So says an Iranian company.
All the saber-rattling by the US is only serving to strengthen the hands of the theocrats, and drive Iran ever more backward. After all, the US itself is pretty backward on many social matters, so where's the incentive to modernize?
Besides, if the US truly wanted to bring modern democracy to the region, it would've probably invaded the worst offender of human rights (and state sponsor of terrorism) first - Saudi Arabia. Too bad, the Bush clan is cozying up to the Saud family instead.
BBC
Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
10 June 2008
06 December 2007
The white American liberals' perception problem
As I wrote my post on Venezuelan politics yesterday, and briefly discussed the American liberals' support for the policies of Hugo Chavez, I had several thoughts on the state of white American liberalism, and how out of touch it feels to the nonwhites like me - the very ones they are claiming to stand for.
According to the white American liberal orthodoxy, Venezuela is a commendable example of a nation breaking free of Western European cultures' influences, by charting its own course of spreading the prosperity to the weak, and defying the imperial fascist tendencies of the W regime. Chavez came to power, by running on a populist platform, and by defeating a pro-Western candidate, former Miss Universe Irene Saez, who had met with President Bill Clinton during his visit to Venezuela. While it is true that there is a lot of oil wealth in Venezuela, and it has not been distributed fairly in the past, even Chavez hasn't been able to make much of an improvement, despite his flashy grand social programs. Fixing Venezuela's problems requires long-term visionary plans by several successive regimes, and the power-hungry personality of Chavez is now working against that.
But nobody on the American left dares to suggest that Chavez is power-hungry. In fact, they continue to point to his high approval ratings - but that's pretty much the only thing that's going well for him now. In particular, no white American liberal dares to point out the discrepancy between Chavez's supposed regard for human rights in Venezuela, and his friendships with Ahmadinejad and Mugabe, the world's worst human rights abusers.
The white American liberal premise seems to be that dictatorship and imperialism are evil values of the Western white man, transplanted into the Third World by centuries of colonialism. By extension, racism, sexism, and homophobia are related Western white man values to enforce control over the Third World inhabitants. I couldn't disagree more. First of all, democracy is another Western white man value (it started in Greece) - does it need to be thrown out too? Also, almost all cultures in the world have historically considered themselves superior to others, so racism is a universal value, regardless of culture. As for sexism and homophobia, they are severe problems with Confucianism and Islam, purely Asian value systems that the white man has had nothing to do with. The white American liberal may be enamored of the existence of Indian hijras and Thai kathoeys, but they do not enjoy the social acceptance that the white American liberal thinks they do.
Speaking of Confucianism, just about the only thing it has to do with the Western world would be its adherents' receptiveness to primitive fundamentalist Christianity (as evidenced by the Christians' success in Korea and failure in Japan), with the shared values of sexism and homophobia, but even that doesn't change the fact that those values are home-grown in Asia and not by the white man.
In fact, the fact remains that despite the self-loathing of white American liberals, the Western world still continues to offer the most personal freedoms and the most opportunities. And in fact, it's this aspect of the Western world that allows the white man to be critical of his own values, and seek better values from elsewhere. Non-Western cultures, being more communally minded and never believing in individual happiness, work differently, and are much less tolerant of differences. Back to Venezuela, that's why Hugo Chavez wants Halloween, a "decadent custom of the Western imperialists," banned.
Of course, for someone like me, a culture that values individuality and diversity is a MUST, and that's why I've been outspoken in my criticism of Confucianism and some other conformist non-Western cultures and values; of course, the clueless white American liberals have dared to accuse ME of self-hatred. If anyone's guilty of self-hatred, however, it's them, not me. The fact remains that if Venezuela were a white man's country in Europe, these same white American liberals would've ripped it to shreds, and it's only because it's a Latin country in the Third World that they tolerate and celebrate its "defiance." And the fact remains that Toyota and Samsung can be at least as neoliberal and antisocial as Halliburton or any other white man's company.
All this reminds me that just like conservatism, white American liberalism is orthodox and rigid - and less tolerant of dissent than it wants to admit. My goal will be to seek out the truly educated people, whose liberal backgrounds are rooted in actual understanding of the issues they claim to support and embrace, not the lemmings who blindly follow the feel-good issue of the day.
