Sunday, May 05, 2013

The Iranian Al Gore

Kazem Sedighi

A powerful and influential Iranian cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, has blamed the frequent earthquakes in his country on the lose morals of women … and, if you are skeptical of this connection, please see The Conversation. The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, apparently agrees.  This logic seems to revolve around a gigantic “earthquake machine” (apparently not built by Halliburton) which is stimulated by immodest female dress and adultery.

This all seems quite sensible to me … in that, if there is a deleterious effect of nature (real or imagined) and there is a societal dislocation that is constantly plaguing one’s psyche … then they must be causally connected.  And, to prove such a connection, one need only construct a seductive rant that a naive public will swallow (a PowerPoint presentation and a slick documentary movie using polar bears and penguins also helps).  This is a proven recipe for powerful political influence and substantial monetary gain.

I fully expect Kazem Sedighi to win next year’s Nobel Peace Prize (or at least the Physics Prize).

No comments: