You can't win

Ever on the alert for the sensational, the news media were all over the storm this morning, predicting 3-6" of snow for the Boston area, but by midday it's already turned to rain, and predictions have been downgraded to less than an inch. Baby caught the best of it just after breakfast when he stepped out briefly to see which way the wind was blowing.

"You will not be accepted as a champion of human rights unless you attack the United States," writes Iranian author Amir Taheri, describing the ravages of Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) among "the great and the good":

Together with several colleagues, I had been trying for months to persuade the Western media to take an interest in [Akbar] Ganji, a former Khomeinist revolutionary who is now campaigning for human rights and democracy [as a prisoner of conscience in Tehran's Evin Prison]. But we never got anywhere because of one small hitch: President Bush had spoken publicly in support of Ganji and called for his immediate release.

And that, as far as a good part of the Western media is concerned, amounts to a kiss of death. How could newspapers that portray Bush as the world's biggest "violator of human rights" endorse his call in favor of Ganji?

To overcome that difficulty, some of Ganji's friends had tried to persuade him to make a few anti-American, more specifically anti-Bush, pronouncements so that the Western media could adopt him as a "hero-martyr."

Taheri had been surprised but delighted to learn that the Foreign Press Association would be honoring Ganji at its annual awards ceremony, but pleasure soon gave way to horror as BDS sufferer and "UNICEF Ambassador" Bianca Jagger mounted the podium and began to speak:

She started by telling us about her recent trips to Tehran and Damascus, presumably the two capitals of human rights that she likes best, and how she had been told "by officials and others" that she and other Westerners had "no moral authority" to talk about human rights and freedom.

She then proceeded by saying it is all very well to remember Ganji but that should not prevent us from remembering "those held in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, and all other secret prisons" that the United States is supposed to be running all over the world.

We were going to compare the effects of BDS on the mind to the effects of flesh-eating bacteria on the body, but Dr. Sanity cuts to the chase:

I would say they are in the middle of a full-fledged panic attack. Why? Because if Bush's policies are successful in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East -- these groups know that they will be frozen out of power for years to come.

Let's hope so, for our own sakes and for the sake of the animals, now boarding the Friday Ark at Modulator.

Update:  Speaking of "you can't win," Pajamas Media links to us in their post about the 2005 Weblog Awards with a cheery "sisu, not in the running, gives a lively argument for voting 'early and often.'" Gak.

Comments

[Teresa]

Still snowing like mad here! I believe we are now hovering between 4-5 inches on the ground and no let-up in sight. If it was rain... you'd say it's pouring. *grin*

It's amazing how the libs can just look the other way on human rights violations just to try and "get back" at Mr. Bush. Then again - logical consistency has never been their watch word... it's only what makes THEM feel good - to hell with the rest of the world.

[Laura Lee Donoho]

Lucky you! I don't know when I began to miss snow but lately I have. And we just got a taste of it yesterday. Your cat is magnificent. Every photo is beautiful.

[beautifulatrocities]

I saw the Bianca Jagger thing somewhere else & just assumed it was a parody. What a twit

[Sissy Willis]

Yes, but these people get face time. Whassat all about?