A guest post by Mohamed of The Traveller Within, republished with permission
Yes, you.
Who, until this morning, thought that ‘Shiraz’ was just the name of a wine
Who’s beaming with pride you can now write ‘Ahmadinejad’ without copy-and-pasting it from a news website
Who only heard of Evin prison when Roxana Saberi was there (Roxana who?)
Who changed your Facebook profile picture to a green rectangle saying “Where’s my vote?“ even though you don’t actually vote in Iran
Who actually thinks that Mir-Hossein Mousavi is a secular
And that his election means that Iran will give up its nuclear claims
And allow you to visit Tehran for Christmas
Who joyfully makes Azadi/Tiananmen square comparisons
Who first heard of Azadi square last Sunday
Who’s quick to link to articles you haven’t read, debunking other articles you’ve barely heard of
Who has just discovered that Iran has a (quasi-)democracy, and elections, and the like
Who blinked in disbelief at the images of women - oh, they have women! and they’re not in burkas! – demonstrating
Who has never heard of Rezai or Karroubi before (hint: they ran for election in a Middle-Eastern country last Friday)
Who staunchly believes that the elections have been stolen – either by ballot box stuffing, (14 million of them!) or by burning some ballots, or both (somehow?), regardless of the absence of any proof (yet)
… But who nevertheless
Has been tweeting, and re-tweeting, and polluting cyberspace with what is essentially hearsay, rumours, and unconfirmed truncated reports or falsification coming from people who actually know about the realities of Iran’s political world and have an agenda:
You know nothing. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing about what happened, or is happening across Iran at the very moment. Most of us don’t, actually. What we see is a tiny slice of reality, mind you, what is happening on the main squares in the big cities, under camera lenses.
I hear your objection though:
Yes, you are entitled to an opinion, to formulating it, to blog it, and to discuss it. I do that too. (this my blog after all).
But do everyone, and you first and foremost, a favour.
Learn from the people who know a thing or two about the issue at hand.
Be selective about you read, listen to, and watch. A simple way is to follow an Iranian friend’s updates and the links they put up.
(Even the State Dept is reading tweets from Iranians.)
Ask questions more than you volunteer answers.
And when you get a tweet that says UNCONF or ‘can anyone confirm?‘, for Pete’s sake, that says “This is potentially bullshit“. Don’t spread nonsense. Don’t spread unconfirmed or unsourced information.
And rather that getting all excited following live some current events taking place in a country you probably cannot place on a map, read analysis of what it means, what the candidates actually stand for, and what the result will mean for the Iranians and the world.
Then, I would be delighted, truly, to read what you have to say.
Until then, please, pretty please – SHUT UP.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
As for what I think? I don’t know. I think the results could be fake – and they also could be real. We probably will never know.
And I don’t think we’re watching a Ukraine ’04 redux or a ‘Green revolution’.
And I think that the people on the street will tire of getting beaten up by a government that is currently revoking foreign media licenses and will forfeit. We’re – well, Iran is – likely stuck with Ahmadinejad for four more years.
And while the troubles on the street are unlikely to lead to a change of government, they’d have had the benefit of showing the Iranian people in a new light – they’re normal people, only with more courage than most of us have.
[Cartoon from 123 Real Change]
Related posts:
- Saberi’s Release & its Implications for US-Iran Relations
- Why Ahmedinejad Thinks There are No Gays in Iran
- Iran Saves Face(book)
- A Suspicious Journalist and the Future of US-Iran Relations
- Iranian Caricatures of Candidates Go Viral
Are you Iranian, Yaman? Because I've seen a lot of KABOBfesters say same some really stupid shit about Iran on this here blog the last few days.
Posted by programmer craig | June 21, 2009, 9:29 pmlol. I read this post somewhere else and while the humor is noted, I dont think we all have to have pHD's in Iranian history to be able to voice sound opinion. Sometimes a major event must occur in order for curiosity to strike and I dont think those of us trying to learn more and enter discussion should be discouraged to do so because we don't appropriate degrees
Posted by Lena | June 21, 2009, 10:32 pmLena – surely no PhDs, but at least a passing knowledge of what is going on – and the common sense to differentiate between corroborated news and mere rumours… I'm sure you would agree this isn't too much to ask!
Posted by Mo-ha-med | June 21, 2009, 11:21 pmI agree
Posted by Mahsa | June 22, 2009, 7:45 amI mean I agreee with Lena not you Mo-ha-med.