According to the white American liberal orthodoxy, Venezuela is a commendable example of a nation breaking free of Western European cultures' influences, by charting its own course of spreading the prosperity to the weak, and defying the imperial fascist tendencies of the W regime. Chavez came to power, by running on a populist platform, and by defeating a pro-Western candidate, former Miss Universe Irene Saez, who had met with President Bill Clinton during his visit to Venezuela. While it is true that there is a lot of oil wealth in Venezuela, and it has not been distributed fairly in the past, even Chavez hasn't been able to make much of an improvement, despite his flashy grand social programs. Fixing Venezuela's problems requires long-term visionary plans by several successive regimes, and the power-hungry personality of Chavez is now working against that.
But nobody on the American left dares to suggest that Chavez is power-hungry. In fact, they continue to point to his high approval ratings - but that's pretty much the only thing that's going well for him now. In particular, no white American liberal dares to point out the discrepancy between Chavez's supposed regard for human rights in Venezuela, and his friendships with Ahmadinejad and Mugabe, the world's worst human rights abusers.
The white American liberal premise seems to be that dictatorship and imperialism are evil values of the Western white man, transplanted into the Third World by centuries of colonialism. By extension, racism, sexism, and homophobia are related Western white man values to enforce control over the Third World inhabitants. I couldn't disagree more. First of all, democracy is another Western white man value (it started in Greece) - does it need to be thrown out too? Also, almost all cultures in the world have historically considered themselves superior to others, so racism is a universal value, regardless of culture. As for sexism and homophobia, they are severe problems with Confucianism and Islam, purely Asian value systems that the white man has had nothing to do with. The white American liberal may be enamored of the existence of Indian hijras and Thai kathoeys, but they do not enjoy the social acceptance that the white American liberal thinks they do.
Speaking of Confucianism, just about the only thing it has to do with the Western world would be its adherents' receptiveness to primitive fundamentalist Christianity (as evidenced by the Christians' success in Korea and failure in Japan), with the shared values of sexism and homophobia, but even that doesn't change the fact that those values are home-grown in Asia and not by the white man.
In fact, the fact remains that despite the self-loathing of white American liberals, the Western world still continues to offer the most personal freedoms and the most opportunities. And in fact, it's this aspect of the Western world that allows the white man to be critical of his own values, and seek better values from elsewhere. Non-Western cultures, being more communally minded and never believing in individual happiness, work differently, and are much less tolerant of differences. Back to Venezuela, that's why Hugo Chavez wants Halloween, a "decadent custom of the Western imperialists," banned.
Of course, for someone like me, a culture that values individuality and diversity is a MUST, and that's why I've been outspoken in my criticism of Confucianism and some other conformist non-Western cultures and values; of course, the clueless white American liberals have dared to accuse ME of self-hatred. If anyone's guilty of self-hatred, however, it's them, not me. The fact remains that if Venezuela were a white man's country in Europe, these same white American liberals would've ripped it to shreds, and it's only because it's a Latin country in the Third World that they tolerate and celebrate its "defiance." And the fact remains that Toyota and Samsung can be at least as neoliberal and antisocial as Halliburton or any other white man's company.
All this reminds me that just like conservatism, white American liberalism is orthodox and rigid - and less tolerant of dissent than it wants to admit. My goal will be to seek out the truly educated people, whose liberal backgrounds are rooted in actual understanding of the issues they claim to support and embrace, not the lemmings who blindly follow the feel-good issue of the day.
24 September 2007
Iranian president visits Columbia University
Columbia University, being the most reactionary Ivy League member as I know it, today brought in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran for a conference. While it was billed as an opportunity to listen to a foreign leader first-hand, it ended up only giving a platform of hate.
Ahmadinejad stuck to his program of denying the Holocaust, calling it an excuse made up by Israel to justify Palestinian oppression.
He also claimed that there are no homosexuals in Iran, lowering himself to the level of Chairman Mao during China's Cultural Revolution - or today's Korean-American church preachers.
The response from W was classic: America is great because even lunatics like Ahmadinejad get a platform to speak on. Indeed America is great - because even lunatics like W, who shares much of the Ahmadinejad agenda, can occupy the White House.
BBC
Ahmadinejad stuck to his program of denying the Holocaust, calling it an excuse made up by Israel to justify Palestinian oppression.
He also claimed that there are no homosexuals in Iran, lowering himself to the level of Chairman Mao during China's Cultural Revolution - or today's Korean-American church preachers.
