Unmasking Iran’s President
The man behind the stereotypes
January 23, 2007
Steve Benjamins
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmad-inejad is an anti-Semitic, irrational, extremist who hates America for their freedom and will stop at nothing to wipe Israel off the face off the map. At least that’s what most western media would have us believe.
Ahmadinejad has been accused of being anti-Semitic. However, the truth is much deeper than one-sentence ad hominem attacks. In fact, Iran is actually home to more Jews than any other Middle Eastern country, save Israel. Furthermore, Jews are recognized within Iran as a religious minority. They have lived peacefully there for the last 3,000 years, and have representation within government.
A more accurate assertion would be that Ahmadinejad is anti-Zionist, which is a political position rather than a racial one. Anti-Zionism is complex and targets the Israeli state within the Middle East, which Iran opposes.
It is important to make this distinction, because the debate is instantly more credible when Iran is presented as being against the creation of the state of Israel, a view that arguably holds legitimate points. Arguably, western media labelled Ahmadinejad as being anti-Semitic because it produces knee-jerk reactions – it seems that western media is quite fond of knee-jerk reactions.
Ahmadinejad has also been accused of being a holocaust denier. This, again, is complex. He has declared the holocaust a myth, and has called for an open forum on it, but this accusation misses the greater point within his comments. The question he has been trying to pose is, if the holocaust did exist, why did the Palestinian people pay for it? Shouldn’t a Jewish state have been created within Europe? After all, Europeans are the ones who committed the holocaust.
The media – Fox News in particular – has also portrayed Ahmadinejad as someone who hates America because of its freedom. There is no denying that there are anti-American sentiments in the Middle East, and Ahmadinejad is not immune to this. But saying that the hatred stems from a hatred of America’s freedom misunderstands what is fuelling anti-Americanism.
The real reason Ahmadinejad is anti-American is because Iran remains the strongest Middle East presence that doesn’t have significant ties to America. Consequently, they are constantly under American threat because of the nature of the Middle East situation. The fact that Iran boasts pools of oil and uranium and sells much of it to America’s competitor, China, further increases American interest in Iran.
Another popular attack levelled at Ahmadinejad is that he is an irrational fundamentalist. We should be immediately suspicious of this blatant caricature. Throughout history, a common way of swaying public opinion against a leader or a certain type of people was to paint them as irrational and barbarian-like, devoid of all the reason and civilization of westerners. This is dangerous, pandering language, which has seldom transformed into justice, and has mostly served to exploit.
Ahmadinejad has shown himself to be a politically prudent, powerful leader in the face of intense pressure from America and Israel. Facing superpowers, which literally possess thousands of nuclear arms and the most potent armies on the planet, is no easy task. And yet, Iran has held off many diplomatic jousts and managed to flex its muscle through military games that have increasingly surprised a United States that has underestimated the Iranian military power.
I am not saying that Ahmadinejad is without flaws. But I believe that he is being misrepresented in the western media as a crazed fanatic, which, not coincidently, is also the pervasive western stereotype of Muslims.
Now you go...
10 Responses to “Unmasking Iran’s President”
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Okay first off, next to no western media would have us believe that “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an anti-Semitic, irrational, extremist who hates America for their freedom and will stop at nothing to wipe Israel off the face off the map”…. and this Steveo, is indeed a very regretable reality.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sr6TVlfPYeI
1938 all over again?
I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Make no mistake, the Western media presents a caricature of him, even this Youtube video you showed of him fails to even attempt to present a balanced view of Ahmadinejad. Its full of bogus talking points, 10 second references to WW2 and sketchy music while showing the “two faces of Ahmadinejad.” This good TV, it scares the hell out of anyone who doesnt understand it. But I still say its not good reporting.
Even that video still paints him as a nutcase, and still paints the Iranian people as crazy.
We need to understand what is driving the words of Ahmadinejad; he is standing up to the American imperialism and with good reason. America is very interested in Iran as I’ve said, Iran presents the strongest anti-American presence in Iran and sits on pools of oil.
Finally, if Western media doesn’t want us to think the “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an anti-Semitic, irrational, extremist who hates America for their freedom and will stop at nothing to wipe Israel off the face off the map” what do you see as what they represent Ahmadinejad as?
Do you think Ahmadinejad has any flaws Steve? You seem to really like him.
