Joan François poured another glass of Vodka for himself, wondering how this naughty Absolute bottle has found her way inside Islamic republic of Iran. It was a hot night and every now and then, the lazy wind that came in through the window made us dizzier.
I asked Joan how he thought about Iran before landing in Tehran airport. He replied frankly (thanks to 46% pure alcohol) that he thought Iranians ride camels in the streets. "So you should be quite shocked seeing all these Peugeot here?" I asked. "Your government has sold us more than 7 million Peugeot and still said nothing about Iranian people to you. Is it a cultural sanction?"
photo: Mahgame Parvane
to order this photo send an email to me
Sometimes it is quite interesting why Europeans and Americans view on Iran goes no further than one thousand and one nights' movies. Mc Luhan may talk about his global village, but it seems that the east and west contact has ceased after Crusades. Of course some tiny interactions still exist; The people of the east are fascinated in Coca Cola and McDonald and the American soldiers in Vietnam or Iraq have introduced opium and some others Asian drugs to their families and neighbors. But these have nothing to do with global village, dialogue among civilizations or things like that. Most of the habitants of the west prefer to imagine eastern countries as in James Bonds movies; heroic horse-riders of Mojahidin who fight against Soviet Union or east block government. (No one cares these Mojahidin are now the first enemy of the western States!)
Joan François returned to his country a week later. The process of finding a job inside Iran (and by a job I mean teaching French language of course) failed. By the way, he had a wife and two children waiting for him and his unemployment salary. About a month later Joan François sent me an email. It was at the middle of Iran nuclear crisis. He emailed "You have the entire world looking at you - how does it feel?" Well, in a world whose people don't know anything about us, we should celebrate few times we are the first news of the world.
Sometimes I feel we should take care of this Osama Bin Laden, as our very last relics to resort to. We should keep him in a highly guarded museum with laser lights on him, because it is the only antithesis of us against Hollywood culture. Eastern habitants of the world are happy deep inside their heart that there is a Bin Laden in this goddamned continent to make them subject of everyday chats, even if they are the very first victims of him.
I asked Joan how he thought about Iran before landing in Tehran airport. He replied frankly (thanks to 46% pure alcohol) that he thought Iranians ride camels in the streets. "So you should be quite shocked seeing all these Peugeot here?" I asked. "Your government has sold us more than 7 million Peugeot and still said nothing about Iranian people to you. Is it a cultural sanction?"photo: Mahgame Parvane
to order this photo send an email to me
Sometimes it is quite interesting why Europeans and Americans view on Iran goes no further than one thousand and one nights' movies. Mc Luhan may talk about his global village, but it seems that the east and west contact has ceased after Crusades. Of course some tiny interactions still exist; The people of the east are fascinated in Coca Cola and McDonald and the American soldiers in Vietnam or Iraq have introduced opium and some others Asian drugs to their families and neighbors. But these have nothing to do with global village, dialogue among civilizations or things like that. Most of the habitants of the west prefer to imagine eastern countries as in James Bonds movies; heroic horse-riders of Mojahidin who fight against Soviet Union or east block government. (No one cares these Mojahidin are now the first enemy of the western States!)
Joan François returned to his country a week later. The process of finding a job inside Iran (and by a job I mean teaching French language of course) failed. By the way, he had a wife and two children waiting for him and his unemployment salary. About a month later Joan François sent me an email. It was at the middle of Iran nuclear crisis. He emailed "You have the entire world looking at you - how does it feel?" Well, in a world whose people don't know anything about us, we should celebrate few times we are the first news of the world.
Sometimes I feel we should take care of this Osama Bin Laden, as our very last relics to resort to. We should keep him in a highly guarded museum with laser lights on him, because it is the only antithesis of us against Hollywood culture. Eastern habitants of the world are happy deep inside their heart that there is a Bin Laden in this goddamned continent to make them subject of everyday chats, even if they are the very first victims of him.
1 comments:
Baudrillard, describe new wave of terrorism as "The Revenge of all cultural singularities from the globalization and zer-degree death system"
u can read "Spirit of Terrorism" and "illusion of the ends", two books of this philosopher, for a subtle analysis of the role of singular cultures in the emerging terrorism in the Post-modern and globalized world.
Post a Comment