The Brute & Sakineh Ashtiani

Preamble:- Satriani's 'What Breaks A Heart' captures the sentiments of Fasride and Sajjad Ashtiani while Marco Brambilla's "Ghost" (@ 6.00) depicting a multi-shot rendition of Natasha Poly's deconstruction is their mother's lingering pain.

Fasride and Sajjad Ashtiani said the term Stoning is so horrific that they would never use it. Instead, they politely say that their mother is in danger and all options are exhausted. The brutal linguistic of the Iranian judiciary obscures the tranquil language of its victims as it pronounces a mother of two to be Stoned to death. It is another day in the office of the Iranian judiciary while at the United Nations, Prime Minister Ahmadinejad wax lyrical to a rapt audience on human rights of the oppressed.

It is not a question of fearing the hypocritical cowards but suffering them. The deafening silence of the Hollywood staple and its Feminist left is understandable, even when a news-bite of medieval practitioners that treat women worse than cattle interrupts its space and rankles the conscience, but this commentary is not about millionaire cowards who play pretend behind cameras but about a quill breed of holy men that partake in the oldest Reality Show in the business.

Several cases in the region caved in to international pressure but the Ashtiani matter still lingers at the hands of the divinely inspired who claim no axe to grind with revelation itself but to be moved by an obligatory adoration to God. The bovine stool is obvious. The truth is, these anachronistic parasites are the ones who yearn adoration using the divine as a euphemism and revelation a device.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be executed because her conviction balances between Shame and Honor. International ridicule simply weighs against Honor, thus increasing the Shame that bears ultimately upon the Prophet.

Consider the female journalist from Sudan in 2009 whose flogging sentence was deferred but her colleagues were striped red before their matters became public. Fortunately, the position of the journalist invited media focus and ensuing ridicule of the Sudanese judiciary was the sole reason her sentence was set aside. Incidentally, she and her colleagues were charged for wearing trousers at a private party.

Consider the female journalist from Saudi Arabia who had her flogging spectacle waived by the King in 2009. She was saved 60 lashes because international outrage and ridicule shamed the very seat of Islam. The journalist was charged for featuring a male in a talk show who described views not in accordance with the doctrine.

Consider the rape victim from the same country. In 2007 the King set aside the flogging sentence against a young woman who was gang-raped. Her crime, oddly enough, was to be in the company of a male when she was violated. In both cases, the King intervened only when the matters raised international ire.

Consider the case of the Malaysian model, sentenced in 2009 to be flogged for having her tipple. The ensuing media spotlight was the prime mover in setting aside her beer-drinking sentence.

The Ashtiani matter share similar underpinnings with the above examples where awkward pronouncements are publicly ridiculed and shamed. As a face saving measure, reasons in other verbiage such as compassion, her inclination to penance and so forth will be offered, but Amplification will again prove itself an effective antidote to sensitizing the institutionalized brute.

The upside is, when a religious pronouncement of such nature becomes increasingly shameful in eyes of the outside world, the pronouncer is threatened. It specializes in bullying women and stands on its hind feet to peer the horizon only when the prospect of publicly shaming the founder of its doctrine looms large. At that point, it takes remedial actions because its interests are at stake. It may be a thoughtless brute but thankfully, it is a sensitive one.

Words, Videography - Tommy Peters  

(The clip above was made on a Mac with CoverVersion’s Cuboid and Screenflow while the video below is depicts a 2009 movie of a true account in Iran where the director Cyrus Nowrasteh, a rare breed of the Hollywood staple is interviewed by Sean Hannity of Fox, a rare breed of a media staple. Advanced appreciation is rendered for materials used without express permission of copyright owners)