The Iranian demonstrators have obtained a very important result, however things go. Now the Western public opinion, especially in Israel, the United States and Great Britain, historical enemies of the Iranian regime, is compelled to see Iran in a different way. Not as a country of religious fanatics willing to follow their leaders to the folly of atomic war, but also as the country of boys and girls who use computers, listen and play music, and are willing to take to the streets and also to die for freedom. Now the West knows that the Iranians are not enemies, because we saw that many of them are men and women like us. (Francesco Defferrari)The sentiment expressed in that paragraph (and the linked article) is being debated in a Reddit thread. I can't speak re the European perspective, but I'm sure there are many thousands of Amerians whose perception of Iran could be summarized as "What? You mean there are pretty girls in Iran? I thought it was all old men with beards..." These are people who would not conceive of Iranians having ski resorts, cloverleaf highway interchanges, and jetskis on lakes.
The protests and their coverage in American media certainly won't result in a sea change of public opinion, but to the more perspicacious observer the events may emphasize that in Iran (as in the United States and elsewhere) the policies expressed and implemented by governments are often quite different from the ones favored by many of the people they "represent."
I was always told that the Iranians had one of the most pro-American populaces in the middle east. My heart cries out to them, and everyone oppressed, denied the freedoms that we enjoy here in the United States and in democracies around the world.
ReplyDeleteI wish them the best of luck in trying to change their government, ousting the "old men with beards" who struggle for power, wealth, and archaic values that do nothing but deny others freedom.
In his Atlantic blog, Andrew Sullivan (whatever you may think of him) has been doing a terrific series of posts called "Outing Iran," in which he highlights various cultural and social aspects of modern Iran that you don't hear about in the mainstream media:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/mb48og
Very astute observation: "I can't speak re the European perspective, but I'm sure there are many thousands of Amerians whose perception of Iran could be summarized as 'What? You mean there are pretty girls in Iran? I thought it was all old men with beards...'"
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid that American prejudices toward Iran will be extremely hard to overcome. The vast majority of us aren't even paying attention. But more pictures of pretty girls actually might help.