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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Head of Iran's Guardians Council Now The Principal Butt Of Jokes |
| 2012-01-25 |
| Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the powerful Guardians Council, is Iran’s oldest man. No one knows when he was born. He is said to have been on planet Earth before all of us, even before Adam and Eve..." That's the gist of numerous jokes that are making the rounds about the senior cleric who is in his mid- eighties. “Jannati has a copy of the Torah signed by Moses,” is how one joke goes. Another one has Jannati speaking to scientists: "For you the Big Bang is just a theory," he says. "For me it's a memory.” In a similar vein, another joke has Ayatollah Jannati talking to the Fars news agency about his memories of the extinction of the dinosaurs. The jokes seem to be a reaction to Jannati’s three decades on Iran’s political scene and his status as one of the country’s key players. As the chairman of the Guardians Council since 1988, Jannati has played an active role in banning any attempt at political reform and disqualifying reformist and liberal election candidates. Sociologist Saeed Peivandi believes the continuation of Jannati's “negative role” and his disconnectedness with the realities of Iran and its young population are among the main reasons for the many jokes making fun of his age. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 The reality is that they are hoping to dance on the grave of this old reactionary, seen as a leader of those who have torn their country down, despised reasonable reforms, while seeking to "restore" some nostalgic fantasy that never existed. In a way, this is revenge, to let him know ahead of time that once he is gone, his memory will be erased and what he wanted will be scorned and discarded. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2012-01-25 08:40 |