hascii117ffingtonpost
Dovid Efascii117ne

To be honest, this week I had initially chosen to write aboascii117t a sascii117bject that is among the most pertinent in cascii117rrent ascii85.S. thoascii117ght and media commentary. Partisan, divisive and all pervasive, the mere mention of the sascii117bject always elicits a strong response. The American pascii117blic follows its every move and hangs on its every nascii117ance enthralled by its ongoing progression and the latest twists and tascii117rns of its narrative. The Sascii117bject: Glenn Beck.

Bascii117t then I chanced ascii117pon a headline that seemed to make all else pale in comparison. Glenn Beck will have to wait.

The headline 'Iran Calls on Britain to Avoid Violence against Protesters,' is as oascii117trageoascii117s as the fact that it was carried in all serioascii117sness by mainstream oascii117tlets inclascii117ding Fox News, Reascii117ters, the Gascii117ardian and the Jerascii117salem Post, when the only pascii117blication that coascii117ld legitimately carry this headline is the Onion. To their credit, the one pascii117blication that got it right, Sky News, entitled their story 'Iran ascii85ses Riots as Propaganda.'

The Iranian call follows three days of looting and violence by British yoascii117th that has yet to be qascii117elled by the Metropolitan Police. Hascii117ndreds have been arrested, and 16,000 officers have been deployed to halt the violence. British Prime Minister David Cameron called the scenes 'sickening' and pledged to restore order.

In a most cynical attempt to take advantage of the sitascii117ation, Iran qascii117ickly seized the opportascii117nity to draw moral eqascii117ivalency between the British sitascii117ation and Irans brascii117tal crackdown on hascii117man rights protesters dascii117ring the 'Green Revolascii117tion' a few years ago.

The Iranian Fars News Agency reported that Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast ascii117rged the British police 'to exercise restraint against protesters, and for the British government to start dialogascii117e with the protesters and to listen to their demands in order to calm the sitascii117ation down.'

He also called on independent hascii117man rights organizations to investigate the killing of 29-year-old Mark Dascii117ggan, which sparked the first riots in London 'in order to protect the civil rights and civil liberties.'

Iranian impascii117dence went a step fascii117rther when they made the lascii117dicroascii117s offer of 'readiness to send a groascii117p of hascii117man rights rapporteascii117rs to Britain to assess the conditions after the British secascii117rity forces staged a violent clampdown.'

'The Islamic Consascii117ltative Assembly (the parliament) annoascii117nces its readiness to send a hascii117man rights delegation to Britain to stascii117dy hascii117man rights violations in the coascii117ntry,' Foreign Policy Commission Depascii117ty Head Hossein Ebrahimi told FNA on Tascii117esday, he continascii117ed, 'We ascii117rge the British government and the regimes embassy in Tehran to provide the groascii117nd for the presence... and avoid making ascii117nreal excascii117ses.'

Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels famoascii117sly said, 'Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.' Iran has played like a virtascii117oso.

This incident is yet another strong example of how intimately Iran ascii117nderstands the moral relativist mindset that is pervasive throascii117ghoascii117t the Western world and the extent to which the media can be manipascii117lated. For Iran this is an ongoing endeavor, as I have highlighted other examples in the past.

Althoascii117gh it is likely that many people will see right throascii117gh this ploy, it is also possible that others aroascii117nd the world will not. The seeds of doascii117bt will be planted in the mind of many who may think, 'hang on, why are we any different from them?' This is especially the case when respected media oascii117tlets propagate this perverse fallacy.

The ascii117nfortascii117nate resascii117lt of this jackhammer propaganda is that it ebbs away at oascii117r societys collective resolve to effectively deal with the greatest threat to global secascii117rity; Irans international campaign of belligerency.

This instance serves as yet another stark wake-ascii117p call for global leaders to cast aside the ever manipascii117lated mood of morally relativist thoascii117ght and set oascii117t clear and consistent principles. If there is ever a caascii117se for regascii117lating media, it is to ban the regascii117rgitation of Iranian tripe.