The Conservative Cat

We suffer in this day and age from a surfeit of despot-loving celebrities, whether it is Sean Penn defending the Iran Republic, Michael Moore praising pre-war Iraq, or absolutely everybody praising Castro.

The problem is that these people get a carefully controlled picture of what's really going on. The citizens of an oppressive regime are unlikely to survive condemning their government while in front of a camera, and the celebrity tour of Saddam's palace didn't include the S&M video collection or the rape room.

If the United Nations really wants to do something about human rights, they should insist that dictators carry on their atrocities in full view. This is what Chiang Kai-shek did in the late Forties, and films of him shooting people in the back of the head in the middle of the street were instrumental in turning the American public against him. The modern dictator is doing us all a terrible disservice by not following the same example. The result is a powerful sub-culture in America that thinks Al-Zarqawi is just hiding the lovable teddy-bear side of his personality because he's bent out of shape about all the Jews living in Palestine. This thinking only gives the terrorists courage to keep going, when it would be far more sensible for them to take their bombs elsewhere.

Maybe the terrorists aren't really concerned about Israel at all. Maybe they just want to be able to consign women to slavery and live well while the masses starve. If they knew what was really going on in North Korea, maybe they'd decide it was a better place to set up shop. In addition, I'm sure Kim Jong-Il would welcome their advice on acquiring yellow-cake uranium and manipulating the world press to advantage.

In any case, none of this is going to happen until the United Nations gets on the case, so call your representatives and ask them to pass this suggestion on to UN Ambassador John Bolton. I have a feeling Mr. Bolton would actually appreciate it.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat