Iran has been widely advertised in the media as an "evil country." George Bush openly stated that Iran was part of the "Axis of Evil." But what does this really mean? Two questions can be asked. 1) When we say "Iran" who or what exactly are we referring to. 2) What do we mean exactly by being evil?
Obviously, Bush did not consider all people living in Iran to be evil people. Maybe he meant the government of Iran. Well, even then, it is obvious that not every single person in Iranian government is evil. So if we were to be precise, who or what was he referring to?
Personally, I think people are never evil. But they sometimes "act" in an evil fashion. You might ask what the difference is. Well, it is a huge difference. When we say someone is evil, that implies that the individual has no choice - as if he was created that way and there is nothing he can do about it. We would have actually exonerated that person from any wrongdoing because we just established that he has no choice in this. But if we say "is acting" evil, then we are implying that he is doing this intentionally and that he has a choice not to act that way.
Am I playing with words here? Well, to know the answer I think it is best if you did some experiments yourself. When a child is acting rude, tell him he is rude and the tell him he is acting rude. See the difference for yourself. When you say he is rude, he feels like he was just justified in his actions. But if you tell him he is "acting" rude, then he feels pressured into correcting himself because deep down nobody wants to be acting what he/she is not!
The first question is also important. When we call "Iran" evil, we immediately get an emotional reaction from some 80 million people! But if Bush was more precise with his choice of words, this would not happen. If he had instead named specific names and actions, then most of the people of Iran would actually support him! But now, they all simply feel insulted and feel that they need to stand behind their country! So again, we can see that this is an important issue.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Animosity With The West
Note: this blog is incomplete. I am still working on it. But you are welcome to make comments based on what I already have anyway.
Why do people in Iran chant "Death to America"? I have seen it regularly during the Friday Prayers. I know the general answer - "Because America has done us so much wrong." or "Because america is evil and is always planning something evil against Iran or certain other nations." But really, these are too generic and have no specifics. I guess my question breaks down into parts.
1) What is exactly meant by "America" here?
Do Iranians who chant these slogans desire for all American people to be dead? I don't think anybody in Iran would want that. One would have to be insane to desire that. Clearly, not all Americans are evil people. So what is the actual desire? I think this is very important because I know quite a few Americans who have asked me why Iranians want Americans dead. It is a serious source of confusion. I think clarifying this issue will go a long way in improving Iran-US relationships.
Well, maybe they don't mean all Americans. Maybe they mean the American government. Do they want American government dead? Hmmm. What does that mean? They want everybody in the US government dead? I mean, what about a rather simple clerk? Should he be dead too? Obviously, this cannot be the goal either. Again, one would have to be insane to want everyone working for the US government dead! Well, maybe they want just the top officials dead. OK, but even if that were the case, how do we decide who is a top official? Does it depend on their pay? Does it depend on how long they have worked for the government? Another viewpoint that could help clarify this issue is how do we exactly want these individuals dead? I mean, do we just line them up in front of a firing squad and shoot them? And then the next day everything in the world will be nice, sweet and peaceful? Is that what these people want?
You see, I don't think that these people have ever actually thought about this. It is most likely just a bunch of exaggerated emotions which are piled on top of vague and undefined reasons or issues?
Why do people in Iran chant "Death to America"? I have seen it regularly during the Friday Prayers. I know the general answer - "Because America has done us so much wrong." or "Because america is evil and is always planning something evil against Iran or certain other nations." But really, these are too generic and have no specifics. I guess my question breaks down into parts.
1) What is exactly meant by "America" here?
Do Iranians who chant these slogans desire for all American people to be dead? I don't think anybody in Iran would want that. One would have to be insane to desire that. Clearly, not all Americans are evil people. So what is the actual desire? I think this is very important because I know quite a few Americans who have asked me why Iranians want Americans dead. It is a serious source of confusion. I think clarifying this issue will go a long way in improving Iran-US relationships.
Well, maybe they don't mean all Americans. Maybe they mean the American government. Do they want American government dead? Hmmm. What does that mean? They want everybody in the US government dead? I mean, what about a rather simple clerk? Should he be dead too? Obviously, this cannot be the goal either. Again, one would have to be insane to want everyone working for the US government dead! Well, maybe they want just the top officials dead. OK, but even if that were the case, how do we decide who is a top official? Does it depend on their pay? Does it depend on how long they have worked for the government? Another viewpoint that could help clarify this issue is how do we exactly want these individuals dead? I mean, do we just line them up in front of a firing squad and shoot them? And then the next day everything in the world will be nice, sweet and peaceful? Is that what these people want?
You see, I don't think that these people have ever actually thought about this. It is most likely just a bunch of exaggerated emotions which are piled on top of vague and undefined reasons or issues?
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