Tuesday, September 19, 2006
What do we have against propaganda victories?
James Taranto wants to know who in our government "shut up" Anousheh Ansari, the beautiful Iranian-American software entrepreneur who is to become the world's first female space tourist:
Ms Ansari provoked a brief row when she announced she wanted to wear the Stars and Stripes on one sleeve of her space suit and, to inspire women in the country of her birth, the Iranian flag on the other.
She backed down under pressure from the US and Russian governments and promised to refrain from making political statements while in orbit.
I'm wondering the same thing. Who from our government was silly or bureaucratic enough to tell Ms. Ansari not to score a propaganda victory for the American dream?
Anousheh Ansari is the living embodiment of the success of our system and the failure of the Islamic Republic of Iran, proof that the Iranian people can succeed spectacularly if liberated from the system that crushes the human spirit in accordance with the requirements of Allah:
She fled Iran in 1984, aged 16, after the country’s radical Islamic regime closed down the wine company where her father was a senior executive.
Although she spoke no English when she arrived in the United States, she secured two degrees within five years, took out a loan to start a software firm with her husband in her 20s and then sold it for $500 million.
If our strategic objective -- spoken or otherwise -- is the removal or at least the reform of the Islamic Republic (I am the first to admit that this is an ill-defined strategic objective in the public formulation of the Bush administration, but it is the obvious objective nonetheless), why would we not want to undermine that regime? Even if we think that heavy-handed methods -- such as funding the opposition or openly calling for revolution -- might backfire, what could possibly be the objection to allowing an Iranian-American score a few propaganda points in that direction? Iranians should be extravagantly proud of Ansari, and the Iranian government should be deeply humiliated by her. What could be better than that? If Ansari wants to tweak the mullahs on her own nickel, why on earth would we stop her? I smell cowardice of the pusillanimous Foggy Bottom variety.
BONUS!: Ms. Ansari has a blog, and she signed off her last pre-flight post with "Live Long And Prosper." Another posthumous victory for Gene Roddenberry, who may ultimately prove to be the single most influential person in Amerian pop culture in the last fifty years.
3 Comments:
By 
Annoy Mouse, at
Tue Sep 19, 08:37:00 PM:
"199. Dear Anoushe
We all are so proud of you,and thank you so much for showing us that dreams can come true,I just cann`t stop my crying .
My best regards from tehran "
Rejoice, the message is making it's way across the heavens.
By 
, at
Tue Sep 19, 10:52:00 PM:
Apropos of nothing, the Star Trek reference reminds me of my favorite Klingon proverb: "Only a fool fights in a burning house."
By , at
Tue Sep 19, 10:59:00 PM:
There goes Nasa..err..State Dept again maybe they were concerned that the Sec/Def (ie: "Outstanding! This woman is...Oh my Goodness, How do I explain it.. 2 flags on her uni ..etc.) would praise her and take away their turf. No praise for Iranians doing great/amazing things. File this under "Exteme Bonehead & MSM" . If Bush only knew! Taking another side of it maybe the Russians were scared of a attack on the rocket with her and the flags on board. If that's the case, she's be in the Museum of the "Religion of Peace" with the Pope. Thank God for the internet.
