In Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, every time the Queen of Hearts is crossed or defeated during her mad croquet match, she shouts “Off with his head!” at the offender. When Alice points out that the trial of the Knave of Hearts, alleged to have stolen some tarts, is being absurdly conducted, the queen replies, “Off with her head!” In other words, the Queen of Hearts answer to every disagreement is: “Off with their head!”

This came to mind when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton accused Iran of trying to derail democratic revolutions around the Middle East and of wanting only to further its own goals. After warning Iran not to foment broader unrest while at the same time cracking down on its own reform movements, she admonished Arab nations not to get to close to Iran, and if they did there would be serious political and economic repercussions from the U.S.

Like the Queen of Hearts, who believed the only solution to disputes or disagreements was “Off with their head!,” it appears Mrs. Clinton’s answer to Iran, a vitally important nation in Asia and the Middle East, is always “Off with Iran’s head!”. This detrimental American policy towards Iran, coupled with preventing Americans of thinking about Iran’s role in the world while questioning U.S. foreign policies, makes Mrs. Clinton into the Queen of Fallacies. Her answer is always (figuratively speaking): “Off with your heads!”.

One mistake the Queen of Fallacies commits is by claiming a “generalization,” or that “everyone is aware of Iran’s efforts to exploit and even hijack what are legitimate protests.” Not only is this statement absurd, specifically by saying “everyone,” but much of the world is aware of how the U.S. has aided Bahrain’s regime in brutally crushing a democratic reform movement. (A nation Mrs. Clinton visited only several months ago to repair damaging disclosures of U.S. policies by WikiLeaks.) The U.S. has also banned certain protests in Iraq and Afghanistan, even firing on and killing unarmed protesters.

While the Queen of Fallacies uses “generalizations,” she also hides behind the erroneous idea of the “democratic majority.” Just because most American politicians holds to a certain opinion on a given matter, namely that Iran wants to prevent reform movements in the Middle East, their preponderant views have no necessary bearing on the truth of Iran’s goals in the region. As Iran continues to establish treaties with Iraq, Turkey, Russia, Afghanistan, and other nations, it is evident majorities and democracies can be wrong.

Still, the Queen of Fallacies uses the faulty argument known as “ad hominem” when she claims that the U.S. “sees no evidence yet that Iran instigated such protests, but we do see activities by Iran to try to take advantage of these uprisings.” This argument deliberately attacks the person, or in this case Iran, instead of responding to the actual argument or disagreement and pointing to actual evidence. The thrust of this fallacy is purely emotional. Its purpose is to induce fear and portray Iran in a negative way.

Sadly, these disparaging comments towards Iran were made while accepting an award named for a pre-Nazi era German Jewish businessman and politician who was murdered for his promotion of inclusion and tolerance. By stating: “The German Jewish businessman’s assassination was a cautionary tale and an example of toleration being hijacked by extremists,” and then in the same breath mentioning Iran; the Queen of Fallacies substitutes emotion for reason, sensationalism for thought.

The Queen of Fallacies also utilized the “abuses of expertise and roles.” As U.S. Secretary of State, some will unquestionably believe Mrs. Clinton to be an expert and a powerful spokesperson for America. But are those same people aware that when she said, “Democracy is a never-ending task that requires participation and protection,” Iran had demanded intervention from the United Nations Security Council to stop the U.S.-supported killing of the people in Bahrain?

And when the Queen of Fallacies claims that, “Democracy is only possible if every citizen can enjoy its benefits,” are those who believe her every word familiar with tens of millions of people in America who are homeless and unemployed, or have lost their homes due to abusive banking practices and catastrophic illnesses? Are they aware of Pfc. Manning’s torture, and indefinite detentions and secret black sites where suspects are also tortured?

Is the Queen of Fallacies herself familiar with what former IAEA Chief and current Egyptian Presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei said in a recent interview with Der Spiegel? ElBaradei claims the Bush Administration had continually sabotaged efforts to broker a deal with Iran’s peaceful and civilian nuclear enrichment program. ElBaradei believes too that former President George W. Bush should be tried for war crimes by not allowing U.N. weapons inspectors to complete their task and for a preemptive war.

Like the Queen of Hearts, the Queen of Fallacies is committing reductionism. Mrs. Clinton selectively focuses on only some of the parts of a composed whole. Of course Iran is going to influence the Middle East, as do all of the other nations in the region. It is merely called the politics of geo-proximity. For centuries, Iran has built social, cultural, political, and economic ties with surrounding neighbors. Warning Iran not to influence the region, is like warning the U.S. not to influence Canada or Mexico. Both are an impossibility.

Hopefully, Americans and the world have not lost their heads, nor their reasoning and thinking skills. With a bit of luck, they have not been distracted by the Queen of Fallacies, nor diverted by her emotionally volatile choice of words that have nothing to do with Iran and are completely irrelevant to the argument. As for Muammar Gaddafi’s use of white phosphorous in Misurata, who supplied, and then backed, Israel’s use of white phosphorus in Gaza?

Ironically, in thinking about American foreign policies and the Queen of Fallacies, specifically regarding preemptive and illegal wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, military interventions in Libya, Haiti, and Honduras, and regarding a past U.S. military coup against a democratically elected government in Iran, one that led to twenty-five years of brutal suppression at the hands of a U.S.-backed tortuous regime; one has to wonder if the U.S. has not already (literally!) lost its head.

(second photo and related comment added by Axis of Logic)

Dallas Darling

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John‘s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for World News. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at his website and at http://wn.com//dallasdarling.