Iran: It's Not About You, People

Some Westerners have been driving themselves into a narcissistic frenzy over events in Iran, blind to the contradictions in their own behavior. John McCain's outrage over the tragic death of "Neda," a young woman who might have died under American bombs in his alternate reality, is merely one case in point. Suddenly the "clash of civilizations" crowd is finding new enthusiasm for an Islamist political party.

The President's remarks today went as far as they could wisely go, but the opportunists and fantasists will both say it wasn't enough.

Why are the people who've been insisting there's a monolithic evil called "Islamofascism" suddenly backing one Iranian faction over another? As Prime Minister in the early days of the Islamic Republic , Mir-Hossein Mousavi helped orchestrate anti-American acts in Lebanon. Yet the crowd that's been demonizing the entire Muslim world is suddenly wearing green, which was adopted by Mousavi's party because it is the color of Islam. What's behind this seeming change of heart?

The behavior of pols like Lindsay Graham comes off as political expediency of the most cynical kind. They exploit American support for the brave demonstrators of Tehran by insisting the President isn't doing enough, knowing full well that to express more support than he has done would be counterproductive. It's the unattractive face of politics as usual.

For others, like McCain, it seems more genuine but no less misguided. He perceives no inconsistency as he careens from "bomb Iran" "jokes" to eulogies for those he might have bombed. He, like many Americans, is caught up in the emotions of the moment. And who can fail to be moved by the courage of the Iranian resistance? But let's not pretend that this moment is about us.

For some of us, people only become human and real when they give us an opportunity to play out our own ambitions or fantasies. That covers public figures like McCain. But it also includes bloggers who think they're commando superheroes because they're coloring their websites green and cut-and-pasting Tweets from Teheran.

To the virtual barricades, comrades!

That's exactly the kind of fantasy projection that allowed people to enthusiastically support an invasion of Iraq, against all reason. At last! A war of our own! A cause we can support, a flag we can wave, a battle that will make us the "greatest generation"!

But we're dealing with human beings, not figurines to be moved here and there on the maps of our own egos. Overzealous talk from narcissistic foreigners can get people killed. And Americans aren't the only offenders. Bernard-Henri Lévy's unsubstantiated assertion that this uprising is the "end of the Islamic republic" is equally irresponsible, playing directly into Ahmadinejad's hands by equating dissent with subversion. He may or may not be right about the outcome. Neither he nor anyone else can know right now. But either way, the Iranian people aren't helped by these sorts of grandiose pronouncements from the West.

There are several possible outcomes. Ahmadinejad and Khamenei could prevail. Or Mousavi and Rafsanjani could win out, thereby saving the Islamic Republic. Or this could be the beginning of a newly democratized Iran, with Mousavi as its Gorbachev figure.

Want to help the people of Iran reach that third outcome? Then why not start by seeing them as they are? They're people who adopted a very centrist candidate as the symbol, rather than the reality, of change. (Did I just hear some progressives mutter "that sounds familiar"? Now, now ...) In supporting a more moderate candidate they've been given a chance, but just a chance, to transform their country. Let's hope that history is with them.

Whatever the outcome, however, this is their battle. We can support the Iranian people and the principles of democracy without becoming partisans in an internal political struggle. That's a less melodramatic stance, and perhaps a less emotionally satisfying one. But it's wiser.

As much as we might like to wear green and dream that we and not they are on the front lines of history, that doesn't help anybody. Their movement is brave and important and real. But it's their movement, not ours. This is not our feel-good moment. Our play-acting is, in the end, a selfish act.

We all need to look in the mirror and remind ourselves: This isn't about you.

RJ Eskow blogs when he can at:

A Night Light
The Sentinel Effect: Healthcare Blog

Website: www.eskowandassociates.com

UPDATE - A related statement can be found in this excellent piece by Joe Klein. Says Klein: "would never question John McCain's patriotism, no matter how misguided his sense of the country's best interests sometimes seems. His behavior has nothing to do with love of country; it has everything to do with love of self."

