Kamangir (Archer)

Kids: Israeli or Iranian

Kamangir | July 21, 2006 | Category Iran

Read Lisa’s respond to the famous Israeli girls’ picture (see). She writes,

…Sometimes people do silly things when they are under emotional stress. … Especially when they fail to understand how their childish, empty gesture might be interpreted. … I wonder why so many people seem to take satisfaction in believing that little Israeli girls with felt markers in their hands - not weapons, but felt markers - are evil, or spawned by an evil society…

I completely agree but there is a tiny problem here; at the time of war what people are looking for are dramatic scenes which can describe what is happening. When you see people so angry and so determined to kill others the first question is why. And this picture is a “good”/”convincing” answer. I think Lisa is very lucky because she is from a country where people do these silly things once a while. Then she can show the other side of the coin and calm everyone down. This morning, I was looking at the Iranian news sources and as always I was finding tons of protests in different cities. As always, there were lots of kids involved. A girl was carrying a sign which read “Death to America, Death to Israel”. A boy had a headband with “Ready for Martyrdom” written on it. Couple of others were thoughtfully walking on the American flag. Starred at the camera a girl was holding Nasrollah’s picture with her other hand showing V. I do not think those Israeli girls are evil. They are doing a funny/silly game which then becomes serious and adultly when it is sent all over the world. My question is are we ready and willing to look at the world, The entire world, and start to think like Lisa? Take the extreme example of an adult shouting “Death to Israel” in Tehran. Is he really aware of what he is doing? Isn’t he doing that only because the national television has bombarded him with pictures of corpses, the type that you can only find in rotten.com? Then, is he responsible for what he is doing? What’s the morally acceptable reaction there? To send a rocket, force sanctions, and deny giving student Visas?

Frankly, I like Lisa’s argument and I understand it, because I have lived through it. Unlike her I am not surprised. This is the way Iranians have been judged for a long time. Probably because we have too many girls like those and our adults still have an important part of the minds not really grown up.