LINES OF THE DAY

". . . But the past does not exist independently from the present. Indeed, the past is only past because there is a present, just as I can point to something over there only because I am here. But nothing is inherently over there or here. In that sense, the past has no content. The past -- or more accurately, pastness -- is a position. Thus, in no way can we identify the past as past." p. 15

". . . But we may want to keep in mind that deeds and words are not as distinguishable as often we presume. History does not belong only to its narrators, professional or amateur. While some of us debate what history is or was, others take it into their own hands." p. 153

Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995) by Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Iran Protests

I've wondered just why so MANY of those signs held up by valient protesters in Iraq are written in ... English, not Farsi?

I recall the staged phony event of the the Iraqis toppling the Saddam Hussein statue -- and so many other staged stunts that were phony baloney from conception to broadcast in this nation.

Not to mention "orange" Ukraine, and the mess we fostered in Georgia ... today we have "green" Iran.

Here we've got those ridiculous code colors too. To whom are these systems so dearly beloved?, to foster dissension and foster control?

8 comments:

K. said...

It's television. There are English signs for TV, and the cameras or editors focus on those instead of the ones in Farsi. Just a guess, but I bet Al-Jazeera shows different signs.

BTW, have you seen Control Room, the documentary about Al-Jazeera's coverage of the early days of the Iraq war? Highly recommended.

Foxessa said...

I haven't see it, no.

Why do the protesters want this on U.S. television do you think?

Surely they aren't expecting or hoping for some U.S. Airforce strike support?

Love, C.

K. said...

International public sympathy, I suppose. Americans aren't exactly pro-mullah. Plus, people the world over speak English -- it works on their TVs too, at least better than Farsi. Overall, the deployment of English signs strikes me as a pragmatic and fairly sophisticated tactic.

K. said...

It would be interesting to dig up footage of the demonstrations during the hostage crisis and see how many of those signs were in English.

Foxessa said...

I don't trust any of this.

Also, a very nasty flu virus has me in its claws, so the world is extremely fuzzy an unfocused, and very painful. Therefore I'm prone to gobblygook.

I shall retire back to bed with Toni Morrisons's Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, which I've been saving.

I am improved though. Yesterday I didn't wake up until 2:30 pm and was asleep by 9 pm again.

Love, C.

Foxessa said...

But we do recall how the shah got in, in the first place ....

Love, C.

K. said...

I just finished reading a history of the CIA that laid it out detail by shameful detail.

Charles Krauthammer had the nerve to suggest that Obama compared the Mossadeq coup ("a bunch of thugs") with the Holocaust.

A. Obama did no such thing.

B. Reducing the outcome of the coup to a "bunch of thugs" is typical Krauthammer racism that ignores the 20-year police state instituted by the shag and the 30 years and counting theocracy of the mullahs.

Foxessa said...

Yet the WaPo fired the one really good political commentator-journalist they had, who is not a tightyrightwinger. Because he dared critize Obama from a view of the progressive side.

Which shows how much in bed Obama is with the corporatistas. You can criticize him with any old rightwinger lies, but if you call him for ignoring the calls of the voters for a public health care plan, you're out.