[Marxism] Titillation in Tehran

[Aaron Aarons]

>Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:57:48 -0400
>From: Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com>
>
>http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i08/08b02001.htm
>
> From the issue dated October 17, 2008
>NOTA BENE
>Titillation in Tehran; Syrian Seduction
>
>By EVAN R. GOLDSTEIN

[SNIP]

>Two-thirds of Iran's population consists of urbanites between the ages
>of 15 and 30.

Really? Then there must have been a historically unprecedented baby boom in Iran for 15 years after the Islamic revolution, Iranians must have virtually stopped having children after that period, and all those youth must have moved to the cities! Oh, and there was, presumably, a massive die-off (or emigration) of people born before 1978!

Can anything written by someone who writes such an obvious absurdity be taken seriously? Not to mention an editor of a prestigious journal who allows such nonsense to get through. Since said prestigious journal charges for online access to its articles, I can only presume that Louis didn't somehow introduce the error when he posted the article. But it's hard to imagine what original text that makes any sense could have been accidentally changed to this particular nonsense.

 - Aaron