reply by
John Calvin
7/16/2002 (19:38) |
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I havn't heard about a recent UN resolution but I assume it was made by the General assembly rather than the Security Council. Generally speaking Israel is in violation of numerous UN resolutions pertaining to the conflict in Palestine but avoids sanctions thruogh U.S. veto power on the Security Council.
To me the works of William James- arguably the greatest philosopher in American history and recognized as such by the rest of the academic world- resonate quite well with the 'fundamental' views of the leading religious leaders in Iran- Khomeini, Mutahhari, Khantami and even Khameini. It is also the case that these leaders studied James and other western philosopers, historians, social scientists and novelists during their long years of schooling, especially when they studied abroad but also as part of the established curriculums of their native schools.
There is a very disturbing assymetry in this regard. It is certain that idiots like Captain Marvel, Adam and other 'internet ilks' have never really examined the works of Iranian intellectuals ( probably not any western intellectuals either), and to be expected, but very few real academics in America have bothered to investigate the situation in Iran and how democracy has developed their since the first Revolution in 1905. Rather, they have mostly followed the line of an ignorant and self-serving press. No significant challenge to the press interpretation of events in Iran has emerged, not even from the likes of Chomsky, as a consequence. Notice that the books by Khomeini available at Barnes and Noble have never even been reviewed, fascinating, intellectually and spiritually challenging as they are. One important aspect of these works is they weay they mediate between the ideological dogmatism of the old, discredited Marxist-Lenist camp and 'fortress' of unrestrained Capitalism. And the debate between Constitutional law ( wherein the ultimate power of the Islamic State is embodied in Parliament as proposed Khomeini and supported by Khatami, vs the authority of the religious jurists resonates quite strongly in America in its debates over the power of the Courts and the Executive vs that of Congress ( as embodied in the debate surrounding 'The war powers act' for example.)
I think this is one reason Americans find it so convenient to think of the Islamic Revolution as a kind of luddite, reactionary, regressive movement- it helps them to avoid facing their own issues about the future of the American Republic. In fact, closer scrutiny of what's happening in Iran would help Americans solve some of their own difficult and seemingly intractible dilemas. A greater understanding of and sympathy for the Revolution ( ala William James) would certainly help revive the American 'Left', which, in my view, has relegated itself to a position of almost complete irrelevancy and impotence in the American political scene.
Naturally, taking the time and expending the energy setting forth my views- based on more than twenty years of serious scholarship, is completely wasted on people like Adam, Marvel and so forth. Even on a guy like AZ who is so enamoured of empty polemical gestures.
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