Follow RJ Eskow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rjeskow

Comments

[Rinehart]

Great article and this quote:

'But we're dealing with human beings, not figurines to be moved here and there on the maps of our own egos. Overzealous talk from narcissistic foreigners...'

captures the nauseating sentiment from 'helpers of the down-trodden'...., those they help are just parable figures, window dressing in a larger argument the do-gooders are having with themselves, it's always about them.

Always searching for beneficiaries in need of a cause for their own self-actualization. What get's me is when the people they're trying to 'help' want to speak for themselves, the 'do-gooders' take offense or worst, tell them they don't really know their own reality. Amazingly narcissistic.

[BrighterStar]

I don't know what is wrong with saying the freedom and democracy is a good thing and giving support to those around the world that are striving to achieve it.

[Phreaked]

You would if you knew the history of the US interference in Iran, Iraq and most of the middle east. Saying it as a general policy would not be a bad thing, invoking it directly towards Iran right now would be disastrous, assuming you want a free Iran that is.

[hark]

What's wrong is that it's a euphemism for capitalistic and military imperialism, which have nothing to do with freedom and democracy, but economic control and domination so the rich can make more money.

[NorthernMan]

"Saying" "freedom" and "democracy" does nothing other than use oxygen. Giving support by saying words will NOT help anyone achieve anything in fact it will hurt their cause. If you want to help, then put your money where your mouth is and go walk the streets of Iran saying those words... if you are not standing in front of tanks and getting hit with clubs while dodging bullets then you are fooling yourself into thinking you are part of what is happening in Iran. Put up or shut up. Words from a very safe distance are for cowards. That is what is wrong with "saying" Freedom.

[JuliaRain]

Excellent commentary. Thank you.

[Roozbeh]

Great article! II am quite much certain the comments from GOP people has a lot to do with Israeli far right politicians. They want neither Israel nor Iran to progress and live in prosperity. I wish they would someday be exposed. ----- And I wish also that more people had acess to this article.

[luziannagirl]

Couldn't have said it much better myself.

[Macready]

Thank you thank you thank you . . . this is one of the best articles I have read about what is happening in Iran and about the reactions . . . you have summed it up so well . . .

this is about Iran . . . it is internal . . . I agree with you our Prez is saying the right things . . . this is not about America and its penchant for creating both boogeymen and heroes . . . this is about events happening in a country whose internal politics most of us know very little or nothing about . . . for far too long America has played world cop and world bastion of democracy . . . and yet the underbelly of American democracy is not pretty . . . and the world has seen it . . . one aspect of this is the fact that our Congress cannot even pass the public health care option . . . all Western democracies have an NHS system and a better social security system . . . and for those with short-term memory what about the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections . . . hyprocrisy looms large in the American psyche

[S1m0n]

I'd be readier to believe that the US is for democracy if the present administration were talking to Hamas, the popularly-elected Palestinian leaders, rather than the Mahmoud Abbas, the 'President" whose party lost the election and who has refused to cede power at the end of his term.

[Javida]

Great article! The ill-advised comments by the GOP about Obama throwing US support to the Iranian protesters is hard to comprehend. The GOP acts as if it has no historical frame of reference whatsoever on the subject of Iran.

Flashback to the US embassy takeover in 1979 in Tehran. US citizens, held for a full year. were released only after Reagan became president. Ayatollah Khomeni dubbed the US "The Great Satan." Successive ayatollahs and presidents of Iran up until the present have vociferously and continuously expressed similar intense antipathy toward the US.

The protesters believe in an Islamic system of government. They want justice in their government, but an Islamic one, not an American one. Of course they seek support to reach their objective of holding another election, but the prevailing attitude is that America must stay out of the current crisis, based on internet comments out of Tehran. Some figure US intervention will only deepen the resolve of their ayatollah and clerics, while others wish to give the US no opportunity to meddle in their country's affairs.