Sad to see that Mars Hill is praising a guy who has said Israel should be wiped off the map and helps run a theocratic dictatorship. America isn’t perfect, but I’d still rather live there than Iran.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/14/iran.israel/
It seems to me that he does basically deny the Holocaust. IMO, to represent his views he could have said something like: “Yes, the Holocaust did happen. However, Palestinians shouldn’t pay for it. Israel should be in Europe.”
That would have got his views across without him denying the Holocaust.
Correct me if I’m wrong, Chris, but no where in the article does Steve acutally “praise” Ahmadinejad. Steve writes, and I quote, “I am not saying that Ahmadinejad is without flaws.”
What the article actually says is that Western media portrays the president with a degree of extremity that is unwarranted.
Chris, what I found ironic is the pervasive idea that Ahmadinejad said “Israel should be wiped off the map.” This idiom does not even exhist in Persian. Strange how the media changes things to be more outrageous in our minds.
“Do you think Ahmadinejad has any flaws Steve?” The last sentence of the article answers this.
“he does basically deny the Holocaust” Your generalizations of his statements aside, he actually is calling for an open academic discussion on it, his greater point is missed by insistently calling him a “holocaust denier”. Personally, I am sympathetic as to why it is legally (at least in Europe) a closed subject academically. Ahmadinejad’s comments about the Holocaust have much more to do with the legitimacy of Israel than anything else.
Thanks, Steve for the great and informative article… you are right about Ahmadinejad in that he is a very smart politician. However, I do not think that his extreme position is warranted with regards to American actions in the region. While Iraq has done much to raise the price of oil (which is helping Iran greatly -both by making it possible for it to subsidize the price of gasoline -more on that later - and by making it possible for it to afford its ongoing Nuclear weapons program..) this is far from the only reason why he is able to be so extreme. His views often clash with that of the Theocracy and in the end they have the final word on what goes on in Iran. Indeed, Iran is probably the most westernized (at least in thought among its citizens) of any of the Middle Eastern States today. Iran not only has the largest number of Jews in the Middle East outside of Israel but it also has a Jewish representative in Parliament (along with a Christian one). Indeed, the current President of Israel, Moshe Katzav(albeit currently under suspension for sex crimes) is an Iranian Jew. Ahmadinejad was elected by the rural population under a promise to improve life for them, but thus has failed to do so with any particular success. Thus, he has turned to foreign policy so as to distract from his domestic problems. Iran also uses huge gasoline subsidies to keep the population happy, and the price of Gas is limited to a fraction of what we pay currently. However, it lacks refining capacity and thus, Gasoline sanctions as currently proposed by several parties would deal a devastating blow to Ahmadinejad’s government. Holocaust denial is simply another part of the package which has been laid out by him to deflect from his domestic problems.
A much more dangerous issue with Ahmadinejad is his Messianic vision of himself. In Shia Islam there is a branch who believe that much like the Christian concept of the rapture there will be a return of the 12th Iman, the Mahdi. Ahmadinejad believes quite honestly that the Mahdi cannot return until the world is ready AND that Iran (with him as President) can bring about that model world through its works. Though this is difficult for Secular America to comprehend, we as Christians should have no difficulty understanding the ramifications of this statement (That said, this is a very simplistic explanation of the cult of the Mahdi - a good story is at http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1221/p01s04-wome.html) Ahmadinejad really has a Messianic complex.
While Iran may be a danger to us in the west, Ahmadinejad is much more of a danger to his own people. Many of his subjects recognize this and thus do not take him very seriously. It is quite likely that Ahmadinejad, if not removed by democratic process, will eventually be removed by the office of the Ayatollah, especially if sanctions are levied against Iran. Most Middle Eastern countries (save Syria and the Shiite Iraqi government) despise Iran and would love to see a change in government. However, any US actions in the region would only destabilize them further and thus Steve is right in that the US is frightened by Iran. Where will this lead?
Adrian, I definetly agree that Ahmadinejad’s domestic economics policies are probably going to lead to his downfall. And I do question his foreign agressiveness, wondering if its just pandering. As to whether he has a messianic complex, thats an interesting thought, I’d have to read more about that to comment on it.
But I think thats a really good summary of the Iranian situation. And your final question, “where will this lead?” is certainly the most compelling and dangerous question in my mind right now considering the way America keeps blaming Iran for whats going on in Iraq and the never ending talk of war with Iran.
This is a good article.
I agree, this is a very good article; moreover, it is also a very necessary article. For a society that claims to value diversity and understanding it is sad how quick we are to demonize those from different cultures with different views. That’s not to say that one must necessarily agree with the views but at least be willing to give them a fair hearing. Thanks again for the perspective.