The Lord of the Rings in Iran
I just found an amazing quote which was printed in a thought provoking interview by the German publication, Der Spiegel, this week (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,418660,00.html). At some point during the discussion the Iranian prime minister states:
"I will only accept something as truth if I am actually convinced of it"
Wow! This is certainly the ramblings of a man whose world view is being fixed internally without the proper acceptance of any data from outside his malfunctioning brain. I think the best way to explain this process is to look at another famous individual who created a world in his mind and wrote all about it. This was J.R.R. Tolkien.
For those of you who do not know how the story of the Lord of the Rings was originally thought up, the professor J.R.R. Tolkien was generally upset that for England, there existed no real mythology as there was for Greeks or other cultures. Therefore, he set out to make up one. He was extremely serious about the effort and the writings about the world that he created in his mind are vast. He created languages, different cultures, species of animals, histories that were as long and detailed as real histories. The tale of The Lord of the Rings which was made into the movies that we all know are just a small portion of the overall creation that Tolkien put down as the detailed history of Middle-Earth.
Of course, Tolkien knew that the world he was creating was a total fantasy. A made up construct for him to explore aspects of linguistics which was his focus of interest at University. Unfortunately, the Iranian prime minister has his own world construct in his head which he thinks is real. Even more unfortunate is that some of us have a right to exist in his world and some of us do not and this is not a fantasy, this is his reality.
And where does this leave us? We are now a few months since I began writing about Iran and the mad man in charge. The world remains at an impass, the U.N. is impotent as ever, the U.S. is making some diplomatic overtures, Russia and China are making too much money from Iran so they don't want to rock the boat, and Europe is working with the IAEA most likely planning a date to have a meeting to discuss the available dates for the next meeting on Iran.
The Der Spiegel interview should serve as a serious reminder as to the kind of individual the Iranian prime minister is. A man whose world reality is all in his head. A man whose truth is only that which can pass his internal litmus test. Unfortunately, his reality is not going to result in entertaining books and movies. It might possibly effect every last one of us in much more serious and sad ways.
"I will only accept something as truth if I am actually convinced of it"
Wow! This is certainly the ramblings of a man whose world view is being fixed internally without the proper acceptance of any data from outside his malfunctioning brain. I think the best way to explain this process is to look at another famous individual who created a world in his mind and wrote all about it. This was J.R.R. Tolkien.
For those of you who do not know how the story of the Lord of the Rings was originally thought up, the professor J.R.R. Tolkien was generally upset that for England, there existed no real mythology as there was for Greeks or other cultures. Therefore, he set out to make up one. He was extremely serious about the effort and the writings about the world that he created in his mind are vast. He created languages, different cultures, species of animals, histories that were as long and detailed as real histories. The tale of The Lord of the Rings which was made into the movies that we all know are just a small portion of the overall creation that Tolkien put down as the detailed history of Middle-Earth.
Of course, Tolkien knew that the world he was creating was a total fantasy. A made up construct for him to explore aspects of linguistics which was his focus of interest at University. Unfortunately, the Iranian prime minister has his own world construct in his head which he thinks is real. Even more unfortunate is that some of us have a right to exist in his world and some of us do not and this is not a fantasy, this is his reality.
And where does this leave us? We are now a few months since I began writing about Iran and the mad man in charge. The world remains at an impass, the U.N. is impotent as ever, the U.S. is making some diplomatic overtures, Russia and China are making too much money from Iran so they don't want to rock the boat, and Europe is working with the IAEA most likely planning a date to have a meeting to discuss the available dates for the next meeting on Iran.
The Der Spiegel interview should serve as a serious reminder as to the kind of individual the Iranian prime minister is. A man whose world reality is all in his head. A man whose truth is only that which can pass his internal litmus test. Unfortunately, his reality is not going to result in entertaining books and movies. It might possibly effect every last one of us in much more serious and sad ways.
posted by Joey Goze at 10:16 PM
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