Moneydick

As I was leaving the city yesterday I ran into an anti-Iran/anti-Obama/pro regime change in Iran/ event. I was meeting up with a friend in the Hyatt which was heavy heavy with security because of the ‘Business for Millenium‘ meeting going on that day–an event that necessitated baggage x-rays and stare down checks from at least 15 well-dressed security guards. At the Business for Millenium site–a convention/summit named to sound very similar to the UN’s ‘Millenium Development Project’–we are told that

This is not about philanthropy. The Summit challenges companies to find new business opportunities for the 21st century - using company’s core business in a way that both contributes to commercial success and to the MDGs and poverty alleviation.

And just outside, the children and responsible adults of NY inform us that Iran is doing it all wrong, Ahmadeenajad is homies with Obama, and that all friends of Israel, freedom, etc. must deny Obama any respect because

On Thursday, Sept 25, at 6pm in New York City at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, The American Friends Service Committee, Mennonite Central Committee, Quaker UN Office, Religions for Peace, and the World Council of Churches-UN Liaison Office will be honoring Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at an Iftar (dinner to break the day’s Ramadan fast). Other organizations, political leaders and media have also been invited. Read the Text of the Invitation.

These religious leaders are about to betray their brethren across all religions, parties, and countries by honoring the tyrannical regime of Ahmadinejad and the Iranian mullahs of this terrorist state. (via 925rally.org)

The reason why Obama was so targeted in this event was because some member of his campaign was attending this event, thereby making Obama a friend of The text of the invite (linked to above) lays out the purpose of the meeting:

This conversation is the fourth in a series of high-level bridge-building and reconciliation efforts that have helped to build mutual understanding between our peoples, nations and religious traditions. It is our hope that as religious and political leaders, this communal meal and exchange of views will enable us to explore faith perspectives for dealing with global issues such as poverty, war and prejudice while deepening mutual understanding.

No matter what one thinks of Iran, Ahmadeenajad, or the jihad that a handful of practicing Islamists have engaged with, people need to get a handle on the value of dialogue. What’s better: Organizing against ‘the enemy’ to rally hatred and accentuate differences… or ‘build mutual understanding’ and find common humanity, common values, and search for peaceful ways to speak together.

Here’s one group’s solution: stop traffic.