Dictators and Dictator-Makers

It is not hard to talk about people whose general demeanor convince a person that they are petty and cruel dictators. It actually is easy to do so, even though it is bothersome and injurious on one’s conscience. What is hard is to talk about those that, dressed in an outfit of flattery and hypocrisy, push petty people toward dictatorship. This latter group of people plays no less a role in creating dictatorship than any petty, cruel dictator. We must not speak only of dictators, so long as dictator-makers are at work.

What has been written and said by politicians and hypocrites of all kinds about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s trip to New York and its accomplishments – when we look at it in depth – is more meaningful than the story of Gulliver’s encounter with Lilliputians. All those who have been, for years, involved in making dictators, began praising a man whose predecessors were soldiers, seminary students, or perhaps heads of a village or clan: petty people that rose up in hopes that an accident, a wish, a sentiment of anger, or a promise will bring them success.

The tent of freedom will not be set up in our country so long as there are those who package a cleric as a spiritual father, and a king as the kings of king; those who make an ayatollah out of such a petty man.

Dictatorship will not end in our country so long as there are those who label such trips as prophetic, comparing a petty dictator to “Kaveh,” the mythical hero of ancient Persia. Our story will remain the same so long as there are hands that stay on chests, and backs that bend for power.

He who, vying for fame and riches, speaks of “the miracle of third millennia” and “ayatollah,” is just as petty and cruel as is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and all other Mahmouds that are on the same path, that are and will be occupying the chairs of dictators. Alas that, at the moment of action, only kings of kings and spiritual fathers are targeted, and kingmakers and dictator-makers are let loose.

He who sits on the apex of a military dictatorship represents only the tip of an iceberg that is sticking out of the water – one must look beneath the surface. He who wore necktie yesterday is wearing a beard or a “chador” today. God knows when he will put on the outfit of an American soldier. We shall see.