With her most recent concert at NIAC’s recent event, that proves once again why I have been saying (contrary to their mission statement) they are the best-organized opposition movement we’ve got, Shirin Ebadi, once again, sadly showed the reason why we have been repeatedly disappointed in her.
This appearance, has proven once again that Ms. Ebadi’s personal goal of being the “Best Damn DMV Clerk I can be!”, through her repeated obsessive-compulsive strategy of trying to work through Iran’s rigged legal system to achieve non-change, is nothing more than the grand failure to communicate with a beast, she herself admits refuses to listen to her.
Ebadi, very clearly and truthfully admits and lays out the options that are unavailable to turn Iran into the Secular Democracy she “envisions” for an ideal Iran (one day). She even identifies the only 2 possible paths this can take. And then after describing the 2 paths in detail, promptly tells us, that these 2 paths aren’t really paths, as much as they are really chambers in the regime’s colon, and that they are naturally and completely blocked.
Hence the constipation. Hence reform in Iran is for shit.
On the Green movement, whose color was never acknowledged for obvious reasons, Ebadi claimed it as a political movement and not a religious one, which was a good call, albeit a “Duh” obvious one. If anyone has seen even any minute of the ample YouTube footage of 2009 and beyond, about the only obvious take-away is that a lot of green-clad, good looking Iranian youth, really want change, more text-messaging allowance, better speed internet, and not any more religion please.
But once again, infuriatingly, nothing much on the “how do we get out of this mess?”, front.
Is it me? Am I unreasonable to expect a Martin Luther King-style miracle from our Nobel winner? Does Ms. Ebadi really not know what is so obvious that needs to be done? Or, has she been so intimidated by the very intimidating security forces in Iran, with their no doubt very graphic and detailed suggestions of what they will be only too happy to do to her, and her entire family and neighborhood? To the point where the obvious is now obfuscated in objective reasonable polite doubt.
“You could do this, but they won’t let you do that. And of course you could also do that, but the government so far has not given any indication that they will allow you to do this.”
The other argument that makes my fur fly, is this one, “We do not want any outside foreign help or interference or war or bloodshed in Iran, even if it is to help us do what we cannot possibly ever do ourselves, because this government has so far not shown any interest in reasonable reform or even allowing any sort of discussion on that topic, that we cannot discuss.”
Or, “Whatever it is that I am saying we want to do, what I will say is that we want to do it ourselves, even though there is no way we can ever do the thing that we must do, by ourselves. At this time.”
This continual sickness of “Not my Job, I’m just a court lawyer”, continually being the front and foremost mantra, subject, and main topic of Ebadi’s book signings (Jeez how many copies of this book did they print!), are now Insulting and Pointless and Sad, really. I mean really!
Insulting, because we and Ebadi already know all the things that she can do and worse, is capable of doing, yet won’t do. (See: Gandhi, MLK handbook on Civil Disobedience 101, UCLA course code: CIVDIS101)
Pointless, because if Ebadi always says the same thing, what’s the point of golf-clapping while we sit obediently on wedding-stained hotel chairs, hearing her say the same thing she said last time, again?
And Sad, because with this self-imprisoning act she performs each time she wanders off the reservation, you suddenly realize that the poor girl might be ‘flicted with a Turrets type disease that makes her gaze out emotion-lessly across an audience waiting for something profound, and then like Peter Sellers’ Chauncey Gardner, states the mere profound sounding obvious, with a corresponding long drawn out explanation;
Ebadi: “You can take 1+1 and that will sometimes = 2, but then sometimes you can take 2 and that will = 1+1, but of course to this day, the government of Iran won’t allow any open discussion of simple math.”
Us: “Ah! So what you are saying Ms. Ebadi, is to wait and not upset the regime just yet?
Ebadi: “As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.”
Us: “In the garden? Ah! So by the garden do you mean Iran?”
Ebadi: “Yes. In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again.”
Us: “So what you’re saying is… wait for Spring, wait, what?”
Ebadi: “Yes! There will be growth in the spring!”
Us: “I see, so wait until the Spring, then start up the protest marches again, right? Right? Huh?”
Ebadi: “I like to watch.”
My only question for Ebadi, had I been in the room, would have been this,
“Ms. Ebadi, when are you ever going to stop wasting your time with this non-speak nonsense, and get up and start marching to Khamenei’s house demanding, “No Reform, No Peace!”?
Because not only is that about the only thing left for her to do in her fast wasting life, it is the only thing that has historically (even in Iran) been proven to work!
There is absolutely no doubt that Ms. Ebadi has the qualifications, intelligence, credibility, and talents to be the first Iranian President.
That is not a mis-statement, I did not leave out woman. I meant first REAL Iranian President.
All Shirin has to do is stand up and reach out. We’ll do the rest, and place Iran and our future into her caring, loving, capable hands.
Even if at this writing, she is a completely batty, stark, raving, crazy old loon!
