I happen to like this diarist, I met her at Yearly Kos. She's funny, passionate, articulate, smart--but today, I think she's wrong. And for me any sort of criticism is immensely difficult, so I hope we can keep the discourse professional, not personal. This is certainly my intent.
I'm referring to this diary: Iran: Why and How Iranians Must Be Attacked
And she's also 100% within her right to articulate anything she pleases.
And I'm probably 100% wrong to even write this diary and I may even regret doing so til my dying day. But . . .
I'm simply asking a question. Is this diary helping or hurting Democrats, the Democratic agenda and the resurgence of the Democratic Party?
Is it adding high octane fuel to the extremist noise machine?
And if I'm stepping out of line even asking the question, then I've made a big boo-boo, and I know, you'll tell me in no uncertain terms. And I'll even apologize in advance.
And yes, I should probably stick to health policy, you're right. I'm an idiot to be wandering into this mine field, but that's what idiots do--they walk into mine fields.
But seriously, is this what Democrats need right now? Isn't Daily Kos a place where we try and move forward a progressive Democratic agenda? Is support, even tacit support of Iran the progressive Democratic agenda? And forgive my simplistic view of world politics and the nuances of the Middle East--but I can read the English language. If what I'm reading here is the position of the Democratic Party, then maybe I need to find a new party.
And yes, I know, this is what the diarist is writing and it's not the position of the Democratic Party. But you can take it to the bank that the wingnuts are going to have a field day with this stuff.
And by the way, is it useful to have the United States compared (unfavorably) to the Islamic Republic of Iran? Say whatever you want, but this is not helpful, not helpful at all. Though the diarist does concede, "Certainly Iran is not an ideal state, but it is no where near as bad as many others."
Iran has invested its oil wealth in universal education, healthcare, infrastructure bringing clean water and electricity to more than 98 percent of its people, and economic progress. Military spending is a paltry $91 per capita compared to more than $1,500 per capita in the United States and Israel. The social and economic achievements of the revolutionary regime in Iran in the past 25 years look quite progressive in reducing poverty and social inequalities, and as the society liberalises toward a more secular democratic regime, even better progress can be expected in the future. Compared to rising inequality in the United States and Israel, ranked numbers one and two for social inequality among developed nations, the Iranians look pretty damn good.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Who is the "usual crowd" of which the diarist speaks?
Now, the usual crowd can be expected to comment on women, gays and political dissidents as being targets for repression in Iran. Without minimising the issues, I'm not convinced that the case isn't overstated and that the repression isn't outweighed by wider social advances. Women and children rarely suffer the isolation, poverty and violence in Iran that so many suffer from family breakdown in America. Women in Iran are now universally educated, taking 65 percent of university places, marrying later, having fewer children, and driving social change. Even Iran has a vibrant gay subculture. The United States imprisons a higher proportion of its population than Iran (or any other nation) does, and that proportion continues to rise despite falling crime rates. Every society is different, and our values are not their values in some ways, but which government best serves the interests of its people is an open question in my mind given that the vast majority of Iranians have benefitted from the social and economic progress of the past 25 years.
I think this agenda-riddled diary is what it is . . .an agenda-riddled diary.
Hasn't the leader of Iran made the destruction of Israel a central focus of his global war of terror?
In his translation of a speech to the "World Without Zionism" conference held for students in October 2005, Nazila Fathi of The New York Times' Tehran bureau reported Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying, in part:
Our dear Imam (referring to Ayatollah Khomeini) said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement. We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. Is it possible to create a new front in the heart of an old front. This would be a defeat and whoever accepts the legitimacy of this regime has in fact, signed the defeat of the Islamic world. Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world. But we must be aware of tricks.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
But the diarist doesn't believe the Iranian leader.
Many may also assert that Iran wants to destroy Israel. I don't believe this for a moment, but rather - along with Juan Cole - interpret comments by Ahmadinejad as the comments of the descendant of a race that can proudly trace its national history for 5,000 years to a country he perceives as upstart thief of land that has less than 80 years of disputed possession. Many in the Middle East believe that demographic, economic and geopolitical shifts will mean that Israel fades away into historical oblivion over the next hundred years. They may well be right, as painful as that prospect is to those who ferverently believe in a Jewish state, but that serious prospect only makes the determined zionists currently holding sway more dangerous.
And when a hugely respected former Daily Kos front page writer, dares to suggest a contrary point of view. Said diarist is handed some pretty harsh walking papers.
Just more war porn for dailyKos (16+ / 0-)
People sitting in their homes or apartments or a Starbucks someplace, typing away about how The US Is Going To Attack IranTM and not really thinking about what they're saying.
I swear, it's amazing and disgusting how much people here love this stuff. It's as if they're waiting, with baited breath, for another war to protest, for another reason to claim moral superiority over Hillary And Her Secret Society of Bad Democrats, for another reason to bitch and moan.
I'm going out now. I can't stand this anymore. I can't stand the armchair foreign policy expert bullshit, the cavalier and naive way with which people here talk about it.
All I can see in my mind is my Iranian friend's kind smile, and how he misses his family terribly.
You guys have no idea what you're talking about when you say "attack Iran". You guys fling about the words "bomb" and "nuke" and "white phosphorus" and "Hillary is evil" and you don't think about the humans.
I just think about how my friend's family might be destroyed.
War porn. That's all this is.
I'm so angry that I'm shaking and having trouble typing.
Fuck this, I'm going for a walk.
Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
by Plutonium Page on Mon Nov 13, 2006 at 05:11:58 AM PST
I want to say on behalf of the diarist, one person even troll rated Plutonium Page which LondonYank insisted they remove.
Read the entire diary and draw your own conclusions.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Just saying.