Ahmadinejad at Columbia
anecdote · personal (Iranian friends) ·
retold in 3 talks
At Columbia, Ahmadinejad's reply on homosexuals was translated as 'there are no homosexuals in Iran'; Iranian friends told Žižek he actually said they deal with it discreetly, not talking about it, the Old Testament logic of 'not in front of me'.
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 3
“we deal with this in a totally different way than you. We don't talk about it and allow you to do it discreetly.”
“he gave effectively a much more refined answer something like we deal with this in a totally different way than you. We don't talk about it and allow you to do it discreetly”
“He said 'we deal with it in a way which is opposite from yours. People discreetly do it, we don't talk publicly about it.'”
What it carries
one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)
Its cast and sources
populated by
Grace Gelder1Orhan Pamuk1Gerhard Richter (philosopher)1Andreas Huyssen1Martin Amis1Sami Khatib1Werner Hamacher1John Wayne1
alongside works
Every retelling 3
At Columbia, Ahmadinejad's reply on homosexuals was translated as 'there are no homosexuals in Iran'; Iranian friends told Žižek he actually said they deal with it discreetly, not talking about it, the Old Testament logic of 'not in front of me'., illustrating taboos / unmentionable points,cultural difference in regulation
Žižek's Iranian friends say Ahmadinejad's reply about homosexuals was mistranslated: he actually said 'we deal with it differently, we don't talk about it and allow it discreetly,' implicitly citing the Old Testament's 'do it, but not in front of me.', illustrating cultural taboos,neighbour,Islam vs. West,discretion vs. tolerance
Žižek was told Ahmadinejad's actual reply about homosexuality in Iran was not 'we have no homosexuals' but 'we deal with it in a way opposite from yours, people do it discreetly, we don't speak about it publicly.' Žižek uses this to defend discreet social distance against PC transparency., illustrating political correctness and regulation of distance,the neighbor,the value of social discretion