An Apology, Mr. Knipp.
I came to the States very recently, after having the chance to live in Iran for a few years–I mean actually live, go to school and work in Iran, not the fun touristy, visit-your-family trips!
I looked at the front page of The Washington Post on September 3rd to see this “Letter from Iran”: A Different Face of Iran .
Different Face of Iran started out with a picture of (very) smiling and happy students on an unknown college campus in Isfehan (one of the three major cities in Iran not counting Tehran). A picture below showed a few school children jumping and playing around. All seemed quite gay and jovial. Heaven on Earth, were it not only for the hijab (!) they were forced to wear.
I was actually so upset at seeing these pictures and the title of the article that I had second thoughts about actually reading the infamous article! My experience in Iran and what I had seen up close made me feel that I just wanted to see the absurd reporter of these piece and yell out, WHY? WHY would you commit such treason against a country you (seem to) have grown affection for?
Let me explain.
After my stay in Iran, which was a permanent move, I quickly understood that the realities Americans believe about Iran, and even Iranians who frequently visit their family in Iran are horrendously misconceived and incorrect–that’s an under-statement.
It didn’t take more than me applying to the best Law School in Iran at the National University (today renamed after a martyr of the Revolution), and my sister enrolling in a small private school that I was hit very hard by the realities of life under the Islamic Republic, under Big Brother, in the 1984 of 2006.
I want to make it clear right now that I am in no way trying to paint a bleak picture of the people or the culture of Iran. Iran and Iranians have always been very close to my heart, and as we say, their “praise always has a [permanent] place”.
I felt that in this article Steve Knipp wanted to show outsiders a more positive face to Iran, and maybe decrease the “Iran-hatred” some ignorant people seem to feel nowadays. Yet (hopefully by accident) he committed an act of treason and injustice to Iranians.
The falsity of the Article might lead one (ignorant person) to believe that Iranian youth are “ey okay” and not too unhappy with their situation. It makes one believe such things as, “Iran?! Well I heard pretty bad stories from that place, but now that I read this article, seems like its not too bad at all. Not bad at all.” Which, needless to say, are all very false convictions.
I wanted Steve Knipp to put a picture on the front cover of the conservatively dressed college student who was not allowed on campus to attend her classes for one week because the “Hijab and Islamic Morality Gaurd” at the door simply did not want to let her in (I think the Gaurd didn’t like something about her name which was not an Islamic one, it was Persian.)
I wanted Steve Knipp to show a picture of the elementary school girl who was given a failing grade because upon being interrogated by the school principle, she had let it slip about her parents not praying 5 times a day. She was afraid and lost control.
The school girl who was verbally and emotionaly abused by the Islamic Religion teacher because her parents had named her “Marmar” (Marble) and not an Islamic name. (The teacher, after offending her parents, announced that she should answer to “Miriam”, a religious name, from now on in that class.)
The image of a lovely, young married couple sitting in utter fear at the Morality Police Station because they were suspected of NOT being married and the officer took them in until their parents brought documentation. In those few hours they could only imagine what would happen once their employer found out they had ended up at the Station, they wouldn’t even think of how much suffer they had to endure to find another job.
The fear that made my hands shake if I saw a Moral police checking cars when I was driving at night with my Mother. I was afraid that they wouldn’t believe I had gone shopping with her and that we were not two girls out to get guys at 11pm. (A punishment deserving of lashing or at least more than a few fearful and emotionally crushing hours in the Moral Police Station.)
The image of the college student who was about to be expelled, had it not been for her friend who was a martyr’s daughter, because the two of them had giggled sitting on the campus bench having lunch.
These images of Iran are more telling than the two Steve Knipp allowed to be published with his article.
Steve Knipp allowed an image of “all’s alright and bearable” be announced to the readers of The Washington Post. An image that makes people who are not aware not feel as passionate about announcing the Islamic Republic as evil, unjust, and defunct as they should. Steve Knipp painted an incomplete painting of Iran and published it.
