Hat tip to Cox and Forkum for the cartoon.What does the cartoon mean? It's based on kooky things the Iranian President has been reported to be saying. Cox and Forkum offer this excerpt from a TIME magazine article by Charles Krauthammer:
We have difficulty understanding the mentality of Iran's newest rulers. Then again, we don't understand the mentality of the men who flew into the World Trade Center or the mobs in Damascus and Tehran who chant "Death to America"--and Denmark(!)--and embrace the glory and romance of martyrdom.
This atavistic love of blood and death and, indeed, self-immolation in the name of God may not be new--medieval Europe had an abundance of millennial Christian sects--but until now it has never had the means to carry out its apocalyptic ends.
That is why Iran's arriving at the threshold of nuclear weaponry is such a signal historical moment. It is not just that its President says crazy things about the Holocaust. It is that he is a fervent believer in the imminent reappearance of the 12th Imam, Shi'ism's version of the Messiah. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been reported as saying in official meetings that the end of history is only two or three years away. He reportedly told an associate that on the podium of the General Assembly last September, he felt a halo around him and for "those 27 or 28 minutes, the leaders of the world did not blink ... as if a hand was holding them there and it opened their eyes to receive" his message. He believes that the Islamic revolution's raison d'etre is to prepare the way for the messianic redemption, which in his eschatology is preceded by worldwide upheaval and chaos. How better to light the fuse for eternal bliss than with a nuclear flame?
(bold emphasis theirs) Is this guy a friggin loon, or what? He's been saying kooky stuff for quite a while, but when even TIME magazine talks about him being this nutty, you have to wonder. Are we supposed to be worrying about cartoons offending Muslims, and not about this lunatic, and the rest of the crazy Imams and Ayatollas who picked him, having nuclear weapons? Is it "judgemental" of me to be concerned if this guy is even sane?
You can read Cox and Forkum's related commentary HERE.
The TIME magazine article is here:
Today Tehran, Tomorrow the World
What's at stake in the dispute over Iranian nukes? Ultimately, human survival
Related link:
Nutty Muslim Theology? Friend of Jesus?:
Imam Mahdi (Descendent of Prophet Muhammad PBUH)
4 comments:
It would be very dangerous to underestimate the danger posed by a religous fanatic.
He is willing to see every Iranian dead to get what he wants. After all in his mind they would all go to Muslim heaven and get their own ration of virgins. As long as their deaths resulted from some action that was intended to destroy Israel.
That is the scary thing about Islamism; it's a cult of death, suicide bombers, suicide murder. How do you reason with someone who does not value life?
We faced something similar in WWII with Japan and it's suicide-bomber Shinto religion. But that at least was limited to Japan, unlike Islamism, which is spread throughout the world. And the Japanese didn't have WMD's, or massive oil fields to finance there development or purchase.
Possible ways to deal realistically with this problem is something I hope to explore in future posts.
Historically Islam tends to become quiescent when it runs up against force which it cannot overcome. I think that if we can just find the will to stay the course in Iraq while committing ourselves to doing whatever it takes to prevent Iran from going nuclear we can outlast this latest episode of Muslim resurgence.
I agree, we have to be strong. Barbarians seem to only understand strength, and to see kindness as a weakness to be exploited. I'm not saying all Muslims are barbarians, but those who are need to be treated as such.
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