I was rather amused today when I received an email, containing the following MUST SEE link about Iran. http://www.irandefence.net/showthread.php?t=32
The first photo states: "This is the image that the west wants you to see." It then goes on to show photo after photo of the beautiful sceneries, architectural marvels, and the people of Iran, including women.
I could not help but chuckle when I saw these photos, for although they do accurately portray the affluent parts of Tehran and other large cities of Iran, there are some discrepencies. For example, in a number of photos where women are shown wearing less than the standard Hejab (Islamic attire), there are English or other non-Persian languages on the signs behind them, indicating that these photos were likely not actually taken in Iran! Additionally, a number of the pictures in which affluent Iranian women are showing a great deal of hair under their head-scarves were taken during Khatemi's Presidency, when the Iranian government loosened enforcement of the Hejab. That practice was reversed as soon as Ahmadinejad, Iran's current hard-liner president, took over in 2005.
But perhaps the most intriguing of the bunch were photos of "mal-veiled" Iranian women in a soccer stadium, proudly cheering on the Iranian soccer team! Under the current Islamic regime, women are NOT allowed to enter sport stadiums, much less take off their head dresses and root for their team!!! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1591566/posts, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1598045/posts, http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6090 These photos could only have been taken in a stadium OUTSIDE of Iran, where women could freely enjoy their right to watch sports and cheer without fearing various types of barbaric punishments. Today's Iranian women and girls, some as young as 10 years old, face increasing levels of harrassment, fines, flogging, and imprisonment for "mal-veiling," even in Tehran and other large cities.
Viewing these images, and the message that they brought with them, reminded me, once again, of the reason that the so-called main stream media outlets of non-Islamic societies are granting little or no air time to the atrocities that face Iranian women and children on a daily basis: They are far too busy enjoying the beautiful packagings and covers, as represented in these photos, without spending the time or the requisite attention to the horrors that lie beneath those pretty images.
Perhaps the time has come, considering the growing nuclear programs and state-sponsored "martyrdom-missions" of Iran, to scratch the surface and observe that which TRULY lies beneath.
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Comments: 15
It's always one or the other, isn't it?
The degree of ignorance that prevails among most "Westerners" about Middle Eastern countries, particularly about Iran, never ceases to amaze me! For example, I am still astonished when I hear educated, well-read, and well-traveled Americans -- even members of the media -- refer to Iranians or Afghans as "Arabs"!!! Further, the lack of knowledge regarding the geographical and topographical differences between Iran and the countries to its west still leaves me shaking my head in utter disbelief.
Recently, I was looking at a topographical map of West Asian countries, commonly mislabeled as "Middle Eastern" countries, when a co-worker walked up to me, looked at what was on my computer screen and said: "Wow! I did not realize how much larger Iran is than Iraq and LOOK AT THAT MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN!! I thought Iran was mostly a desert like Saudi Arabia and Iraq." I had no idea how to respond to my colleague, who had graduated on top of his class from an Ivy-League law school. Instead, I chose to ask him about his March Madness bracket … a topic with which he would certainly have been more familiar than any topic relating to world geography or culture.
Great essay.
A few weeks ago, when an Iranian media outlet interviewed me about what I think people in other countries can do to bring about change in Iran, my first response was: "To stop travelling to Iran as tourists!" It is one thing for journalists and aid workers from NGOs to visit Iran to cover what I have referred to in this article as "that which lies beneath." However, it is an entirely different matter when tourist monies, particularly those earned in this and other free countries, are spent in a country that, despite its great wealth, has such a dismal human rights record. My own next-door neighbor travelled to Iran just last year and came back to tell me that it was one of the best vacations she has ever had. It took everything I had in me not to inform her that every dollar she spent on that great vacation went directly into lining the pockets of the Mullahs, their halls of tourture, and further funding the oppression of the Iranian public. So, I certainly hope that, when you speak of going to Tehran in October, you are not doing so as a tourist.
If the situation ever changes, I wouldn't mind going back.
But perhaps the most intriguing of the bunch were photos of "mal-veiled" Iranian women in a soccer stadium, proudly cheering on the Iranian soccer team! Under the current Islamic regime, women are NOT allowed to enter sport stadiums, much less take off their head dresses and root for their team!!! ..."
I think what the pictures from the Khatami era demonstrate is that something once reversed could be reversed again. That they were taken sometime between 1997 and 2005 hardly suggests that they are false images of the culture.
As to the soccer photos, there's no attribution provided with the picture, which could well have been taken at one of the Iran team's out of country matches, particularly since some of the women in the background appear to be of european origin. I don't know what it can be said to prove one way or another.
What I do know is that last June, less than a year ago, a group of Iranian women insisted on going to a soccer game during election season. They were blocked and one woman was injured, but about 100 of them made it in. The following link includes actual pictures of women in Iran attending a soccer match and celebrating a win sending their team to the world cup:
http://www.payvand.com/news/05/jun/1053.html
The Ahmedinejad government represents what is obviously a setback that goes against overwhelming public sentiment. When the modernizers have someone better to offer than the crook Rafsanjani, or someone more effective than Khatami, whose attempts at negotiation with the west utterly failed to gain any traction or respect, maybe things will change.
But the people are still the same people who want greater freedom, and the ayatollahs are still the same ayatollahs that Khatami was able to convince to lighten up a little bit. So I feel pretty confident that they'll be able to figure this out without anyone else's help.
