From: psc@sei.cmu.edu (Peter Capell)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian
Subject: Re: real discussion...
Date: 30 Sep 92 15:22:24 GMT
Article-I.D.: sei.1992Sep30.152224.17622
Organization: Software Engineering Institute


29-Sep-92 (Farshid Moussavi) some REAL discussions, please
>August 1988. There were some alarming revelations in this report.
>Has anyone heard anything new about this?  I was quite surprised that
>such a shocking report would receive  virtually no attention on TV or the
>other media.  Probably the most significant fact coming out of this 

They say there is no censorship here, but that is obviously not really the
case.  There doesn't have to be a outright conspiracy to assure that certain
things will never be given adequate air time on major networks.  The story of
the Vincennes and that violation of Iranian waters will *never* be given
a great deal of coverage, especially because the message is so unpopular.
Politicians have to convince all of the mothers and fathers with sons and
daughters in the military that they are dying for good reasons.  If it appears
that the whole exercise is a big shame, you risk the "Vietnam" syndrome all
over again.  

The only recent report on the incident happened on Ted Koppel's "Nightline"
(which I saved on tape).  Of course the show airs at midnight, and it's
audience consists mostly of people who care about this issues (in other words,
a marginal, inconsequential group).

>2) Remember Betty Mahmoudy, the now famous author of "Not without My..."

Yeah I remember.  I think the movie was in general a terrible disservice to
Iran.  It heightened all the usual American prejudices, and was written
based on a formula, much like the story of Ross Perot's "daring" rescue of
the EDS employees in "On Wings of Eagles."  Even the title makes me cringe.
In that story we had the "cute" foreigner, and Iranian named "Rashid" who
helped the rescuers through a maze of obstacles.  The "cute" foreigner--in
case you needed a definition--appears in the second one of the "Indiana Jones"
trilogy ("Temple of Doom"), when in that case he is an Asian boy.  Hollywood
and fiction writers love this kind of BS.  

This is not to say that I am sympathetic to hostage taking.  I just think
there is no honesty in any of this.  I deplore that lack of recognition of
this fact by anyone.

So, with respect to Betty Mahmoudy, I sympathized with her, but I can't help
but wonder if the movie was simply someone's dig at Iranian culture.  We are
never shown counterexamples.  All we see of Iran in the popular media are
women clutching at their black chadors, men shouting "Marg bar Emrika!", and
patronizing statements by our news announcers.

I have a beautiful picture book of Iran that I enjoy showing to American
friends because it stands at variance to these (to my way of thinking) ugly
images.  It shows the Qashqai, Lors, Baluchis, Kurds and other wonderful and
proud peoples of Iran.  It shows the diversity of Iranian architecture and the
marvelous intelligence exposed there.  It shows the Alborz, and the marvelous
natural beauty of the Iranian countryside, and it shows Iranian memorials to 
their poets.

In the United States, you would be hard put to find a large monument to a
poet.  Generally poets are derided as "fags."  We are a stupid "culture" by
comparison I feel, and yet since our own farts smell good, we feel at ease
publicizing and deriding the bad smells of others.  This is what "Not Without
My Daughter" meant to me.

Oddly enough, given what jerks the current government are, even my wife was
relieved when little Betty comes upon the American flag at the American
Consultate in Turkey.

What I really wish is that your (Iranian) government would do, is to start
playing their "America card" more wisely.  I mean, whether we are hated or not
is not relevant.  We need one another, and it would also seem a positive
development if Americans were made sympathetic to the Iranian people.  Of
course maybe this is of no concern to Iranians, but I can't help but think it
would be of benefit to Iran to have good economic relations (at least) with 
the U.S.  

It has always made me laugh that our media has painted the Afghanis in such a
favorable light as the "freedom fighters" while at the same time disparaging
Iran.  They don't realize that in many many respects we are talking about the
same people, and too they don't realize that those people would also turn
their guns on us if we were interferring in their internal affairs as we have
in so many other instances.  They don't even know that for the most part the
Afghanis speak the same language as Iranians and claim the same historical
heros, and were a part of Iran in ancient times.

Amazing isn't it?
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian