Sunday, September 26, 2010

Ahmadinejad, and September 11th

The President of Iran, with his latest remarks about September 11th, continues to demonstrate how sinister he is.

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-202_162-6894683.html

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Ahmadinejad: "the future belongs to Iran"

On Sunday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's President, said that “it is clear the future belongs to Iran.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100919/ap_on_re_us/un_ahmadinejad_interview

Ahmadinejad's words reminded me of the chilling scene in the 1972 film Cabaret, in which a Hitler youth member begins singing the song “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” at a beer garden. During the course of the song, most of the people there join in.
Before posting this item, I checked on google to see if others had written of Ahmadinejad’s words, and the film. I found a couple of people who had—including, on Monday, an essayist for “The Corner,” the column which appears on the website of the National Review; the essayist's comments then appeared on a number of other websites.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/247133/will-future-belong-iran-benjamin-weinthal

Friday, September 10, 2010

September 11th

After some doubt as to what would occur, Florida pastor Terry Jones’s son says that the pastor’s plan to burn copies of the Koran on September 11th will not be taking place.

The minister‘s plan to burn the Koran was not simply vile, and dangerous. It also struck me as being utterly narcissistic.

September 11th has been (and should continue to be) a day focused upon memory, and tribute:  honoring the many victims of the 2001 catastrophe.  And honoring the many acts of courage and great heroism which took place that day.

Yet Mr. Jones—in what appears to have been profound self-centeredness—was re-directing the focus of September 11th.  America (and the world) would be directing its attention to him, and his plans, and his beliefs.

Let me also say the following:  in New York, tomorrow, protests/rallies will evidently be taking place. One side will be protesting against the planned mosque and Islamic center, to be built not far from Ground Zero. The other side will be rallying in support of the mosque.

I would hope these events can be postponed, and that September 11th can be observed as it has been observed in previous years: in reflection, in prayer, in gestures of remembrance, and in acts of public service.  September 11th should not be a day for protests, rallies, ideological confrontation.

Recommended Reading

The Plot Against America, by Philip Roth.

Roth’s novel is a compelling, inspired work—imagining what life might have been like for America, and for American Jews (with a particular focus upon one family from northern New Jersey, the Roth family, and its youngest son, Philip), had Charles Lindbergh become President of the United States, in 1940. It is a superb novel, by one of America’s finest writers.

http://www.amazon.com/Plot-Against-America-Philip-Roth/dp/1400079497