Swompdonkey

Amin al-Ansari: Scholar‏

Your downer of the day

Warning: Very Disturbing Images



Is it a bit disingenuous of me to post something like this and claim that al-Ansari's "scholarly" take is an accepted version of history and his views representative of widely-held opinions in a certain part of the globe? Fair enough, I won't make that claim.

What do I suspect, however, is that this particular "interpretation" of history is common and accepted at least enough to be broadcast on television in an authoritarian state. Res ipsa loquitur, right?

Given the brain-melting historical revisionism by a cleric who I can only presume is marginally acceptable to his viewers as an authority on his religion (would he be on TV otherwise?), if not on the perfidies of the Jews, I can only conclude that those idealistic naifs who think peace in the Middle East is within reach will inevitably realize they have an Everest of ignorance and hatred to conquer before it even becomes a remote possibility.

After all, this is no "man on the street" interview with a crackpot bigot, or truther conspiracy web-based video nonsense. This is a TV host in the studio of a publicly broadcast channel educating his viewers --you know, just like over here, with Oprah and all the other celebrities telling us what to read and how to vote!

If viewers over there accept that what this guy tells them is the truth (like middle class ladies eat up Oprah), how could they ever contemplate peace with the state --or should I say "entity", of their avowed and implacable foe?

As long as this is the type of "history" being peddled and accepted at face value in certain parts of the world, peace is not within reach.

I'm not "hopeful"