think about that question.

while it’s true that the united states is an outstanding model, in most measures of the concept, for the way freedom and democracy should work, there are some areas where we don’t have all of the answers. this country is a relatively young one, compared to some of its neighbors in the world community. so it’s understandable if we haven’t exactly gotten the balance between an extreme authoritarian state like iran and the permissiveness of the netherlands quite right just yet. iran’s government has some major problems, one of which being that the head guy is a loon. i’m not excusing any of what iran’s dictators say or do in the interest of smacking down the slightest offense against sharia law. they are absolutely wrong about pretty much everything, and i really oppose them having nukes. don’t misunderstand what i’m going to say next.

we are generally a tolerant and permissive society of people here in america, sometimes to a fault. we are so concerned about offending other people that we make extreme concessions to the smallest group with a nervous tic about anything. there are so many gray areas in what’s permissible that this gray has become the new black.

in fact, we tolerate too much in this country. is it something to be proud of that two of our main exports in the culture arena include raw hip-hop and britney spears? americans have also been the creators of trash tv and tv shows that ask “who’s the father of this baby?”. there are many things about our culture that we shouldn’t export to other countries. many of our current tv shows fall into this category, especially the reality tv on mtv and vh1.

we should also keep female pop star-inspired fashions confined to this country, and not inflict that indecency on the good citizens of iraq. modesty has gotten a bad rap because of the extreme interpretation of what that means under islamic law. there’s something to be said for leaving something to the imagination. that doesn’t mean that i think women should be covered head to toe. i just don’t think that copying the style of britney, christina, gwen stefani, or lil’ kim will get them the respect and advancement they are looking for in society.

the iraqis will benefit from the adoption of a more democratic government in their country. women and minorities will benefit from the change as well. their version of a democratic society may differ somewhat from the american version, and that’s ok. even though we have a pretty good handle on democracy here in america, that doesn’t mean we have all the right answers on everything else.