From A to B in 1001 words!
Kamal Artin
September 26, 2007
A general assumption about the Ivy League status of Columbia University might be that it only admits those who have an A score in their academic records. When I heard that its president, Mr. B, has invited the Persian president, Mr. A, for a speech, I thought he might have lowered Columbia’s expectation so that less academically inclined individuals could also have a say at this prestigious institution. The outcome of the event indicated that Mr. B has not necessarily lowered the expectation but that his own level might be less than expected or he might have thought Mr. A has scored A by the virtue of being a president.
In my opinions no dictator deserves an invitation to the free world. However, it is beneficial to humanity, if the entire world knows them through their self expression so they either are helped mentally or controlled physically before it’s too late and they act out on their violent thoughts. Is it possible that Mr. B was pressured for having made a mistake by inviting Mr. A and in order to save face, he tried to correct his wrongdoing by another wrongdoing. As a host during the introduction, he confronted Mr. A in front of the public that he is a fanatic dictator. In fact he used a similar humiliating method that Mr. A and his regime tend to use against any opponents. However, Mr. B was naive and did not know that Mr. A uses such methods behind closed doors and at the end does not let the opponents exist freely!
In contrary to the public that reacted with surprise and laughter, when Mr. A mentioned there is no gays and lesbians in Iran, I did not expect anything different to hear from him. I became rather disappointed that many academic institutions in the free world such as Colombia University still do not understand the Middle Ages status of the Middle East. If it is difficult to find any other comparative evidence, the attitude of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria toward the people of my origin should be sufficient. Ironically I refer to them as the people of my origin, since according to the infamous four countries these people do not have their own identity and national existence equal to other nations yet. By the end of the Middle Ages Galileo gave up convincing the European establishment about the reality of the world at that time. Today many intellectuals have given up convincing the establishments in the Middle East about the realities of our current world and hope for a Renaissance to happen there too.
Of course gays or lesbians do not exist in Iran, since existence requires claiming it. So by default if anyone claims to be gay or lesbian, his or her existence according to the establishment in Iran should end. In other words according to the current Iranian state ideology and laws, gays and lesbians either do not exist or their existence ends once they claim they exist. The same non-existence concept applies to all other individuals and groups that make choices incompatible with the state ideology. According to the Iranian constitution, the people of my origin and four other major Iranian nationalities do not exist as nations and therefore have no rights to public education in their native language. They are forced to assimilation or eliminated as soon as they openly claim they have an existence similar to other nations yet unique in its own way. The women who chose a different style do not exist in Iran, so in order to exist, even Christiane Amanpour or other “liberated” women voluntarily use the enforced dress code when they visit Iran. Since according to Mr. A no Holocaust existed and no Israel should exist, how can a Jew exist that have a mind set in contradiction to such non-existence concepts. Bahai’s and many other minorities do not exist, if they claim they are what they are. The list goes on and on!
Mr. A might even question his own real existence and believe that he is Mehdi, the 12th Imam or the promised Persian version of Messiah. Since he might have been disqualified to wear the official current Persian crown, the turban, or have became disturbanated, he might be overcompensating for his turban deficiency by grandiose ideas of changing the world the way his imaginary Messiah expects.
I assume that Mr. B. was smart enough to know about the non-existence concept in Iran, and he should have listened to those who have suffered from the consequences of the ideology and behavior of Mr. A and his alike. If he had not known the facts, then how was he able to lead an Ivy League institution? Is it why some skeptics argue that the Ivy League also might use oil to smoothen the flow of capital? If Mr. B knew the facts, he should have invited the American hostages, the friends of the assassinated intellects such as Dr. Qasemloo, Dr. Sharafkandi, Dr. Bakhtiar, Mr. Farokhzad, Mrs. Kazemi, etc. to the event. Otherwise like most of the game players he was seeking attention in our competitive world. If this was the game of “attention seeking junkies”, as Shmuel Hasfari put it in The Master of the House, then Mr. B scored B while Mr. A scored A in getting attention. Now Mr. A can claim that even the president of an Ivy League university uses his method publicly. In order for Mr. B to have scored A, he should have avoided the confrontation and invited the families of the victims of Iranian regime to ask Mr. A why he and his alike think and behaves the way they do!
