You know it's not a good sign when David Duke gets invited to Iran. After all, the former KKK leader and white supremacist can't be much disposed to visit a nation where Islam is the official religion and where anti-Americanism is a governmental hobby. But invited he was, and by none other than the Iranian president himself, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

And what was the occasion? To compare recipes for Christmas cookies? Hardly. Mr. Duke and others were invited to Iran to attend an international conference that would give "each side" a platform to speak about whether or not the Holocaust really happened. And by claiming that each side would have equal say, what Mr. Ahmadinejad really meant was that anti-Jewish zealots would be performing intellectual parlor tricks for everyone to enjoy.

In this way, an American former KKK leader and an Iranian hard-line president were able to find common ground through their shared anti-Semitism. In this, the holiday season, I don't think that's exactly what we have in mind by the notions of peace, love and brotherhood. I'd prefer that the bigots of the world don't find brotherhood in their common hatreds and prejudices. And as a graduate student, I'd prefer that they don't try to pass off their venomous beliefs for hard scholarship.

You see, this was a conference based on "truthiness." If you remember, the term was coined a while back by comedian Stephen Colbert as meaning (according to Wikipedia): "a reference to the quality by which a person claims to know something intuitively, instinctively, or 'from the gut' without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or actual facts." In other words, who needs facts when you have enough confidence in your own prejudice to create false facts?

And prejudice was the order of the day for these two men. According to The New York Times, Mr. Ahmadinejad was quoted as foretelling, "The Zionist regime will disappear soon, the same way the Soviet Union disappeared" and in this way "humanity will achieve freedom." Mr. Duke was not as blatantly bigoted, but still claimed that "Israel is more afraid of this conference than of Iran having nuclear weapons." Having said that, Mr. Duke assured everyone that the real reason he was there was to support freedom of speech. Right.

To top off the three-day circus of false scholarship, Mr. Ahmadinejad proposed that the conference should continue on in the formation of a committee to investigate the veracity of the Holocaust. You see, the Iranian president isn't content to just pay lip service to anti-Jewish prejudice but seems to be a true believer. As The Times also reported, he is a former member of the Revolutionary Guard who went through a process of indoctrination and has long promoted such views.

So he wants the conference to continue as an investigative committee. But I have a better idea. I think the Iranian president, Mr. Duke and the other "scholars" at this conference should form their own school. Or, they can petition to create a new department within a well-established one. Their department can be called "The Department of Truthiness Studies" and offer a class in the truthiness of history. And Mr. Duke, Mr. Ahmadinejad and whoever else who wants to join can be lauded as the founding professors in the study of truthiness and history and can dedicate time to enlighten the rest of us as to how the vast Zionist conspiracy has blinded us to the "facts" of history.

Yes, I'm being sarcastic here. And I'd like to laugh at this conference because its sheer absurdity is a little much. But I can't laugh because, in fact, I'm disturbed and concerned. Not only for the Jewish people in the face of this gathering storm but also for the lack of seriousness that Mr. Ahmadinejad displays toward the plight of the Palestinian people whom he claims to love.

It seems that the Iranian president must be thinking to himself: Why take the suffering of the Palestinians seriously by becoming a catalyst for moral social change (such as a Nelson Mandela or a Desmond Tutu) when I can just demonize the Jews? And why assist the Jewish and Palestinian families, religious groups and agencies that are working for justice, peace and reconciliation with their own limited resources when I can call a ridiculous conference to pander to the worst aspects of human nature?

Mr. Ahmadinejad and maybe even Mr. Duke (although that's a long shot) could be working for a peaceful and just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead, they choose to engage in hatemongering. And just for good measure, instead of bringing in those who would give clear moral guidance for a solution, Mr. Ahmadinejad brings in disgraced scholars and racial bigots.

You know, I don't think that he's really concerned with the suffering of the Palestinian people. I think he's only concerned with truthiness.

— — —

Kevin Considine is a graduate student at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Recently he was married to a most wonderful woman who keeps him in line and reads his columns to see if they make sense. He currently lives on the South Side of Chicago and is pursuing graduate studies full time. He welcomes comments, feedback or fits of anger and can be reached at {email considkp@yahoo.com}considkp@yahoo.com{/email}. © copyright 2006 by Kevin Considine