Posted by mahsa | June 22, 2009, 7:46 amLove it. . . friggin hilarious & friggin true
Posted by Faeza | June 21, 2009, 11:40 pmPoint taken. As fa r as the elections go though, there is a high probability that they were fraudulent. In fact read the paper below. It says that not only election 2009 was likely to be a fraud, the 2005 election was probably a fraud too. http://bit.ly/1brlP6
Posted by Reza | June 22, 2009, 3:17 pmWell, we (I am Iranian) have evidence of the fraud in elecetion. But the more simple to understand point is why the government dos not stand any peaceful protest or accept a fair court to judge . Those brave people in Iran put their lives in risk to say they want their voice to be heard!
Many of them killed and more in jail now!
Posted by Parvaneh | July 1, 2009, 8:48 pmI'm an Iranian American, and I'm happy to see other Americans at least paying attention to Iran and taking a side. We (Americans) don't even know anything about our own politics, what do you expect? I don't think it's beneficial to reject popular support for a just cause in Iran, even if some of it is baseless.
And as for doubting the cause, bipartisan political scientists have already released dozens of documents proving that the results as they stood were impossible.
I think the main reason that average American citizens are getting involved is not based on a facade of political knowledge, but emotions and outrage. For one, many Americans want to see an improvement in relations with Iran. Regardless of whether or not they know that Mousavi has said that he wants to renew relations, people know that things aren't working now. Also, to see largely peaceful protests violently crushed goes against our idea of basic human rights and liberties. If someone doesn't know how to spell the President's name (which, by the way, is up for debate because there are multiple official transcriptions to the Roman alphabet), does that not give them the right to care for a fellow human being?
Considering Iranian-American relations in the recent years, I think it's foolish to so rudely reject the long overdue support and sympathy of so many Americans.
Posted by kevindosi | July 9, 2009, 8:48 amKevindosi, I do see your point and do value your thoughts, I cannot fathom that us Iranians on June 12th of this year went from demons to darlings to these people who for THIRTY YEARS have seen us as nothing more than "crazy people who beat their wives and blow stuff up"! I honestly don't want their pity and their sympathies. I have spent too much of my life trying to convince them that we come across the planet to this country to work hard, study hard, obey the laws, pay respects to their culture, and that we're very family-oriented while all they could do is ask things like "do you really believe you get 72 virgins if you blow yourself up for Allah?" Watch, when the dust settles on this situation (whether it's for better or worse) all these internet jockey Iran "sympathizers" won't give half a damn about us and it will all go back to being as it was on June 11th and before!
Posted by NoThanks | July 13, 2009, 9:31 pmYaman, or Mohamed the Traveller Within, you peeeess me off. Why? Because you are very arrogant. I am interested in Iran, have been learning your language for a few years, I sympathize with Persians living in Iran. Yet your pride does not appeal to me. Perhaps you have a 3 or 30 thousand-year history. So what? Desert dogs made you slaves 1200 years ago. And you are still slaves. Nothing to be proud of. Cyrus the Great? My grand-grand dad was GREATER! I truly wish your people overcome all the obstacles they face. Not you, you are OK. I would gladly help if I could. And you tell me that the best help from me would be to "shut the fuuuk up"? Man, have you ever heard about being humble? Do you know what it means? It means that you should not spit on the hands that would like to shake hands with you, at least, perhaps more… Besides, there are hundreds of nations apart from usa, mifahmid? Don't spit on them, lotfan.
Posted by yelo | August 10, 2009, 2:04 amI am not an Iranian, but a Middleeastern like them. That is typical of us over here – we love to hate people who sympathize with us. We know all about everything, but can not understand why our countries are stuck with all the tyrants, dictators and rascals who rule us. It is true those bastards are elected by majority votes, but yet again because we know the best, we still do not like others teach us democratic values. We get mad when others feel pity for the conditions we put ourselves into, and again because we know the best we believe we have the solution (!!!). Cyrus was a blood-thirsty bastard, all the ones that followed him everywhere in the Middleeast have never been better – the sultans, mullahs, generals' and yes even the ones who call themselves presidents. Because we know the best, they are still ruling us and still we hate others to remind us this fact or sympathize with our poor suffering people who finally rise and say no to all that injustice. That is why east is still the same old east – any western power can come and go, buy and sell anytime they feel like it. Perhaps it will all change when we all-knowing eastern cowboys stop being arrogant and learn to co-operate with well-wishers all over the world.
Posted by LTE | August 14, 2009, 6:48 pm