Steve Kinpp lied. He falsely led a people to believe that there is little pressure on the 70% young population of Iran, that the best-educated and smartest of the youth are crushed in the system and only encouraged leading the poor and lifeless existence rather than the vibrant life they deserved, that the System slowly but surely omits you from the stage as it sees fit, it fails you in background checks for your job because your cousin’s aunt, twice removed, has been reported by an unknown witness as a non-practicing Muslim. . . This Majority of Iranians are the people you owe an apology to, Mr. Knipp.
Join the Conversation
I appreciate this article, and the time you took to write it. Personally, I have a great romantic love for Iran, but it is kept at a distance. I would really love to visit the country, and spend my Japanese yen there, but I can never go there under the present regime.
Secondly, I am decidedly anti-political, but I admit that I received a BA in International Politics and I worked briefly as a journalist..So I have strong desire towards politics, I must NEVER become a part of such divisive actions. No matter how seemingly just the cause. It just doesn’t work, as well as working for change from within.
So this means that I want to believe the best about Iran. But your blog is eye-opening. You present it from experience, at a detailed level. We have 2 daughters, I can sympathise with the restrictive even harsh fascist tendencies WHICH EXIST IN ALL PEOPLE, but are allowed free expression now in Iran.
Thanks for your information
I really hope Steve Kinpp finds this post.
Thank you for taking time to read it. Yes, my experience brought me to see a lot of truths in detail, happenings that even many Iranians are not aware of. These accounts are all true. I have only omitted names.
Esra’a I wanted to send it in to The Post, but I thought it was too late, and needed more work to be “Post-worthy” I hope he finds it too…
Mr River, I greatly agree with your non-political stance. Politics has and always is a great interest of mine. It is a field I am academically studying right now. Before my move to Iran, I was also politically active. Yet, (rather unfortunately, and also fortunately) my experience led me to believe less and less in the politically active life I had and intended to lead at one point.
I am not one who believes that all happenings and conclusions to political events are pre-set by the Capitalist world (!). I simply believe that political activities such as collecting signatures in another country for Iran or writing to senators is almost useless if not a waste of time. Yes, change has to come from within. I do however catalyst political actions, yet if the basis has not been established in the people, not only will change not succeed but it might also set the country back.
Minoo, Steve Knipp fell into the same trap that many fall into when they visit Iran for short periods of time. We imagine that it is much, much worse than it is, so we are amazed at how open it can be.
What you describe in your post has become the “background noise” of life here. It’s shocking for me to see how this regime squanders its potential in the name of Islam. What you describe is why Iran is plagued with absolutely first class liars.
It amazes me that the central message of the Koran seems to be “don’t be a hypocrite; don’t lie” yet Islamic rule in Iran has created a nation of hypocrites and liars.
Let me just add, to be fair to Mr. Knipp, his article *was* in the travel section, and it does accurately reflect the ways in which Iranians interact with Americans visiting their country. (I am an American who lives in Iran.)
What bothered me about it is this: that with all of the many positive experiences tourists have in Iran, why does it still come as a surprise to people that Iranians can be pleasant and open?
Esther I am envious of you….a little.
I became frustrated with politics because I could never, despite any amount of research on a given topic, know if the facts were all there, and if they were true. I wanted to find causes and attach blame. And it seemed that every time I wrote what I believed contained all the information about what happened, there were always officials who disputed conversations, and cause effect conditions. People would deny they were present at a meeting, etc. because no one took attendance. Witneses were few, all we have are implications, etc.
You know, politics is really a beleif system, similar to religion, but much much more harmful, because it is created by us
When i was a grad student there was a husband and wife who came from Hondurus, they had lived in a smaller Honduran town. At that time death squads and violence was being reported (President Reagan’s gift of democracy
. We all believed that he was in constant fear for his life. But he said, no, it is pretty much contained in the large cities, if you stay strictly non-political you can continue your work. I am not saying that people aren’t killed randomly or caught in crossfire but, his words of experience gave me a measurement tool to try to use.
Of course I live in “dreamland” as I sometimes call Japan. The press makes a big issue of 100 people being murdered in the whole year. The impact on people’s psyche might be the same.
For Iran I would guess that the amount of crime is roughly the same as other Western industrial places, but the outcome of the crime not the same because guns are more limited. However a white caucasion has trouble not being “a symbol” to alot of strangers, And you never get a chance to tell them differently, even here.
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