PING!
Posted on 05/27/2006 6:31:21 PM PDT by GMMAC
Dissent is out of fashion
By MICHAEL COREN
Toronto Sun
May 27, 2006
What a fuss over so very little. I refer to the National Post's story that the Iranian government would perhaps force Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims to wear pieces of coloured material on their clothes so as to be easily identified.
As it turned out, the Iranian parliament had debated the issue but had decided not to enact such a measure. It is, however, considering a strict dress code for Muslims, which will indirectly make non-Muslims readily identifiable.
So The National Post certainly misread the emphasis of the story, due to the failings of various usually reliable sources and the initial refusal of Iranian embassy officials to deny the accusations.
The main reason so many people believed all this was that it was in keeping with the activities of what has become one of the most dangerous fascist states in the world.
The newspaper apologized. Good. Now we move on. But not according to Iran's champions, who are screaming that this was yet another lie about the great Islamic Republic.
In Iran, of course, journalists never make any errors. If you don't believe me, just ask Ezatollah Sahabi of the banned monthly Iran-e-Farda or Taghi Rahmani of the banned weekly Omid-e-Zangan or Morteza Kazemian of the banned daily Fath. They were sentenced to a total of 27 years in prison and stripped of their citizen's rights after a secret trial -- merely for expressing an opinion.
Or ask Hoda Saber, ten years in prison, or Saide Madani, six years in prison, or even Reza Alijani, six years in prison. Their crime was to write articles that were not to the liking of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
In fact, International Freedom of Expression Exchange, an organization dedicated to defending persecuted journalists around the world, has described Iran as, "the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle East."
Goodness me, closer to home we could ask the family of murdered Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kezemi.
The Iranian regime denied any involvement in this poor woman's death until Heshmatollah Tabarzadi told journalists, via his son, of how he was arrested on the same day as Ms. Kazemi and incarcerated with her in Iran's infamous Evin Prison.
He heard her cries and screams and moans. Until, that is, she was removed from the jail with blood pouring from her face. Her death has never been fully explained.
None of this, however, would come as any surprise to the Iranian demonstrators, students and writers who have been tortured, the Christians who have been persecuted and the members of the Bahai faith who have been killed.
As for Jews, the Iran government wants to force millions of them out of their homes in Israel and destroy their cities, thinks they're all frauds and liars for making up the Holocaust myth and has threatened to hang innocent Iranian Jewish men just because, well, because they are Jews.
But be assured, the Iranian government didn't make them wear yellow stripes on their coats. Because Iran is too liberal, gentle and tolerant to ever make people wear such things. Phew, I was almost concerned there for a moment.
Did they march teenagers across minefields in the war against Iraq? Yes, but no coloured stripes. Do they cut off the limbs of criminals? Yes, but again no little stripes. Do they sponsor international terrorism? Okay, you've got a point. But not a stripe to be seen.
Women denied basic rights, racist propaganda dripping from state-run media, threats to nuke a fellow member of the United Nations that has never even done Iran any harm, beatings or death for political, sexual and religious dissidents.
Okay, okay. But, again, the story about the stripes on the clothes wasn't true. So there. Iran is the victim and the bad people in the west are the bullies. And if you don't understand that, the stripes on the backs of so many Iranians tell a story that can never be denied.
PING!
Dissent is only "cool" or "the in thing" or even "necessary" when you're dissenting against the following things:
-Freedom
-Lower Taxes
-Conservatives
Even in Iran.
I'm surprised to see this article in the Sun
Sorry. I confused it with the Star.
Nevermind
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