When is a lie most effective? Answer: when most people want to believe it to be true. Wouldn’t it be great if the world was black and white. We could always tell the good guys from the bad guys. But that is not reality. The world is a grey place. Shadows of truth swirl in between out-right falsehoods and half-truths. We can really only rely on our own perceptions and we know that many of them are incorrect. My father always quoted that old saw that said never believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. It’s underlying cynicism aside it is a good rule to live by. I tell my students virtually every day to question, question everything, never accept anything at face value. When someone tells you something ask yourself who benefits from that understanding or approach to the situation. If the person defining the situation is the same one who benefits be very suspicious.
Right now Iran seems to be coming apart at the seams. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed a massive victory in the recent presidential elections which led followers of his opponent Mir-Hossein Mousavi to cry foul. Taking to the streets, opposition protesters alleged massive fraud in the vote count. A subsequent partial recount increased Ahmadinejad’s lead rather than diminish it which served only to ratchet up emotions on both sides. The Iranian government, that is the government of Mr. Ahmadinejad, has cracked down fiercely on the protesters. Several people have been killed and many more injured in street clashes between protesters and riot police.
Barack Obama and the American government deny accusations coming out of Iran that they, along with their ally Great Britain, are behind the protests. Both the president and vice-president have specifically denied the allegations coming out of Tehran. Barack Obama went so far as to say the American administration is making a concerted effort not to impact events in Iran even in their comments. This is a positive change from earlier American administrations who have not hesitated to interfere in the affairs of other states or movements if it benefited American interests. Barak Obama promised change and look here we have it. For those of you who believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale you may be interested in. Obama and Biden dismiss the accusations with a chuckle as if what idiot would believe the United States is behind a popular uprising in a foreign country. The insinuation is that only a few conspiracy freaks would be dumb enough to believe the accusations coming from Mr Ahmadinejad and Mr. Khamenei.
The United States has overthrown more than 50 governments since the end of World War II, most of them democracies. (Dictatorships are more efficient to deal with when it comes to the bidding of great powers.) The Kennedy administration was active here in Canada in the downfall of John Diefenbaker although Dief didn’t help his own cause any. (If they are prepared to interfere in the political affairs of their neighbour and one of their closest allies is there any limit to what they might do?) More than 3500 people have died in terrorist attacks against the island of Cuba since the revolution came to power in 1959, all funded and logistically supported by the government of the United States. The Bush administration lied in order to violate the United Nations Charter and pursue an aggressive war against a sovereign member of that organization. The invasions of Nicaraugua, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Granada; the support of the Contras, the Kosovo Liberation Army, and the Mujahadeen; installation of brutal dictators like Mobutu in Congo, the Somozas in Nicaraugua, Marcos in the Phillipines, and the Shah in Iran; fomenting coups in Chile, Guatemala, and Venezuela; that is the backdrop to the present administration’s denials of involvement in the Iranian protests. The list goes on. I have not even scratched the surface of covert and not so covert American interference in the affairs of others around the world. How can any reasonable person believe that the United States is not involved in the protests given their track record and the obvious benefits to America if Mr. Ahmadinejad were to be swept from power. The question is not whether they are involved but to what degree and when did the involvement begin. Were they behind Mousavi from the start or are they just being opportunists? At what level is the United States active in the protests? These are questions that may never be answered.
We all decry the brutality of the crackdown on the protesters. No one should have to put their life on the line to speak their mind. So why was there not the same outrage over the treatment of protesters in Britain during the G20 talks? After all London police murdered an innocent man who was not even part of the protests. He was simply a news vendor trying to get home after work. With the addition of the killing of a beautiful young Iranian women, outrage in the West escalated against Iran. That in itself should scream to us. Why were the earlier deaths of protesters mere statistics, a passing reference as the political questions were examined in news reporting? I guess it only matters when beautiful people die. They are the only ones who have a real future full of promise. The less attractive only have disappointment to look forward to in this world of image mongering. The young woman (Neda Agha Soltan) purportedly uttered an heroic phrase just before leaving that day according to a self-described fiance. Something about staying home giving victory to the regime. Real people usually don’t make grandiose statements when parting from a loved one regardless of events happening around them. I would suspect the real conversation was be careful and avoid the protests and her response was something like I’ll be careful, don’t worry. But that doesn’t make good copy in a newsroom. That doesn’t sell papers. Nor do rather ordinary looking plain people. When the news of Neda’s death appeared I couldn’t help remembering another beautiful young women, with a voice like a song bird that could melt the hardest heart. During the first Gulf War daddy Bush was trying to get Congress to appropriate money for his ‘liberation’of Kuwait. The girl appeared before the Senate Armed Forces Committee to give testimony of the brutality of invading Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait City. When she had finished telling those grizzled Senators how infants at the hospital had been thrown to the floor so that their incubators could be looted back to Baghdad, there was not a dry eye in the place. Even old Strom Thurman had a tear glistening at the corner of his eye. At the time I was skeptical about the popularity of incubators as loot but people just called me cynical. Several months later the story broke that the young girl had not been in Kuwait City during the invasion and the entire episode about the incubators had been the concoction of Hill and Knowlton, the public relations firm. In democracies wars and all political events have to be sold like soap powder.
The question for all of us is what are we being sold today. We know that the United States government is lying about their involvement in the protests in Iran. We know that their accomplices in the mass media are selling us a point of view that may or may not have any or some legitimacy. What apportion of guilt should be born by the Iranian government and what apportion belongs to our governments, that it to say us because we constantly tell the world that we govern ourselves. All we are left with is our own capacity to reason and analyze, to never believe anything we hear and only half what we see and make our own judgements. Our society and our leaders discourage us from independent thought and dismiss us as fools if we dare to question them. Who benefits from that if we comply? Think about it. All I can say is ‘Fools of the World, Unite. You have nothing to lose but your complacency.’ Our age is one of great uncertainty, impregnated with fear and possibility. Complacency is not an option, nor is falling into the trap of lies which has become our political system. Don’t let your abhorrence of the crackdown in Iran be used for partisan goals you may not support.
