Sean Penn is an Idiot

In case any of you are reading the San Francisco Chronicle, Sean Penn has traveled to Iran in the recent past, and is reporting this trip in the same way as his trips to Iraq. Let me illustrate the title of this post:

During a public rally for support of an Iranian political candidate:

...he reminded what was largely considered a reluctant voting public that every vote is a shout of death to America. He goaded the crowd to join the chanting calls for "Death to Israel!", "Death to America!" Ten thousand strong of voice. I was struck by the familiar: a cleric guiding his followers in their politics, and toward particular candidates away from others. It has been my observation that this kind of invective speech is common, not only in Iran but in the Arab states as well. According to many with whom I spoke, it had always been clear from the Iranian point of view, that the call is related to American foreign policy and does not intend to target the death of the American people.

Ah, yes - of course! How could I ever have misunderstood that? And more from "Day two" while speaking with Iranians in a coffee shop:

Two of the women lived together. It seemed that they might have been insinuating that they were a lesbian couple, but I can't say for sure. I refer to my internal manual of ethics, and there it is right there, in "questions unbecoming a gentleman": Don't ask two women you just met if they're lesbians. I'm big on prudish restraint.

Ah, yes - prudish restraint. I suppose it is a but prudish to ask two women sitting together in a coffee shop whether or not they are lesbians, especially in a country where if they admit it, they will be buried up to their necks in a sold-out soccer stadium and stoned to death.

While talking about a Mercedes, Coca-Cola, and heroin and it's availability in Iran in spite of US sanctions, Penn had this to say:

I saw these goods in Tehran as commonly as one might in Des Moines.

What does this statement mean? Has Sean Penn ever been to Des Moines? And again, what the crap does this statement mean? There were other whole paragraphs that I have already read twice and am still unable to decipher what on earth Penn is trying to communicate. I think I will stop reading at "day two" lest I find myself utterly confused by any more idiotic dribblings from a former actor turned pathetic "journalist."

UPDATE:

Our first hate comment is attached to this post! I've now been called a hack and "Powerline Jr.", how touching! Our comment-er believes that I didn't include the quote below because it would not serve the "story" I was after. The following quote immediately followed the "Death to America" quote:

However, when the supposed purpose of a 10,000-person rally is in the prayer and scruples of Islam, I can say that as an American (a half Jew, by the way), the chant demeans both intent and any religion that aspires to a core of love and reduces it to a cheap political threat of violence.

This quote actually more fully illustrates my point that Sean Penn is an idiot (believe me, I could have quoted at least half of each article) Let's start over: Penn first describes the scene of 10,000 Iranians at a rally shouting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." He then explains that these chants only mean "Death to American foreign policy" not "Death to Americans" (what does the "Death to Israel" chant mean then?) He then goes on to say... uh... what does that quote even mean? I didn't include various quotes for this exact purpose - I can't figure out what in the crap Penn is trying to say.

Does he mean that the chanting demeans the prayers and the principles of Islam? Are the "scruples of Islam" an "intent?" What does the pronoun "it" describe in the last sentence? Does the chanting reduce Islam, its prayers, or its principles to a cheap political threat of violence? How is the chanting of "Death to America" even "cheap" or "political?" It sounds like a straight up threat of violence to me.

Enough analysis of Sean Penn - his writing is so terrible it makes my head hurt.