Forward Misconceptions About Iran

Deeply curious about Iran, I read the Forward’s “5 Most Common Misconceptions About Iran” with a lot of curiosity and envy in the best sense of envy. Coming from an era when we Americans originally couldn’t tell Iranian hostage takers from A-Rabs, an era where someone invented the “bomb ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out” t-shirt, I want my misconceptions quickly removed like pulling off a bandage but after reading the article I wasn’t sure why Larry Cohler-Esses needed to go, though he will always have my goodwill for doing so. William Beeman’s discussion of the Iranains based on the trip left me bewildered by the idea we miss the obvious truths and are now overstating the positives about Iran. An example of this paradox is when William Beeman reports, “[a misconception]…where the population is dominated by glowering clerics restricting their behavior” but the fact is that the clerics through their police entities and draconian laws do restrict behavior but fail to completely eliminate behavior the government doesn’t like. Six young Iranian adults were sentenced to 91 lashes and jail for making a video out of just the behavior being reported on but set to Pharell Williams “Happy” and uploaded to YouTube.  Fortunately, the sentences were suspended, probably due to the notoriety of the “crimes” and the impact they would have on more sanctions against the Iranian regime.  Restrictions, well that video was primarily shot on roof tops so the young ‘evil doers’ could shoot outside without getting arrested during the shoot for parading fully dressed men and  women dancing -- few are the restrictions on restrictions in Iran!    

As a preteen in 1979 when Iran had a revolution and became anti-American and I saw the affect of the revolution had on my friend who could not return home until things had settled.  Later he could not return home because at 13 he would be drafted into the Iran-Iraq war with the bonus that since he was American he would be placed directly on the front lines. I had great empathy for his family’s feeling of upheaval as my friend really wanted to see a country he could barely recall. I remember my friend’s very secular mother telling me she wasn’t’ sure she could go back if she had to dress and live conservatively.  Later in life, during the second part of the Gulf War coming across an Iranian family in Istanbul, staying at the same hotel our daughters enjoyed swimming together. A father, a doctor, broke the ice by suggesting we agree we’re not our presidents and we got along very well. His wife was also in the water but in religious clothing and I guessed if they had traveled to a non-Muslim country she would have worn a western bathing suit instead of dressing halal. In-between those times, the wife and I found lifelong friends in a couple, an Iranian woman and her German husband, she was a communist while she lived in Iran and feared arrest for the books she read and was an atheist until she came to America where she learned religion did not equal oppression. Now she is theistic. They were in Iran when I was visiting Turkey and since I am addicted to Turkish pistachios we decided to have a pistachio off where we could bring back and compare the quality of the neighboring countries roasted nuts. Remembering fondly the imported version from Iran in the seventies and thinking Turkey could not stand a chance yet the secular republic won as the Turkish ones proved be more flavorful with a delicate and deeply satisfying texture. Over the years, I’ve had clients, teachers and friends of all stripes from Iran, sometimes Jewish, sometimes Baha’i, sometimes Muslim and frequently anti-religious, from all economic levels and educational backgrounds. I have an affinity for Iran despite never being there and recognizing in high school the rise of Hezbollah by Iran as perhaps the disturbing grain of sand forming of a new evil pearl. A new evil that could simultaneously build hospitals to entrap people and then send them off as suicide bombers put my cold war fears on the back burner.  The Soviets were done for; this was the problem the US would have to endure going forward. My friends could visit Iran by this time but it seemed to me it would have to be like visiting an ill family member in hospice. Knowing mostly expats never tells the whole story so a Forward Journalist going Iran was just the adventure I wanted to read about.   The article like its name broke itself in to 5 sections.

“It’s backward”

“…modern Iran with a large, well-educated youthful population sitting “on the precipice of a huge change.” The millions-strong young Iranian population is fashionable, modern, restive, openly critical of their own government…”while important to know and not surprising to anyone familiar with Iran needs to be balanced by two factors. One is there is still a large peasant and rural community, many of whom see Tehran as the way, an old man can still buy a village bride in Iran and the other thing to remember is that large parts of the more religious community are also fed up with Tehran. The youth are not monolithic closeted secularists any more than they are next generation of religious backwardness and the youth described here seem middle class and frankly middle class children may have little voice in the future of Iran even if generational change is on the way and perhaps revolution. That doesn’t mean the next generation will fail to improve Iran but the generalizations on the youth seem too optimistic.

The idea that minorities are treated well is simply not true and separating the Baha’i from this description is wrong headed, the Baha’i are the canary in the coal mine. There have been witch hunts against Jewry in Iran and again the article is dismissive of the Ahmadinejad era even though he is looking to run for president again but more importantly the Ayatollah may be ready for a conservative to replace Rouhani once the Iran deal is signed.  Anecdotally, Christians seem well treated in context but both Jews and Christians are minimally alien guests as far as the theocratic government is concerned but that does not necessarily reflect the feelings of their Muslim citizens.

"It’s Anti-Israel"

Yes average Iranians have no interest in attacking Israel, while there must be excitable youth who believe Iran can do no wrong and want to at least see Hezbollah fight Israel most people are far more concerned with what the government does domestically and intuitively know Israel has no interest in Iran which Iran doesn’t create. Iran isn't inoculated from decades of governmental antisemitism but the hatred is not relevant to the Iranian public and many people never indulge. The easiest way to protest the government is still to have people project the crimes of the government onto Israel and the Palestinians and that does affect attitudes towards Israel and Jews as we have seen all over the Middle East.

"It’s Unvisitable"

This was a genuine surprise that Iran would accept a US passport for travel and it seems both unlikely and unsafe for now.  Larry Cohler-Esses had a nice trip at a moment when Iran wants to put its best face forward but people need to be cautious when visiting a country that directly supports terrorism and which we have no embassy with much less Iran whose government bases much of their national identity on hating Israelis and Americans.  

If the Iranian people not being an anti-Semitic, religiously backward borg is surprising to anyone then this article did its job but the question facing the US and the West is really how do our actions empower people to have a better government in Iran? Will letting sanctions run their course allow Iran to have the revolution that was quashed by the Ahmadinejad rigged second term or do we really think the government can reform itself once it is invested in the world community through trade and diplomacy?  A wrong answer either way imposes unnecessary hardship for many, many people including Americans who may have to fight a predatory Iran.  The problem here is while article serves a purpose, a purpose I hope any reader of the Forward learned the lessons offered long ago, the awkward and false caricature the article seeks to dispel is replaced by one that is different and not more accurate.