My contempt for politicians is not only
bipartisan, but transnational. Anytime a politician opens his
mouth in any country, the chances are at least 50-50 he's lying.
My point is simply that the president of Iran is obviously not a
lunatic, but a thinking individual who has some ideas some of us
could agree with.
He did say Israel should be wiped off the map, although the
correct quote is, "As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off
the map." He did say the Holocaust is a myth, though it should
be pointed out that he is not the only person who thinks the
details of the Holocaust have been exaggerated. An American
Jewish scholar whose parents survived the Holocaust has written
a book featuring stinging criticism of the way the pro-Israeli
crowd has politicized the Holocaust and turned it into a cottage
industry.
It's unfortunate that as the world grows more complex, our
political dialogue and the practices of much of the press have
grown more simplistic.
© 2006 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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