By Brian Bohl

When it comes to wasting time on your laptop, there is another alternative for over-the-top politically minded content besides YouTube.com and clips from the upcoming Borat film.

Unfortunately for fans of common sense and common decency everywhere, this other method of acquiring international political “news” is just as radical as the aforementioned sites. But unlike those other outlets, this particular administrator actually believes his preposterous subject matter is the unquestioned truth, rather than a device used to achieve a comedic effect or act as a social commentary.

For Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the World Wide Web is just another forum for him to spout his anti-Israeli, anti-American and anti-developed world propaganda. This summer, the sixth president of the Islamic Republic of Iran apparently decided to play around with his Windows software and created his own blog.

It is not an official governmental Web site, like a link to the United Kingdom’s Parliament, or the White House’s official home page. Instead, the site is a forum dedicated strictly to Ahmadinejad, with a full compliment of speech transcripts, links and even a section where you get to e-mail the big guy himself.

It’s strange to think that a man entrusted with leading a country would have either the time or inclination to institute a page that’s barley a step up from a MySpace profile. However, during a time when the Iranian government has cracked down on Internet censorship, Mr. Ahmadinejad has taken it upon himself to provide all the content his constituency could need. For those willing to risk incurring a FBI file, take a quick look through the homepage-http://www.president.ir/eng/- which shows that the Iranian leadership does not save its Israeli and American-bashing for only United Nations speeches and other special occasions.

An examination of an entry dated Oct. 10, a congratulatory posting heralded the deeds of various suicide bombers and other extremists who have fought and died in the name of their religion, often killing many innocent civilians and fellow Muslims in the process.

“Martyrs in the cause of Islam and the Islamic Revolution light up the arduous path to realization of justice…Martyrs gave their most precious possession — their lives — and by doing so set the example for others to revive and edify the culture of martyrdom among nations.”

When viewing the outlandish rhetoric of someone as ignorant and hateful as Ahmadinejad, the natural inclination is to switch the channel or exit the Web site and dismiss it as simple propaganda that no rational person can defend. While those actions are understandable, it indirectly facilitates a passive acceptance of those ideas. If the majority of people continue to turn a blind eye to the ominous words spewed from the Iranian government, it only emboldens them to make more egregious statements. The potential result from all those verbal threats could culminate with physical violent acts against the United States and our allies.

To ignore the messages of such an influential man in the most violate region of the world would be a big mistake, especially now that the war in neighboring Iraq is heading towards its fourth year this spring. Between Iran’s oft-stated nuclear ambitions and their numerous denunciations of Jews, any potential threat can be seen as a hostile action.

Ahmadinejad’s latest diatribe shows that there is no reprieve for his hateful remarks. While making a public speech during Qods (Jerusalem) Day last Friday, the known Holocaust denier said supporting Israel will only cause European countries to be hurt in the near future.

“People in the region blame you for any crime or invasion against any country, and will take revenge on you,” Ahmadinejad said, according to the Associated Press. “You should know that the rage of people is boiling and is like an ocean that is welling up. Once its storm begins blowing, it will go beyond the borders of Lebanon and Palestine, and it will hurt European countries.”

You can look forward to the entire text of the speech on Ahmadinejad’s webpage sometime soon. Sadly, incredulous postings on political webpages are not just reserved for the Colbert Report or other intentionally funny shows. It’s easy to just switch over to a different site, but the more we ignore the increasing audacity of an influential player on the world stage, the greater our vulnerabilities become.

One of this country’s biggest enemies is being led by a man that publicly flaunts his hatred and intolerance. Look away at your own risk.

Brian Bohl is a junior print journalism major. You may e-mail him at [email protected]