Iran the enemy-truth or fiction?
With the exception of North Korea, no other Country is so often referred to as Americas Nemesis's as Iran is. In fact since the fall of Russia and the cold war I can think of no other Country that has been vilified as much as this Country. When most westerners think of Iran they think of fundamentalism, terrorism, and fanaticism. In all fairness this very well may be an accurate picture....but of who, the people or the Government? I know very little about Iran and its history and I certainly could stand to know more before ever making judgement. So what is the real Iran? Do they really hate Americans? Or does their Government just dislike our Government. I tend to think that most Iranians are loving, good natured people who get up and go to work everyday so that their children can have better lives than them. Sadly the political posturning and aggressive rhetoric between their leaders and ours leaves little opportunity for improves relations between our two great Countries.
Hi, Jason. I think, as Persepolis demonstrates, that things are more complicated in Iran than the US antagonism indicates. The system put into place in th 70s still exists, and many support it because of its religious roots. Yet, there are also many people opposed to the oppression and anti-intellectualism of fundamentalist government.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you remember that there was a highly publicized protest against the government in 2009 where media were being controlled, but citizens were able to broadcast information via texting. Here are some photos from Time magazine about the protest: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1945994,00.html
This suggests to me that Iran is like the US in the sense that the conservatives and the liberals continue to clash. The difference, I assume, is that in America that clash is part of the political process, while in Iran, dissent is disloyalty and can be punished by the group in power. Nancy