Do you think I'm Crazy?

Yesterday, Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinjad, was the keynote speaker at the UN’s forum on racism in Geneva. Sounds crazy, right? I mean, how can a guy who stated that the country of Israel should be wiped off the face of the planet even be given the opportunity to take the podium at a conference on racism? Well, I found out that UN bylaws give heads of state preferential treatment over other speakers if they’re part of their country’s delegation as Ahmadinjad was yesterday. Still, it’s kind of crazy to hear him speak at a conference on racism. So anyway, I’m watching clips of what happened yesterday and I see these hecklers wearing clown wigs jump out from nowhere and begin calling Ahmadinjad a racist. Then, before security could usher them out, the group began to throw what looked like deflated balloons at him. Yet, what really killed me was when most of the attending European delegations like France and Finland walked out during his speech. It’s as if they didn’t know how Mahmoud Ahmadinjad got down when he’s placed in front of a camera. Come on now, Ahmadinjad is like Ol’ Dirty Bastard: at some point in time he’s going say or do something ridiculously crazy in front of everybody.

However, the problem that people have with Ahmadinjadisn't isn't that he has a tendency to say crazy things like the Holocaust never happened. No, rather the reason why people have a problem with him is because he has a tendency to point out glaring hypocrisies that we in the west hate admitting to. For instance, one of the reasons why Israel didn't participate in yesterday’s conference is because they knew that Ahmadinjad’s speech would be littered with criticism of Israel’s treatment of their Arab citizens. Now you can argue all day about who is justified in this war, but, to be honest, neither side has presented a fully compelling argument in why they are justified in their continued actions towards the other. Still, western media outlets' coverage of the continuing conflict depict Jews as the innocent victims, while Muslims are viewed as barbarous hate mongers. Well in my 26 years on this earth I've come to realize that very few things in this world are black and white, rather the world in which we live is filled with hues of gray. For instance, was it not just in December of last year when Israel began to send guided missiles into Gaza, killing more than 1400 people? Sure, they were trying to stave off attacks from Hamas, but their reckless led to the death of innocent women and children. Now, from the eyes of someone looking objectively, this kind of recklessness shows contempt for the lives of innocent Muslims in the same way that Hamas’s terrorism shows contempt towards the lives of innocent Jews. Also, in borrowing a talking point from Ahmadinjad's speech on Monday, the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state was partially engendered by the actions of Jewish terror cells after WWII. It was during this time that Jewish terrorist bombed British armaments and killed Palestinian citizens in order to force the passage of Israel as a Jewish state. It's therefore funny to me how western media vilifies Muslim extremist for their fight to obtain state sovereignty when Jewish terror cells involved themselves in the same actions to establish state sovereignty in the 40’s. This isn't to say that I agree with Muslims extremist that engaging in terrorist actions. Nonetheless, the double standard at practice in this particular example is too blatant for me to look past.

Personally, I feel that western media outlet’s biased coverage of the continued struggle in the Middle East exacerbates the situation. For instance, when video of the walk out during Ahmadinjad’s speech was aired on television, a great number of political pundits praised the European delegations for their bold actions. At the same time, these same pundits vilified Ahmadinjad for his brash remarks about Israel and his false imprisonment of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi. Now I’m not saying that their points were not valid: Ahmadinjad has said some really crazy shit in his Presidency and the imprisonment of Roxana Saberi is truly unjustified. Yet, no one commented on Ahmadinjad’s remarks about the treatment of Arabs by Israel or the hypocrisy expressed through his reference to Jewish terrorism during the 40’s. This loss of objectiveness in western media’s coverage of the continued drama in the Middle East goes against the purpose of the media. The media’s job is to present both sides of the story and let the reader come to their own conclusions about the information being presented. I personally don’t agree with the majority of what Ahmadinjad says in regards to Israel or the Holocaust. Yet, when he says things that have factual information to substantiate his claim, I can’t help but agree. It’s my feeling that Ahmadinjad should be taken serious because he does make valid points at times. But more importantly Ahmadinjad should be taken seriously because his views towards the west and Israel are held by a lot of people in the Muslim world. When we play him off like he’s a lunatic, it’s almost like playing off the millions of people who hold onto similar views as him. And it is from this passive take towards their opinions which fosters feelings of disrespect from the Muslim world. This in turn plays a part in emboldening Islamic extremist to continue in their reign of terrorism.