I am reminded, and by an American, too, that yesterday was the anniversary of King John signing Magna Carta, perhaps the greatest example of the dreaded 'Law of Unintended Consequences' the world has ever seen. It co-incides with events in Iran where instead of robber barons armed with swords we have a militant middle-class armed with 'Blackberrys'! The essence of the events, however, is very similar, a particular group rising up in order to insist on what it calls its 'rights'. At this stage no-one can tell how the Iranian imbroglio will end; in the short term, the scimitar being mightier than the key-board, the mullahs will probably have their way, but somehow one senses that the ground has shifted beneath their feet. Of course, if 'New Iran' eventually wins over 'Old Iran' then the perpetrators of the revolution, or their successors, will suffer under the same dread Law that later caught out the landed aristocracy in Britain.
My perception of the Iranian version of Islam is that it is hateful and loathsome, somewhat akin to the Spanish version of Catholicism in the 16th century. However, it is not the only version of Islam on offer. One thinks of the Muslim rule over Spain in which infidels and Jews were easily tolerated. I am reminded of the Arab guide who took us on a bus tour of Tangiers pointing out the Christian quarter, the Jewish quarter and the Arab old town. An American lady piped up to ask how come they hadn't slaughtered each other? "Ah", said the guide, "We're all too busy making money to bother with that sort of thing!" Even so, there is much of Islam with which I would disagree but I am a conservative (with a small 'c') and part of me mourns its eventual loss to the forces of (so-called) progress and the scientific rationalism of the West. I am forced to ask myself if life under the mullahs in Tehran and the enforced adherence to strict Muslim discipline is necessarily worse than life in a British or American city under the brutal indifference of liberal licence?
ADDITIONAL: This is a 'must read' for anyone seeking the subtleties behind Iran's strategic situation which is a good deal shakier than appears on the surface. (Thanks again to Alan Sullivan, much more of this and I'll have to start paying him!)
And don't miss 'Spengler's' two links. The first: Sex, drugs and Islam:
The second: A book review entitled: Predicting the death of Islam:
" I am forced to ask myself if life under the mullahs in Tehran and the enforced adherence to strict Muslim discipline is necessarily worse than life in a British or American city under the brutal indifference of liberal licence?"
Oh, come now. Teenagers hanging from cranes in the middle of streets, women buried to their waists while men chuck huge rocks at them, women forced into state-approved houses of prostitution, a leader who sees auras around people when he speaks to them at the UN, who believes in a hidden imam killing all the infidels, who denies the holocaust, who wants to erase an entire country from the map because he hates their race. Yeah, difficult choice.
Posted by: Dom | Tuesday, 16 June 2009 at 21:43
Not too difficult, Dom, when you read almost daily of teenagers (and others) regularly shot or stabbed by feral gangs of youths (girls as well as boys), down and outs attacked and set fire, rape as a norm, city (or even small town) centres no-go areas for the elderly on Fridays and Saturdays because of drunken rampaging, no-go areas for indigenous Brits in their own country, government-run social services who sit idly attending diversity training courses whilst children are being tortured to death, governed by a one-eyed psycho who believes he has a divine right to rule and refuses to face the people (or even his own party) in an election. . . oh, I could go on and on but I'm depressed enough already. But sure, Dom, whatever you say!
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 17 June 2009 at 08:31