Re: where to start
Well, since you're pretty much conceding to all the points I made, I... don't really have much to argue about there. I'm glad you liked my response; to be honest, I was expecting something much more hostile from you in return, and was pleasantly surprised when that didn't happen. There are enough crazy people on the 'Net already; always nice to talk to someone reasonable. I WOULD say that yes, Marjane's experiences leave out those pieces of the Iranian pie, as it were, that you mention, but again, those are not pieces that she's sampled - her facets, to go back to the original metaphor I made, are not the same as others who HAVE experienced the country's more positive aspects. Her story is a story of Iran, but it's not THE story of Iran - to get that, you'd have to speak to every person in it, which is hardly possible. And yes, I agree that the negative aspects of middle east culture have been overemphasized, and of course that causes problems, but I would argue that there is a reason for this overemphasis - these things are being focused upon in the hopes that they can be changed. Problems don't go away if nobody talks about them, after all, only when they're brought into the light and shown for what they are. The impression that the entire culture is like that is a regrettable side effect, and it should be corrected whenever possible, but not at the expense of combatting the evils that brought about the impression in the first place. And, uh, to be completely honest, I only listen to Amy Goodman every once in a while - she's on really early in the morning where I live. And I'm not a member of anything in particular on the Internet, so friending me might be a bit tricky. Thanks, though!