So He's Jewish, Eh?

Hey, hiker boy. Yeah, you. And your two dimwitted hiker friends who like to hike right next to the Iranian border. Yeah, you guys. I have a question for you. You all seem pretty down on the United States and its policies toward Iran. Actually, you all seem pretty down on the United States in general. (Don't get me wrong. I'm not a fan of any of the wars. (I've lost count. Are there still just the two or are we counting our NATO involvement over there in Libya as three?) I don't think that the U.S. is perfect and/or flawless. But I'm not so disgusted with it that I'm going to run off and go live in and sing the praises of Syria for cryin' out loud.) You made it VERY clear that you were held in Iran for as long as you were because you were Americans. (Dumbass Americans, but Americans none the less.) You made it sound like the policies of the United States were your ONLY enemy during your situation that you got yourself into. You made it sound like if only the U.S. had done things differently in regard to its stance with Iran that things would have turned out differently for you. Why then is it that everyone went to great lengths to hide the fact that you, Josh Fattal, are Jewish?

Now, I don't give a fat rat's ass what religion anyone is. I kind of care what they do in the name of their religion (Islamic extremists, I'm talking to you), but other than that, have at it! I don't care and I don't understand people who do care. But you know who cares? You know who really, really cares if you're Jewish? That's right. Ol' Ahmadinejad (I'm a Dinner Jacket) of Iran. He's not a fan of the Jew. Or of the Israel. He has infamously said that he'd like to see Israel wiped off the map. (And for those of you sticklers out there, the actual quote was "The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." Yes, I realize that there's nothing in there about a map, per se. But tell me that doesn't mean the same thing. He does not like them.)

So it wasn't until after all of the wayward hikers had been released from Iranian custody that the word gets out that Josh Fattal is Jewish and that it was purposely kept under wraps while he was in prison. (Can I just say that I am amazed that any secret can be kept these days, especially when it involves a story/person in the news.) Now, why would that be an important thing to keep secret if the only reason that they were being held is because they were Americans and because of U.S. foreign policies? Oh, could it be because Dinner Jacket is a lunatic and if he were to find out that Josh was Jewish that he might never be let go? Yeah, that sounds more like it.

Look, all I'm trying to point out is how intellectually dishonest those three are being with themselves and with others in regard to what they "believe". If they truly believed that they were being held simply because they were pawns, then wouldn't they have believed that it should be OK for it to have been known that Josh is Jewish? You'd think. But obviously, since that information was suppressed (and I totally believe that it should have been), there are other components at work here than simply the nationality of a prisoner or the foreign policies of the countries of origin of the prisoners. They're dealing with a country that is run by a man who may or may not be a lunatic. You really can't get into a lot of "reasons" why things happen when that's the case.

I don't know exactly why this particular story has really ticked me off. Maybe it's because these three seem to be so ungrateful for what people in this country have done for them. Maybe it's because they seem to be so ungrateful for this country in general. Maybe it's because this story is treated in the news as if something horrible had happened to these three that was out of their control. (If you didn't know the whole story and you listened to the recaps, you might be under the impression that they were snatched from their beds in Berkeley and taken to Iran for two years. That's because all of the reporters always use their "Something bad that was completely uncontrollable has happened" voices when reporting this.) I don't know, but I think I'm done with it for a little while. I'm at least maybe going to wait until they start making the talk show rounds before I go off again. Look forward to something that is not this tomorrow.

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