The NYT and its put down of the Iranians.
I have blogged and linked to earlier reactions to the Oscar winning film Argo. I found those reactions worthy of being taken seriously. The following reaction by the not-so-grand dame of American journalism, I find very painful. The language used is the language of the ultimate put down of a justifiably proud Iranian people. Cultured People who are part of an ancient civilization. A people who were civilized when the western ancestors of the current Ango Saxon empire builders were barely out of their caves.
But then, this is what colonial attitudes and western propaganda do best.- create the lesser Other. When the NYT uses phrases like "A self-described “specialist in anti-Iranian and anti-Islamic films,” to introduce a critic of american culture and policy one is just forced to think of the lessons one learnt from George Orwell on the colonial use of language. Take another sentence - "Leftist activists, Muslim converts and a former American senator were interviewed by a stream of Iranian state television camera crews, which introduced them as Western “professors, researchers and critics.” Leftist activists, Muslim converts and former american senators are not to be taken seriously and they cannot actually be professors, researchers and critics. Not according to the writer, at least. His dripping sarcasms and ultimate put downs destroy any chance of any real debate or converstation between cultures. Mr Erdbrink sits firmly on the brink of the side that wants a Clash with Iran.
I am not really surprised. It was the NYT that first 'mistranslated ' and spread the old and oft repeated lie about the Iranian President wanting to wipe Israel from the Map.
Propaganda and Hasbara is what the NYT is really about. It has just proved it . Again. Read this 'report' read between the lines and into them.
The Iranians have not "managed to ban all exhibits of sexuality from their society " they have consciously refused to exploit the bodies of women to promote and sell consumer goods and culture.
Have had an interesting to and fro about this on Facebook. Updating with a couple of links. added at the end .
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/world/middleeast/stung-by-argo-iran-backs-conference-decrying-hollywoodism.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/israeli-minister-agrees-ahmadinejad-never-said-israel-must-be-wiped-off-the-map/
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Wipe-Israel-Off-Map-Stat-by-Sherwood-Ross-120605-187.html
But then, this is what colonial attitudes and western propaganda do best.- create the lesser Other. When the NYT uses phrases like "A self-described “specialist in anti-Iranian and anti-Islamic films,” to introduce a critic of american culture and policy one is just forced to think of the lessons one learnt from George Orwell on the colonial use of language. Take another sentence - "Leftist activists, Muslim converts and a former American senator were interviewed by a stream of Iranian state television camera crews, which introduced them as Western “professors, researchers and critics.” Leftist activists, Muslim converts and former american senators are not to be taken seriously and they cannot actually be professors, researchers and critics. Not according to the writer, at least. His dripping sarcasms and ultimate put downs destroy any chance of any real debate or converstation between cultures. Mr Erdbrink sits firmly on the brink of the side that wants a Clash with Iran.
I am not really surprised. It was the NYT that first 'mistranslated ' and spread the old and oft repeated lie about the Iranian President wanting to wipe Israel from the Map.
Propaganda and Hasbara is what the NYT is really about. It has just proved it . Again. Read this 'report' read between the lines and into them.
The Iranians have not "managed to ban all exhibits of sexuality from their society " they have consciously refused to exploit the bodies of women to promote and sell consumer goods and culture.
Have had an interesting to and fro about this on Facebook. Updating with a couple of links. added at the end .
Stung by ‘Argo,’ Iran Backs Conference Denouncing ‘Hollywoodism’
Newsha Tavakolian for The New York Times
Iranian and foreign guests participated in the 3rd annual Hollywoodism conference in Tehran this month.
By THOMAS ERDBRINK
TEHRAN — As the trailer for “Argo,” an Oscar contender and a thorn in the side of the Iranian government, played in a conference room in a hotel here this month, Mehdi Tondro shook his head in disapproval.
A self-described “specialist in anti-Iranian and anti-Islamic films,” he fumed over scenes of angry Iranians storming the gates of the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
“We Iranians look stupid, backward and simple-minded in this movie,” Mr. Tondro said. “Hollywood is not a normal industry; it’s a conspiracy by capitalism and Zionism. We need to come up with an answer to this and other films.”
A self-described “specialist in anti-Iranian and anti-Islamic films,” he fumed over scenes of angry Iranians storming the gates of the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
“We Iranians look stupid, backward and simple-minded in this movie,” Mr. Tondro said. “Hollywood is not a normal industry; it’s a conspiracy by capitalism and Zionism. We need to come up with an answer to this and other films.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/world/middleeast/stung-by-argo-iran-backs-conference-decrying-hollywoodism.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
Israeli Minister Agrees Ahmadinejad Never Said Israel ‘Must Be Wiped Off the Map’
By ROBERT MACKEY
Updated | Wednesday | 4:43 p.m. In a reminder that Persian rhetoric is not always easy for English-speakers to interpret, a senior Israeli official has acknowledged that Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, never actually said that Israel “must be wiped off the map.”
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/israeli-minister-agrees-ahmadinejad-never-said-israel-must-be-wiped-off-the-map/
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Wipe-Israel-Off-Map-Stat-by-Sherwood-Ross-120605-187.html
posted by Satish Sharma at
14:52
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