Stardate 20020521.1944

(On Screen): As time goes on it's becoming more and more clear that our most insidious weapon in the war against Islamic fundamentalism is the aspects of our culture that some would call the most decadent.

Things like porn on the Internet, and rock-and-roll, and blue jeans. Ideas, attitudes; with these things we will defeat them.

And with Barbie. She was already seen as a threat in Iran, and now the secret police have started raiding stores and seizing every Barbie doll they can find. They were in a bind: leave her alone and let her continue to feed Western ideas about women to the girls of Iran, or try to eliminate her and make themselves look petty. They've chosen the second course, much good may it do them.

They cannot stamp out Western pop culture. It is ten thousand termites eating away at the austere sterility of fundamentalist Islamic life.