Us and them
My friend has explained some of the issues regarding Iran in her weblog beauifully; I recommend it to those who would like to know us a bit more to read it.
As I have previously wrote here we have an e-zine called Cappuccino. Actually it's the first Iranian weekly e-zine and we're a group of young Iranians in Tehran, Mashad, and even in the US that run it. There we have a column called Iranology. It begun from the beginning of Iranian civilization and is going through the history to demonstrate where we were and how we got where we are today. I think it would be an interesting source of information for those who have no idea who we really are.
I have heard ridiculous comments about being an Iranian woman which make me think about the sound minds of those who say them. We are not that much blessed with sources of information and knowledge in our country but at least we know what is going on in other countries and what their races are or what they do. Apparently, the same doesn’t apply to other nationalities.
People call our language Arabic. They think we are Arabs. Once an American guy visiting Iran told me "I thought all of you guys are black!!" There is this funny idea among westerners that we live in tents! They think our women are imprisoned in their houses and have no permission to do anything. Once an English guy in a chatroom asked me, "how are you connected to the internet? Do the people in Iran have computers? What do your computers look like?!!! Won't your father or brother beat you if they found out you were talking to me?!!!"
Some subjective and unfair materials provided by shortsighted individuals following specific personal benefits has formed this horrifying picture of Iran and Iranians in the minds of the ordinary audience of the mass media in the west. All they see are these women wrapped in black chador or a bunch of people in rallies shouting "Down with America" at the top of their lungs! That, my friends, is not us! That is an image presented by those in power. Unless you travel over here and connect with the real people, there is no way that you get to know the real "us".
Ok I don’t want to make it long again, just let me say again that the Iranology page can tell you about our race, so you'll find out who we were and are; I'll try my best out here to picture the real Iran that exists in our houses and our community.