Even if Mousavi were to become president, the antipathy toward the US will likely persist. Sure, he may show a willingness to engage in dialogue w/ President Obama, but any substantive improvement in the relationship between our two countries is questionable. President Obama expects this to be the case.

President Obama has handled the Iranian crisis most appropriately w/ his measured comments. Iran has asked for and deserves nothing more.

[mcmchugh99]

I think this regime in Iran is fascist or national socialist--or even clerical-fascist, in the same category as Franco's Spain. There is such a thing as Islamic fascism, and this is one version of it, but certainly not the only one. It has a Supreme leader with absolute power, sham elections, secret police, a Revolutionary Guard that resembles the SS, A Basiji Militia like the Stormtroopers, and so on. As with many regimes, it tends to be most popular in the small towns and hinterlands than in the more urban, liberal cosmopolitan areas, In the Third Reich, for example, Berlin was never a stronghold of Nazism compared to say East Prussia. I would describe the revolution there as liberal and democratic, but not necessarily advocating American-style capitalism over state capitalism or "Islamic socialism" or whatever that regime calls its economic system.

[S1m0n]

Let's hold off on the Godwin. As bad as this week has been, nothing happened in Iran that hasn't been routine for the past thirty or so years in the occupied territories. What's really weird is watching the pile-in in the Israeli press, left and right, as if no one there can achieve the theory of mind to think "Wait - We shoot protesting civilians and stone throwers, too! And we spray them with fire hoses and tear gas, just like that!"

[Dap]

I do not belice it could be expressed any better than that, well said indeed.

[youknow]

The President said today that Iranians are blaming the U.S. and the C.I.A. for some of the troubles and flatly stated that not to be true. Perhaps a re-read of the article below may throw some light on that.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/29/2289023.htm

[anelder]

I'm spouting again. It's a segment of this American culture/society (your choice) that in order to feel good about themselves (justify their actions) call for an strong response to any and all around the globe to be like us. Me, us, we are the only the epitomy blah, blah, blah. I shall identify this consortium as NeoCons because they are the group in high places with the means to be heard. Actually they are not heard so much as they influence others to speak their message. Bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran was not just a joke. How better for many of these people supported by big busiess to gather resouces from therefore to control more and more of the globe. Think folds, this is not a conspiracy theory nutcase talking I'm talking about power and greed .

Iran, a nation that believes in their Islamic faith. Does not see a problem being led by their beliefs. But are rebelling against the powers that be that are not living up to the Constitution in their own country. Someone, forget who, recently compared what is happening to the civil rights movement in our own country. They are asking for their civil rights. For the rights of women as they have been in their history.
I ask one question of all who want us to be that ugly american aggessive country, Where will you be when they begin to die in greater numbers following your dictates. Mute question, they don't want us.

[kwinyan]

My sentiments exactly. Sometimes Americans forget that they're not the center of the world. I've gotten tired of the self-centered perceptions, ranging from extremes of the "Obama effect" to accusations of a lack of involvement. It is indeed their struggle, occurring within their borders, and not ours to control or take credit for. I wish and hope for the Iranian people the best in their struggle.

[CitizenJ]

I don't think it's that Americans forget they're not the center of the world. I think it's more likely that a large segment of Americans think that we ARE the center of the world.

[Jaywalkker]

Persia? The land of Cyrus and Darius the Great(s)? The home of Algebra and countless additions to astronomy and medicine? Home of Zoroastrianism. And for some reason the fundies who worship the state of Israel and hate "arabs" seem to forget that it was the Persians who, after defeating Babylon, allowed the Jews to return to their homeland around 500-400bce. I hate the regime but I love the land and its people.

I've always been interested in Iran. Actually it was the use of the Ayatollah as a constant foil in 80s editions of Cracked and Mad magazine that made me want to know more about them and why they were so "evil" and deserving of insult.

[Halsey]

http://journalism_jobs.tripod.com/kent.html