COMMENTARY | The country that banned Barbie has just ordered Bart Simpson dolls off the toy store shelves. Mohammend Hossein Farjoo, secretary for policy-making at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, said Iran allows children access to Superman and Spider-Man because they fight for the oppressed, but he depicted the Simpsons as self-centered and irreligious and thus unwelcome in the country. Facebook recently got the ax, too, for allegedly propagating immoralities.
If Iran plans to ban everyone and everything self-centered or irreligious from its land (let's not even get into propagating immorality!), those censors had better get busy; they have a lot of banning in front of them.
* Two-thirds of U.S. college students responding to a 2009 San Diego State University poll said their generation is more narcissistic, overconfident and attention-seeking than previous generations. These are definitely not the sort of people Iran would want influencing its young.
* There are some 15 million to 50 million atheists in the U.S., depending on which polls suit your fancy. But there's no need for Iran to stop its banning at America's shores.
* France is a prime prospect for an Iranian ban. Only 27 percent of the French believe in a supreme being. In Britain, Germany and Spain, the concept of a deity is also a minority belief.
* When it comes to selfishness, Bermuda deserves a close look from Iranian clerics. Former Premier Sir John Swan recently announced the population is suffering from an entrenched sense of entitlement that needs to be dropped if the country is to emerge from economic crisis, the Royal Gazette reported.
* Meat eaters are prime pickings for the Mullahs, if the results of a recent Dutch study are reliable. That study shows meat eaters to be egocentric and loutish.
* President Barack Obama, former House majority leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Harry Reid are the most self-centered, self-absorbed team in the history of American politics, according to Newt Gingrich. Ban them.
* Ban Gingrich too. According to Eliot Spitzer and Rep. Peter King, Gingrich is disturbingly self-centered. King says Gingrich "does not have the capacity to control himself," which sounds like a particularly un-Islamic trait.
* Before implementing foreign bans, Iran apparently has some domestic chores to attend to. Iranian MP Ali Motahari says Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies are self-centered and mark the Iranian leader as a despot.
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