Since I just - again - saw a report on a man from Iran, who fled to Austria with his young daughter, I would like to write a word or two about what I learned about Iran lately. Austria is planning to deport the man with his daughter. He used to be a wealthy car dealer in Iran, is fully integrated in Austria, speaks fluent German, his daughter sounds like an Austrian girl and is a strong column in her school community. The reason for the two having fled from Iran was political oppression. The girl’s mother disappeared after an interrogation by officials. Nevertheless, officials in Austria do not see any reason to give them political asylum and the process of deportation is pending. The community is backing the family and giving them widespread support; even the cop, who initially pulled them as illegal aliens from a train is supporting their case.
I, thinking of myself as a globally conscious and politically interested individual, still get the feeling, that I don’t even have any clue about what life in Iran is actually like. As much as I am against discriminating against people for the religion they believe in, I must say that I have really had it with about all religions and wish that there was a wider opposition against this craziness, taking place under the veil of “religious freedom”. Especially when it comes to a mingling of politics and religion, the insanity seems to know no boundaries. This is already visible in western states (see born-again President of a big English-speaking world power), but once this is at a scale as it is taking place in Iran, I find it hard to comprehend how this is possible.
Just a couple of days ago, I watched the Discovery Times documentary “Execution in Iran” and cannot even express the disgust in what is being reported there about 16-year old Atefah Sahaaleh. A girl, age 16, executed in a public hanging for committing “acts incompatible with chastity”. Deprived even of her last wish, executed without notifying the family, in front of the whole village by pulling her up on a crane-truck with a rope around her neck. Congratulations Mr. Ahmadinejad. You morons just reached a new low. Is this standard in Iran? Even if not - human right seems to be a word, non-existent in the Iranian language. As much as Hussein was an asshole, if there is a comparison in crimes against humanity, Iran seems to be quite a notch worse than Iraq. Countries that are being governed by religious rules just don’t work. There is too much power and agenda involved in both religion and government. Even without these extreme (?) examples, the regular punishment system and the fu(king Sharia as basis for the laws, there is no reason to defend these freaks. Free the people of Iran.
Not having heard too much about this movie ahead of time, I was surprised to find myself in a situation that felt like distance learning or an online class. Al Gore gives a 90-minute lecture on the change in our global environment. Mostly clear, concerning in many points, the movie makes a good point in visualizing what has changed in the Earth’s climate over the last 50 years and also shows the connections between various factors. Sometimes it feels like there are almost too many examples to back up the numbers, at other times a little bit of frustration and payback time concerning Gore’s own recent past peeks through (who would blame him). The political stubbornness is shown very well and some examples of lobbies and HR-decisions are just mind-boggling.
Disappointing. While I did enjoy a lot of the old school Ali G skits - especially the ones on Channel 4 - this movie was less than satisfying. For one, the most controversial and funny scenes had already been broadly discussed in the mainstream media, and then even I didn’t feel comfortable with some of the “jokes” Sasha Baron Cohen pulled on his victims. While I am in total favor of showing people their own stupidity (see frat boys, rodeo organizer, jesus freaks,…) there were a few pieces that seemed kind of mean and set up in a way, which the victims really didn’t have much of a chance to escape from (see car dealer, trying to stay friendly). Other scenes were simply gross; while I don’t have a problem with that, I also think of myself being beyond a stage, where I would spend money (or time) to see a fat guy resting his testies on another guys face. If I wanted to see more of that, I’d watch “Jackass”.