Is Anti-Iranian Racism Really Racist?

THAT ANNOYING PRESIDENT of iran, ahmadinejad, seems capable of getting under anybody's skin. Maybe its his seemingly belligerent attitude that does it. A rough and rowdy guy like senator john McCain can't resist forever the temptation to name call somebody like that something like "monkey".

In international politics, especially in diplomacy, such as between two countries who are truly trying to avoid war with each other, words mean things, as rush limbaugh once said, and one musn't let one's tongue get away from one. But, after all, McCain is a senator from arizona, not a diplomat.

If Harry Truman can spend three days with joseph stalin without using the term S.O.B in public, anything's possible. But the restraint free McCain unleashed the "M' word publicly on ahmadinejad, and now the fuss is being made about it. And the surprising thing is who is making the fuss. His own party, the G.O.P.

As most fusses are, this one is entirely unnecessary and avoidable, but, after all, we must have our fair share of righteous indignation and time in the soundbyte spotlight in our media driven celebrity culture. These days, when in doubt, go politically correct. It seems McCain's comment was "racist".

Racist in what way is anyone's guess. Was McCain's joke an insult against monkeys? If so, he is guilty of "speciesism". Of precisely what race is ahmadinejad a member? The Iranian race? The Persian race? Iranians are neither african black nor oriental yellow-red; ah! he must be caucasian white!  Exactly how many races are there, anyway? Maybe McCain was being "ethnicist", not "racist".

And why are the republicans making the racist accusation? To take the high moral ground from the liberal democrats? To strike first, and define the issue, before the libs join the fun? The liberals and democrats might as well say nothing at this point. Its already been said, by McCain's own people.

Who knows, if the republicans hadn't pounced on their own man, it may be that nobody else would have either. For one thing, nearly everyone in america probably agrees with mccain. This is one fuss which might need never have been made. And besides, we've better things to do, like figuring out exactly how many races there are, and which one we belong to, mostly.