Disrespectful to the People of Iran

Frederick Douglass said simply of the catalyst for change, “Agitate. Agitate. Agitate.”  The people of Iran have listened, and they have seen for themselves what agitation can do.  So has, in fact, Ayatollah Khamenei, who participated thirty years ago in the revolution in his country that ousted the American-friend Shah.  His simple disavowal today of the protest he has ordered violently disrupted as the visual and intellectual manipulation of Western governments and foreign media is “disrespectful to the people of Iran.”

He has forgotten, as have those in the minority political party in the United States, that crowing loudly the reality you wish to be true does not make it so.  Stepping up and taking action, as Neda and the thousands of Iranians both inside and outside the Islamic Republic of Iran have shown in the three weeks since the selection of President Ahmedinijad, is the way that change is fomented, that HOPE is made real.  President Obama has purposefully kept the United States out of Iranian affairs because our history of meddling (don’t misunderstand me: the United States interferes with other countries’ governments at our whim) must change also. Recently in his speech in Moscow, President Obama eulogized and then put to rest the Bush Doctrine:

Now let me be clear: America cannot and should not seek to impose any system of government on any other country, nor would we presume to choose which party or individual should run a country. And we haven’t always done what we should have on that front.”

To infiltrate, to incite, to select the Iranian leader from Washington would be “disrespectful to the people of Iran.”

A friend on (and off) of Facebook recently posted his hope that “the Iranian people aren’t throwing themselves on the sword for nothing.”  I echo his sentiments, as I repudiate the ridiculousness of the Supreme Leader’s machinations.  Let the re-vote begin soon.  That will be showing respect to the people of Iran.