And Lily, a lot of people don't know this about the Free Republic, but it's very nearly the land of the Klan on the net. They've got a rigorous screening and comment monitoring policy that will weed out anyone who posts what are considered liberal opinions, but they won't screen out comments like this repeating the sentiments of notorious racists, which are the 'what lies beneath' of America:
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3aa51d7c0716.htm
"... 3. ENTRENCHMENT. After closure and demolition, entrenchment is the next step. In late February and early March of 2001 the Israelis completed excavation of a two meter deep ditch encircling the Palestinian city of Jericho. The entrenchment of other Palestinian cities is under way. This ditch prevents not only cars driven by violent Palestinians from leaving Jericho and entering Israel, it keeps any Palestinian from driving any car out of the town without permission from Israeli authorities. This is a fabulous idea for Watts, Harlem, the south side of Chicago, portions of east Los Angeles and many other areas in America with a predominately Afro or Mexican population. It is a well-known fact that, like the Palestinians, minorities in America are fond of using automobiles in the commission of drive-by shootings and similar violence. We can prevent this by digging a deep ditch around their communities, just like the Israelis do!
4. SHOOT RIOTERS. Any time a black or Mexican child throws a stone at an American policeman they should be shot! Policemen should try to wound rather than kill these children, but if a few dozen black or Mexican children are killed by the police in America every year, it is the parents' fault for allowing their children to be out in the streets. The US State Department reports that in the year 2000, Israel shot more than 11,000 violent Palestinians, including hundreds of violence-prone Palestinian children. Almost 400 Palestinian demonstrators and rioters were killed by the Israeli police and army. We need to implement these policies in the US. We have muzzled our police for too long in the face of black and Latino violence. Let's teach these coloreds in America the way the Israelis are teaching those heathen sand niggers in Palestine! ..."
Or this commentor, who while talking about terrorists and governments they don't like, can't help but point out that the perpetrators are of a particular religion and follow that up with classic racial slurs:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/979700/posts
"... pack of fanatical, murdering rag heads ... Muslim filth ..."
Or this discussion about whether or not any Muslim Americans could be trusted at all, a topic that the posters seemed to believe was something reasonable people could disagree on:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1226841/posts
"... if they're Muslim, they're loyal to the mullahs and to the Koran but cannot be loyal to the USA. ... It's obvious that when you have a country based on Judeo-Christian values and many freedoms for individuals, then someone who doesn't believe in those cannot be loyal to it. ... Everything is subordinated to a religion whose ideas lobotomized an entire region of the world, turned them into ill-educated, violence-prone fools who daydream of becoming homicidal maniacs. ... NEVER.TRUST.A.MUSLIM! ... you are right ,that all muslimes are not terrorist, but the truth is that all terrorist are muslim ... 3)Register all American Muhammadans and intern all males 13 or older. Allow for no communication between them and the outside world until this crisis is finished. If it takes a generation, so be it. Shower the Moos' wimmen and chilren with love and truth about Muhammad. Detain or shoot runners. 4)Deport all non-American Muslims, detain those that need be and shoot all runners. 5)Outlaw Mein Koran. It's had a millenium to prove it's not just a Terrorist's Mafia Organization inherently demanding expansion and world domination by the knife. 6)Allow Israel to rid the scourge from it's midst with all means necessary. 7)Send the bees a buzzin to Fallujia, Damascus, Tehran, the Ashpanistan border region and all other targets of interest. Let all know that Mecca is one command away from obliteration. ... If they did not export terror, and the taliban mentality and destroy priceless art treasues I could care less whether they drink dirt and eat their children. And I would never feel a need to get within 10,000 miles of that hellhole. ..."
The Free Republic is a festering blister of extremism and hatred. I can understand someone stumbling onto that site and not necessarily realizing this, a CNN anchor once made a similar mistake, but I hope you don't rely on it as a regular source of information.
The posters over at Free Republic are all for 'liberating' new countries, mainly because they love to bomb them some brown people, but once they fail to greet American troops with proper reverence then the people of Iran will just be another country full of worthless hajis to them. They are not your friends.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1620347/posts
A couple of things: First, while I was not aware of Free Republic's Klan affilliations, I was and am aware of its ultra-conservative, and, at times extreme, views. The reason I posted the links from Free Republic as well as others is because as I am recovering from my surgery, I find myself rather limited in strength and "unloopiness," for lack of a more descriptive word (!!), to provide the "best" sources. That is why, for as long as I am in recovery mode, finding the first and most accessible sources of info. will have to suffice. Sorry. The meds will not allow me to do much better at this point.
Second, I never intended to suggest that the photos were false images of the Iranian culture! My point was only that the person who had compiled those photos was presenting an image that does not currently exist in that country. I could compile photos of the coronation ceremonies that took place before the Mullahs took over and state that they, took, are representative of the culture, and, technically, I'd be correct! However, that would not mean that those ceremonies, dress-codes, etc. still exist in Iran. Conversely, it does not mean, as you have correctly pointed out, that things can not go back to being what they once were.
I thank you for your post and contribution, and I look forward to more discussions.
As to the images, I think that some of the phrasing you used leaves some of that open to confusion, which is what I was trying to point out. And I know you're just trying to make a point, but there really doesn't seem to me much comparison between photos that could have been taken as recently as a year ago and photos that are 50 years old.
Feel better soon, recovering from surgery is no fun.