May 21, 2006

Volokh on Iran's Jewish Parlimentarian

Who knew? Uh, anyone who's taken my class on the region's politics, anyone who's read most basic, introductory reports or chapters on the nature, workings and composition of the Iranian government ... This post serves as a reminder that when discussing Iran even the highly-educated lack much knowoledge of that regime (which many of them want us to go to war against - so, you know, reading an introductory chapter on its government might be worthwhile).

But what I found really telling about this post was the following phrase - "the presence of a non-set-aside Jewish politician would be much better evidence of social tolerance than the presence of a set-aside one". I agree with the sentiment - but if he's going to use that as a reason to disapprove of the Iranian regime, what must he think of the USA? How many African-Americans are elected to Congress from districts not specifically designed to ensure that? A tiny handful. Hispanics or gays? The same thing. If we use that rule to measure a society's level of social tolerance, the United States comes across as a strikingly intolerant place. So I'd be wary of casting stones against others on that basis.

Posted by armand at May 21, 2006 01:49 PM | TrackBack | Posted to International Affairs


Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?