Around 20 years ago I realized how little I knew about Muslims and the Muslim world.
To make a long story short, I started visiting a mosque in Bloomington Indiana. Once the people there came to realize that I was neither a potential convert nor an enemy, I just wanted to learn, I was included in some pretty frank discussions about the situation in the Middle East. I learned things about both them and my own country that were gut wrenching.
Things I have never, to this day, heard competently discussed in western media.
Like the Iranian view of the Iran/USA history and relationships. They have a whole different, and better informed, version of events.
Tom
I went through similar periods of discovery regarding various "enemies" in the outside world which were often presented in the media as monolithic, one-dimensional entities as to raise my skepticism and suspicion. That's one of the reasons I wanted to learn about Russia early in life. During the Cold War, they said things like "know your enemy," so I wanted to know who they were and what made them tick.
With Iran, it was a bit different. I was a teenager when the Iranians stormed the US embassy and held our people hostage for 444 days. It was on the news every night. All the kids at school were talking about it. It was the main topic dominating the airwaves. People were incensed that they violated the sanctity of the embassy, burned our flag, shouted "Death to America." And the media showed this over and over and over - every night. The media (and most Americans, frankly) didn't really want to hear their speeches or explanations as to
why they did what they did. They didn't even care, for the most part. The only thing that mattered was that they provoked us and deserved a sharp reaction.
Things got a bit more tangled when Reagan made backroom deals with Iran - all the while making it seem that we were still against Iran. That's where things got a bit confused in terms of our attitude towards Iran. And then suddenly Iraq was the enemy and Iran was put on the back burner.
I also learned a few things about Islam from local Muslims, although one local Muslim cleric who seemed to make sense and gave a rather clear view of Islam was murdered due to his allegedly "heretical" teachings of Islam. (
Rashad Khalifa - Wikipedia) I didn't really want to get involved in Islam after that.
Overall, I understand that the Iranians have a point. Their position isn't complete craziness, even if it might be presented that way. They did have a righteous grievance over the US role in the installation of the Shah, as well as various other hostile actions by the US and the generally hegemonic approach the US has taken to the overall region.
You'd think it would be relatively easy for people to realize that some people don't like it when their country is interfered with or ruled over by another country. People tend to not like it when other countries rattle their saber or put large numbers of troops, planes, and ships right on their doorstep. Even if it isn't discussed on the media that much, it should still be relatively easy for people to figure out.
