Tuesday, December 29, 2009
A New Theater Critic
Today a well known beacon of culture decided to try out an avocation that he had yet to attempt. This man, renowned throughout the globe as a level-headed voice of reason, has announced to the world that protests against him are "a theater play by the Zionists and the Americans" and that Zionists and Americans have "purchased tickets to this play and are the only audience."
I am speaking of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mr. Ahmadinejad is already known as a noted historian. He claims to have proof that the Holocaust is fiction. So the death camp that my father stumbled upon with a group of U.S. Army Rangers was actually a figment of his imagination. Yes, according to Mr. Ahmadinejad my father imagined this vision, along with the imaginations of hundreds of other servicemen of the American and Russian armies in dozens of locations throughout Germany, Austria, Poland and Latvia in 1945.
Being both American and a Jew I could take the somewhat paranoid view and believe he's talking directly to me. After all, I have spent most of my adult life in the theater. I am a member of the Theater Development Fund, which entitles me to discount tickets to Broadway and off-Broadway shows. I just checked the website. Mass protests in Tehran are not on the list. I'm guessing that means the protests are selling out and don't need help from TDF.
The protests are timed for an Islamic holy day, and this has inspired the forthright and honest President of Iran to brand those who protest against him as "offenders against the religion."
Spokesmen of various departments of the Iranian government at first denied that protests were in progress. Later the spokesmen amended this to stating that any deaths were not at the hands of state security forces.
Earlier today I saw video from the streets of Tehran where a police vehicle is driving at a high rate of speed into a crowd of people. A woman's body was seen being driven over. The vehicle is seen backing up and driving over the body a second time. So I'm guessing that the Iranian government's spokesman was meaning that it was not the security forces killing the protesters, as much as it was the security forces' vehicles doing the actual damage.
The chief prosecutor said that deaths in the streets of Tehran were caused by people being "struck by hard objects." Car bumpers, for instance. In the case of the woman on the video, softer objects were likely involved as well. Tires.
In addition, the nephew of the leader of the opposition was assassinated on the street in a drive-by shooting. Witnesses said that the man was shot directly in the heart and was dead within seconds. This conflicted with the view of one of the official news outlets in Tehran, which reported that the man died because of a delay in taking him to the hospital, and that he died of blood loss. I'm not an expert, but I have heard that a gunshot wound to the heart does cause blood loss, and that a delay of treatment could bring about the death of the patient. In this case, a delay in treatment of five or ten seconds would have been sufficient to bring about the demise of the poor slob who happened to be related to someone who is vocal in his disagreement with President Ahmadinejad.
As night has fallen, the people of Tehran are currently at intermission. The next act begins tomorrow. I doubt that they are at the concessions stand buying T-shirts and souvenir programs.
I am speaking of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mr. Ahmadinejad is already known as a noted historian. He claims to have proof that the Holocaust is fiction. So the death camp that my father stumbled upon with a group of U.S. Army Rangers was actually a figment of his imagination. Yes, according to Mr. Ahmadinejad my father imagined this vision, along with the imaginations of hundreds of other servicemen of the American and Russian armies in dozens of locations throughout Germany, Austria, Poland and Latvia in 1945.
Being both American and a Jew I could take the somewhat paranoid view and believe he's talking directly to me. After all, I have spent most of my adult life in the theater. I am a member of the Theater Development Fund, which entitles me to discount tickets to Broadway and off-Broadway shows. I just checked the website. Mass protests in Tehran are not on the list. I'm guessing that means the protests are selling out and don't need help from TDF.
The protests are timed for an Islamic holy day, and this has inspired the forthright and honest President of Iran to brand those who protest against him as "offenders against the religion."
Spokesmen of various departments of the Iranian government at first denied that protests were in progress. Later the spokesmen amended this to stating that any deaths were not at the hands of state security forces.
Earlier today I saw video from the streets of Tehran where a police vehicle is driving at a high rate of speed into a crowd of people. A woman's body was seen being driven over. The vehicle is seen backing up and driving over the body a second time. So I'm guessing that the Iranian government's spokesman was meaning that it was not the security forces killing the protesters, as much as it was the security forces' vehicles doing the actual damage.
The chief prosecutor said that deaths in the streets of Tehran were caused by people being "struck by hard objects." Car bumpers, for instance. In the case of the woman on the video, softer objects were likely involved as well. Tires.
In addition, the nephew of the leader of the opposition was assassinated on the street in a drive-by shooting. Witnesses said that the man was shot directly in the heart and was dead within seconds. This conflicted with the view of one of the official news outlets in Tehran, which reported that the man died because of a delay in taking him to the hospital, and that he died of blood loss. I'm not an expert, but I have heard that a gunshot wound to the heart does cause blood loss, and that a delay of treatment could bring about the death of the patient. In this case, a delay in treatment of five or ten seconds would have been sufficient to bring about the demise of the poor slob who happened to be related to someone who is vocal in his disagreement with President Ahmadinejad.
As night has fallen, the people of Tehran are currently at intermission. The next act begins tomorrow. I doubt that they are at the concessions stand buying T-shirts and souvenir programs.
