American Left Plants Kiss of Judas Upon the Iranian People

Richard Fernandez:

In an article dealing with the infatuation of some sections of the Western press with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Lee Smith argues that whatever the diplomats do, the Western intelligensia endorses positions and mass movements all the time. It just depends on which. How does one reconcile the fear of irking Iran by supporting the students with the openness to dealing with Hezbollah, a sworn subverter of the Lebanese state? The answer perhaps is choice. It is horrifying to think but worth considering that in some perverse way some people have made the intellectual choice to admire the bad guys. Smith makes the argument that liberalism isn’t really as popular as one might think with the intelligensia; that of late a perverse infatuation with fascism and a deeply illiberal attraction for the strong horse exists where we would least suspect it. He wonders whether the desire to deal with strongmen isn’t an implicit acceptance that they are the wave of the future. In other words perhaps the West has lost faith in democracy in the Third World just as people in these countries are discovering it. How did it happen?

Many of the veterans of the Western left are at pains to point out to their younger colleagues that their admiration for the Islamic Resistance is misplaced, that Hezbollah does not share their progressive values, their interest in, say, women’s rights or gay marriage. But it is the old-time leftists who are mistaken, for the rising generation that admires Hezbollah knows all that – and as I said, it is not about values.
[...]
[A]n entire generation of Western Europeans and Americans, the cream of our cultural elite, has been shaped by an intellectual current that despises liberalism [i.e. classical liberalism, or what we in America would call conservatism which believes in freedom and human rights] and dismisses as mediocre the universal humanism that prizes the same values across cultures, from the US and Europe to the Middle East. Instead, it welcomes the return of the magic, the blood and power, the violence of the strongman. Why we never imagined that these ideas would affect how people interacted with the world around them and interpreted it is hard to explain. What is easy to explain is why Western journalists, academics, writers and artists are in love with the Islamic Resistance – it is not despite the violence, but because of it. So how would they like it if an armed gang ran through New York, London or Paris? In effect, it already has.

It would be ironic if the diplomatic establishment consents to talk to the commanders of the Hezbollah and the paymasters of the Basijis before it could nerve itself to talk to the Iranian students in the street. Maybe the reason that the guilt-stricken Western intelligensia has avoided bestowing the “kiss of death” upon the Iranian demonstrators is that it has already planted the kiss of Judas upon their crimson cheeks.

On Saturday, I commented the following on a left blog which, to all appearances, is cheerleading for Khamenei to quell the uprisings and negotiate with wise and persuasive Barack:

Why are you, Mac, and you, Tas, the only people on this blog who are outraged about peaceful Iranians being beaten and killed and oppressed? If the Palestinians were protesting in the streets, and Jews on motorbikes rolled in and beat them with batons, this entire blog would erupt in outrage and protest. Why is not the same outrage directed at a government in Iran which is oppressive and murderous? You open yourself to this:

DrewM asks: “Remember when the left cared about governments mowing down people?”
Dave replies: “No”.

Dave’s point being: the left hates Israel more than they care about Palestinians, Iranians, or Georgians; more than they care about Taliban-oppressed Afghanis or Saddam-oppressed Iraqi Shiites and Iraqi Kurds. I’m not going to say Dave’s point is correct. But I do note his point, and I note the vast, vast different reaction on this blog to the oppression of various peoples. I do note the left too often works itself into a corner where they end up muddled and not clearly standing against the Taliban, not clearly standing against Saddam, not clearly standing against Russia in it’s invasion of Georgia, and not clearly and distinctly standing against Khamenei and Ahmadinejad. This is muddled morality.

Today Barack unmistakably criticized Khamenei and the Iranian government. There is no reason for any moral person to hold back their outrage against the murders which occurred today. Everyone here ought take unleash their outrage. Put the lie to the accusations of the Daves of the world. Show everyone that you care about innocent persons being oppressed and murdered - no matter who the innocents are, no matter who the oppressive murderers are. Show everyone that, for you, it is about injustice and about immorality, as opposed to merely being about personal anger at the Israelis. Take a clear and evident stand against Khamenei. Doing so will be good for the spirit and the soul: it will be cleansing; clarifying. It cannot have been fun to not unload on the Taliban, on Saddam, on Russia. Unload on Khamenei. Have some fun. Unburden your souls.

Khamenei has planned for this type of uprising amongst Iranians. During the daytime, the violence is bad, but somewhat tamped down. However, during the night, government forces are murdering protest leaders in their homes; and reportedly murdering their families. The night is a reign of terror. And the days are bad enough. Watch this video. Listen to the gunfire in the background. These are the students many on the American left are betraying in favor of rooting on (hopeless) negotiation by the god Barack. These are the students whom the left Judas is betraying.