This is from Traveller Within, a blog I discovered just a week ago. Here is a little bio info about its author.
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.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
To You, the new Iran 'expert'
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.
Etiquetas: Iran
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