Reply #67: What's the problem with letting the man speak? [View All]

A lot of people right here in the US would hang gay people if they could. Should they have their rights stripped away and not be allowed to air their opinions? I mean, yeah, they should be prosecuted if they actually commit hate crimes but then they're US citizens so we can do that, whereas we can't go bombing other countries just because we don't like their domestic policies. Yes, it's awful. Yes, it's wrong. But that's a fight that the Iranians are going to have to fight themselves. As far as I know, no one invaded and occupied us to force us to give women the vote or to racially integrate schools, and no one seems to be gearing up to invade us to force us to legalize gay marriage - which, by the way, the fact that it's not legal and that people do commit hate crimes against gay people and that the airwaves and internet are full of Americans saying that gay people should be treated here like they're treated in Iran should show you that we're not exactly perfect on the issue ourselves.

And do you think that if Bush wasn't allowed to speak and/or was gravely insulted in another country that it would really change anything or help us with our struggles here?

By the way, has anyone else noticed that an awful lot of Republicans who could give less than a damn about women and children and homosexuals are the first to use the "But they're awful to women!" excuse for attacking another country? I'm female and I live in the US, and I have to tell you that women are not treated totally equally to the people with penises here. Yeah, we've made a lot of progress, but we've got a long long ways to go before we can get all self-righteous about it.

It's not like anyone is forced to listen to him or to agree with him if they do listen, although it seems to me that listening and talking to each other will get a lot more done with a lot less deaths and blood and suffering than plugging our fingers in our ears and going "I can't hear you!". Sometimes, especially if you're a world leader, you have to hold your nose and deal with people that you don't like and don't agree with.

I used to work at Arby's, and sometimes people would come through the drive-thru in Hummers. I had to be nice to them. Same thing on a different scale.

I mean, yeah, hate him and disagree with him all you want. It's just that a few of the posts seem to be leaning towards saying that he shouldn't be allowed to speak. Maybe I'm just misinterpreting. I do that a lot. If so, sorry and treat this as a missive directed at the media and at people who really do think that he shouldn't be allowed to speak and/or we should invade Iran.