Bloated Barbies and Sickening Saras
01/05/08 20:33
This
might sound like a somewhat far-fetched comparison,
but the more I travel over here the more I tend to
liken the US to its archenemy Iran. It is not just
the constant threats of mass destruction they
exchange with each other, nor is it the Barbie and
Sara dolls they use to promote their different
cultural values. Rather, it is the way their
governments seem wholly out of touch with the people
they were meant to represent.
When I visited Iran back in 2003, I found the country to be frozen in time - US time, that is. Prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the Shah of Iran shared strong ties to the US, and was popularly considered the West of the Middle East. With his overthrow by Ayatollah Khomeini, all that changed. Khomeini instituted an Islamic Republic, and basically cut all of the Shah's ties to the US. But still, the influence of Western culture persisted. Big American cars roamed the streets, canvas trousers and smoke-colored glasses were all the rage, and hot dog stands and burger joints crowded the downtown shopping areas. In a turn of irony, Kentucky Fried Chicken was even converted to Khomeini Fried Chicken.
A quarter of a century after the revolution, nothing much seemed to have changed. Walking down the streets of cities like Tabriz, Isfahan, and Yazd, I almost felt like I were touring the set of some American cops'n'robbers movie from the late 70s. At one point I even got into a big ass chevy with a front seat that went from door to door, and drove through a dimly lit neighbourhood to attend an illegal classical concert with a Persian tar (lute) player in a private apartment block (illegal because traditional Persian culture has been outlawed under Islamic rule). Hailing from the country that pioneered free porn, the experience was as exhilarating as it was absurd.
Before I crossed the border from Turkey, I was warned not to mention any of the three majorly tabooed topics - sex, religion, and politics. It took less than a day before I had discussed all of them with local Iranians. People would join me on my walks through town, and talk non-stop about brothels, head scarves, and the ludicrousness of Iranian politics. I still remember the man in the tea shop telling me that he believed in God, but that he could not be a Muslim in a country like Iran. I still remember the guy in the park telling me that the Iranian government acted as if they lived on Saturn. And I still remember that in the entire month I spend traveling Iran, I did not meet a single person who agreed with the politicians who were supposed to represent them.
Going through the US five years later, it strikes me that much of the same could be said about the American people. So far I have not meet a single person who supports President Bush, and so far I have not met a single person who felt duly represented by his administration. The media, here as in Iran, is one-sided, and wholly out of touch with the diversity and day-to-day reality of the people. News reporters and commentators have reduced themselves to a constant crackle of white noise that nobody really knows how - and fewer even cares - to turn off. It is like the droning of cars on the highway outside your house - either you learn to live with it, or you pull up your stakes, and go someplace else. If you are an Iranian you go to the provinces, if you are an American you take to the woods.
The famous provocateur and natural philosopher Henry David Thoreau showed the way back in the mid-1800s when he left society behind, and moved into a cabin by Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. Today, his legacy still seems to live on in the minds and spirits of many Americans sickened to near-death by the current trend of politics and the media. If it was not because lending deaf ears and turning blind eyes do not really seem to stop anybody from doing anything, I would be out on the bleachers applauding for sure. I would stand on the seats of an empty stadium at the bottom of the ocean that separates continents, drowning for joy while Bush and Ahmadinejad led armies of Barbies and Saras across the field to a final showdown of plastic and polyester. But I do not see it happening anytime soon. So do not be too surprised if you see Kristian and I heading off for a rerun of our project next year in Iran.
When I visited Iran back in 2003, I found the country to be frozen in time - US time, that is. Prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the Shah of Iran shared strong ties to the US, and was popularly considered the West of the Middle East. With his overthrow by Ayatollah Khomeini, all that changed. Khomeini instituted an Islamic Republic, and basically cut all of the Shah's ties to the US. But still, the influence of Western culture persisted. Big American cars roamed the streets, canvas trousers and smoke-colored glasses were all the rage, and hot dog stands and burger joints crowded the downtown shopping areas. In a turn of irony, Kentucky Fried Chicken was even converted to Khomeini Fried Chicken.
A quarter of a century after the revolution, nothing much seemed to have changed. Walking down the streets of cities like Tabriz, Isfahan, and Yazd, I almost felt like I were touring the set of some American cops'n'robbers movie from the late 70s. At one point I even got into a big ass chevy with a front seat that went from door to door, and drove through a dimly lit neighbourhood to attend an illegal classical concert with a Persian tar (lute) player in a private apartment block (illegal because traditional Persian culture has been outlawed under Islamic rule). Hailing from the country that pioneered free porn, the experience was as exhilarating as it was absurd.
Before I crossed the border from Turkey, I was warned not to mention any of the three majorly tabooed topics - sex, religion, and politics. It took less than a day before I had discussed all of them with local Iranians. People would join me on my walks through town, and talk non-stop about brothels, head scarves, and the ludicrousness of Iranian politics. I still remember the man in the tea shop telling me that he believed in God, but that he could not be a Muslim in a country like Iran. I still remember the guy in the park telling me that the Iranian government acted as if they lived on Saturn. And I still remember that in the entire month I spend traveling Iran, I did not meet a single person who agreed with the politicians who were supposed to represent them.
Going through the US five years later, it strikes me that much of the same could be said about the American people. So far I have not meet a single person who supports President Bush, and so far I have not met a single person who felt duly represented by his administration. The media, here as in Iran, is one-sided, and wholly out of touch with the diversity and day-to-day reality of the people. News reporters and commentators have reduced themselves to a constant crackle of white noise that nobody really knows how - and fewer even cares - to turn off. It is like the droning of cars on the highway outside your house - either you learn to live with it, or you pull up your stakes, and go someplace else. If you are an Iranian you go to the provinces, if you are an American you take to the woods.
The famous provocateur and natural philosopher Henry David Thoreau showed the way back in the mid-1800s when he left society behind, and moved into a cabin by Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. Today, his legacy still seems to live on in the minds and spirits of many Americans sickened to near-death by the current trend of politics and the media. If it was not because lending deaf ears and turning blind eyes do not really seem to stop anybody from doing anything, I would be out on the bleachers applauding for sure. I would stand on the seats of an empty stadium at the bottom of the ocean that separates continents, drowning for joy while Bush and Ahmadinejad led armies of Barbies and Saras across the field to a final showdown of plastic and polyester. But I do not see it happening anytime soon. So do not be too surprised if you see Kristian and I heading off for a rerun of our project next year in Iran.
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