Let’s hope we all learn from our mistakes, especially those whose decision affects others including but not limited to 40 millions people of my origin in four countries. I hope now they have the support of other free thinking intellects such as Mr. B.
In my opinions no dictator deserves an invitation to the free world. However, it is beneficial to humanity, if the entire world knows them through their self expression so they either are helped mentally or controlled physically before it’s too late and they act out on their violent thoughts. Is it possible that Mr. B was pressured for having made a mistake by inviting Mr. A and in order to save face, he tried to correct his wrongdoing by another wrongdoing. As a host during the introduction, he confronted Mr. A in front of the public that he is a fanatic dictator. In fact he used a similar humiliating method that Mr. A and his regime tend to use against any opponents. However, Mr. B was naive and did not know that Mr. A uses such methods behind closed doors and at the end does not let the opponents exist freely!
In contrary to the public that reacted with surprise and laughter, when Mr. A mentioned there is no gays and lesbians in Iran, I did not expect anything different to hear from him. I became rather disappointed that many academic institutions in the free world such as Colombia University still do not understand the Middle Ages status of the Middle East. If it is difficult to find any other comparative evidence, the attitude of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria toward the people of my origin should be sufficient. Ironically I refer to them as the people of my origin, since according to the infamous four countries these people do not have their own identity and national existence equal to other nations yet. By the end of the Middle Ages Galileo gave up convincing the European establishment about the reality of the world at that time. Today many intellectuals have given up convincing the establishments in the Middle East about the realities of our current world and hope for a Renaissance to happen there too.
Of course gays or lesbians do not exist in Iran, since existence requires claiming it. So by default if anyone claims to be gay or lesbian, his or her existence according to the establishment in Iran should end. In other words according to the current Iranian state ideology and laws, gays and lesbians either do not exist or their existence ends once they claim they exist. The same non-existence concept applies to all other individuals and groups that make choices incompatible with the state ideology. According to the Iranian constitution, the people of my origin and four other major Iranian nationalities do not exist as nations and therefore have no rights to public education in their native language. They are forced to assimilation or eliminated as soon as they openly claim they have an existence similar to other nations yet unique in its own way. The women who chose a different style do not exist in Iran, so in order to exist, even Christiane Amanpour or other “liberated” women voluntarily use the enforced dress code when they visit Iran. Since according to Mr. A no Holocaust existed and no Israel should exist, how can a Jew exist that have a mind set in contradiction to such non-existence concepts. Bahai’s and many other minorities do not exist, if they claim they are what they are. The list goes on and on!
Mr. A might even question his own real existence and believe that he is Mehdi, the 12th Imam or the promised Persian version of Messiah. Since he might have been disqualified to wear the official current Persian crown, the turban, or have became disturbanated, he might be overcompensating for his turban deficiency by grandiose ideas of changing the world the way his imaginary Messiah expects.
I assume that Mr. B. was smart enough to know about the non-existence concept in Iran, and he should have listened to those who have suffered from the consequences of the ideology and behavior of Mr. A and his alike. If he had not known the facts, then how was he able to lead an Ivy League institution? Is it why some skeptics argue that the Ivy League also might use oil to smoothen the flow of capital? If Mr. B knew the facts, he should have invited the American hostages, the friends of the assassinated intellects such as Dr. Qasemloo, Dr. Sharafkandi, Dr. Bakhtiar, Mr. Farokhzad, Mrs. Kazemi, etc. to the event. Otherwise like most of the game players he was seeking attention in our competitive world. If this was the game of “attention seeking junkies”, as Shmuel Hasfari put it in The Master of the House, then Mr. B scored B while Mr. A scored A in getting attention. Now Mr. A can claim that even the president of an Ivy League university uses his method publicly. In order for Mr. B to have scored A, he should have avoided the confrontation and invited the families of the victims of Iranian regime to ask Mr. A why he and his alike think and behaves the way they do!
Let’s hope we all learn from our mistakes, especially those whose decision affects others including but not limited to 40 millions people of my origin in four countries. I hope now they have the support of other free thinking intellects such as Mr. B.
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