2/08/2006

Iranian contradiction concerning the Holocaust

Today I was very surprised to hear that Iran's best-selling daily paper Hamshahri has launched a competition to find the best cartoon about the Holocaust. The reason for my surprise was not because the Holocaust is a forbidden taboo that can never be talked or joked about, it is because the newly elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently called the Holocaust a "myth." "Iran's Foreign Ministry has decided to hold a conference on the Holocaust to assess its scale by scientific means and discuss its consequences," a ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, told a news conference on Sunday.

It seems to me that Iran is facing a dilemma right now because they want to attack Israel and Jews in retribution for cartoons depicting Muhammad, but the cartoon contest should not be very offensive since according to their President the Holocaust is a "myth" that was created by Western powers to justify the creation of Israel in the heart of the Islamic world. Just as with their nuclear program, I think Iran needs to get their story straight before making statements.

Cartoon Contest Source
Holocaust myth source
Why protests where delayed

7 Comments:

Blogger Craig C said...

I agree, with some refinements. See my blog here:
http://blogresponder.blogspot.com/2006/02/cartoon-wars.html

08 February, 2006 08:42  
Blogger Craig C said...

I agree, with some refinements.

http://blogresponder.blogspot.com/2006/02/cartoon-wars.html

08 February, 2006 08:43  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not sure about your reasoning. Holocaust deniers believe the Holocaust to be a mythical exaggeration, and we non-Muslims believe Muhammad's life in the Koran to be a mythical exaggeration. But obviously those who believe it to be true are offended.

08 February, 2006 10:49  
Blogger iPouya said...

There's no contradiction. By Ahmadinejad calling it a myth, that in and of itself is offensive to Jews. Just bc he called it a myth, doesn't make it so.

08 February, 2006 12:47  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree. I think that this is just silly, emotionally adolescent bullshit. They might as well publish: neener, neener, neener while sticking their tongues out. I'm sure that he would say that he's doing this because many people seem to be emotionally attached to the Holocaust, even though he still believes it didn't exist. Sure, there will be some upset people...with good reason. But WE'RE NOT BLOWING SHIT UP. I wish I didn't believe that God was a benevolent entity. Part of me really wants to believe that when any of these people die they get the pitch fork up the ass.

08 February, 2006 20:27  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You make a good point. If you are interested, you can see some discussion of the cartoon dust up at

http://theservant.livejournal.com/163056.html

The bottom line is that a lot of people on all sides are using this issue to grind their own axes.

I'm curious how you stumbled across my little out-of-the-way page.

Jim

08 February, 2006 22:53  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes I agree with your assessment. On one hand Ahmadinejad is saying the Holocaust is a myth then he turns arund to have a conference about it and a cartoon contest. His remarks however may appear as a retaliation to the Muhammad cartoon but considering he started bashing Israel and the Jews before the cartoon controversy I am inclined to believe that he is trying to create a distraction from his nuclear program. He is mistaken though if he believed that this will gain him some Arab support. Sadam tried that ploy before by firing scuds at Israel and failed miserably. No one came to the resue. Ahmadinejad's ploy will have the same fate.

09 February, 2006 18:40  

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