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Tell Me No Lies
for release 09-28-07
Washington DC
by Lightning Rod
The Poet's Eye has spent numerous hours this week examining the performances of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the US of A. In his whirlwind tour of the American media world, he was on Sixty Minutes, appeared at Columbia University and the United Nations and was interviewed by Charlie Rose and almost everybody else on TV but Ellen DeGeneres. I expected to see him on The View. Whoopie would probably have worn a veil for the occasion.
Ahmadinejad's visit pointed up several things about our country and our culture. The first thing it indicated was our hypocrisy. The fact that there were grumblings in the press and demonstrations in the street about the president of Iran having the right to speak before an audience of students at a major US university troubles me. Freedom of speech is the most fundamental American value. That's why it's in the very first amendment to our Constitution. Let the man make a fool of himself, as he amply did with his claims that Iran was a homo-free zone. But don't invite him to the land of the free and then protest that he shouldn't have the right to speak.
The second thing that The Poet's eye noticed was the fact that both our Western culture and religion and politics and the culture and politics and religion of the Middle East are incomprehensibly intertwined.
For the most part Ahmadinejad sounded like a statesman, no he sounded like an uber-statesman evangelist complete with gravitas and humor--a Gandhi or a Mandela. I was very impressed with him. He seemed to have a good grasp of history and spiritualism. He had a pacific and welcoming style. He had me in the palm of his hand actually.... UNTIL he delivered the Iranian version of 'don't ask, don't tell.' I thought that DeNile ran through Egypt. Who knew it was in Iran? I guess if you can deny that the holocaust existed you can deny that there are gay bars in Tehran.
The third thing that Ahmadinejad's visit illustrated was that all governments run on lies. It's just a question of who is the bigger and the better liar.
There is a rule in the world of con men. It says this: "If you are trying to tell the big lie, then you can't tell small lies." It ruins your credibility.
Maybe something was lost in the translation. Maybe Ahmadinejad was joking about Iran having no queers. He seemed otherwise intelligent. I could hardly believe that he was uttering such a banal lie in front of a mixed audience.
I haven't been to Iran. I don't know what the conditions on the ground there are. I don't know if the people there consider themselves to be free or in bondage to an Islamic tyranny. I don't know if they are enriching uranium for peaceful or hostile purposes. But I do know that there are fairies in Iran. There are fairies everywhere. Don't try to tell me small lies.
I know what the American media and government tell me. Now I know what the president of Iran tells me. And they don't match up. These are all small lies, yet somehow I feel like I'm being told the big lie.
This is how it always starts, especially in media-politics. First the politician is caught in the small lie and then the big lies become apparent. It happened with Nixon, it happened with Bush. If you tell lies, even small ones, you have no authority even when you speak the truth. It's been described as crying wolf.
Oh ... I got one thing to tell ya', then you make up your mind.
It's what I been tryin' to tell ya', for a long, long time.
We need each other, to live in peace and harmony.
Don't need a whole lot to give, 'cause love is for free.
I ... I got one thing to tell ya',
I ... oooo, I ain't tryin' to sell ya',
No lies.--Grand Funk Railroad