The response from W was classic: America is great because even lunatics like Ahmadinejad get a platform to speak on. Indeed America is great - because even lunatics like W, who shares much of the Ahmadinejad agenda, can occupy the White House.
BBC
15 June 2007
Lieberman threatens peace activists
Senator Joe Lieberman has been saber-rattling in regards to Iran, supporting every pathetic move by the W regime.
Lieberman agreed to meet with CodePink activists. But not only did he cancel his meeting without notice, he also threatened to have the activists, who showed up at the appointed time, arrested for trespassing.
I got some live feedback from the scene thanks to Karen Bradley of Democracy Cell Project, who was there with the CodePink activists.
Lieberman should've been voted out last year, but the people of Connecticut failed to do so, and the world will pay a heavy price. And I'm incensed that the Democratic Party had presented Lieberman to the American public as its vice presidential candidate in 2000.
CodePink
Lieberman agreed to meet with CodePink activists. But not only did he cancel his meeting without notice, he also threatened to have the activists, who showed up at the appointed time, arrested for trespassing.
I got some live feedback from the scene thanks to Karen Bradley of Democracy Cell Project, who was there with the CodePink activists.
Lieberman should've been voted out last year, but the people of Connecticut failed to do so, and the world will pay a heavy price. And I'm incensed that the Democratic Party had presented Lieberman to the American public as its vice presidential candidate in 2000.
CodePink
23 February 2007
Heteronormativity
It's a word that clearly describes the prejudices around me right now.
It is heteronormativity that prevents my folks from seeing my true gender identity - since I like women and technical things, I can't possibly have a female gender identity, they say. They even went as far as saying that if I liked men, they would do everything to help out my transition into womanhood.
It's heteronormativity that makes homosexuality a capital offense in Iran - unless the person in question wants to change his/her gender and become a heterosexual in the new gender, in which case the government is far more accepting.
Heteronormativity is also a severe problem even in East Asian societies, including Thailand and China, mistakenly identified by Westerners as gay-friendly; most gay men I've known from these societies live out their lives as hyper-feminine men. That, or the appearance of womanhood but a male identity at the core. (I've read quite a few interviews of Thai kathoeys, and many indeed fall into this category.) There are some high-profile, socially well-accepted, female-identified transgender women in these societies (examples include Jin Xing in China, and Harisu in South Korea), but they are accepted only because they fit the hyper-feminine heteronormative ideal, and would've had far worse fates if they did not fit in. There is a reason why "tranny dykes," like me, are a common phenomenon in the West, but virtually unheard of in Asia (or even Asian communities in the West, for that matter).
I just read through a Wikipedia article on this subject, and it's a disturbing read - especially when it comes to violence against transgender women, and the society's indifference to it (thank you, Rudy Giuliani, despite being a crossdresser yourself). In fact, Giuliani's transphobia will make its way into my novel, where a transgender character is murdered in NYC in 2001; all these hate crime reports will give me an idea on how the character will die, and how frustrating the authorities will prove to be for the surviving significant other.
Heteronormativity, like homophobia, must go.
Wikipedia: heteronormativity
Wikipedia: kathoey
Southern Poverty Law Center on transphobic hate crimes in DC
It is heteronormativity that prevents my folks from seeing my true gender identity - since I like women and technical things, I can't possibly have a female gender identity, they say. They even went as far as saying that if I liked men, they would do everything to help out my transition into womanhood.
It's heteronormativity that makes homosexuality a capital offense in Iran - unless the person in question wants to change his/her gender and become a heterosexual in the new gender, in which case the government is far more accepting.
Heteronormativity is also a severe problem even in East Asian societies, including Thailand and China, mistakenly identified by Westerners as gay-friendly; most gay men I've known from these societies live out their lives as hyper-feminine men. That, or the appearance of womanhood but a male identity at the core. (I've read quite a few interviews of Thai kathoeys, and many indeed fall into this category.) There are some high-profile, socially well-accepted, female-identified transgender women in these societies (examples include Jin Xing in China, and Harisu in South Korea), but they are accepted only because they fit the hyper-feminine heteronormative ideal, and would've had far worse fates if they did not fit in. There is a reason why "tranny dykes," like me, are a common phenomenon in the West, but virtually unheard of in Asia (or even Asian communities in the West, for that matter).
I just read through a Wikipedia article on this subject, and it's a disturbing read - especially when it comes to violence against transgender women, and the society's indifference to it (thank you, Rudy Giuliani, despite being a crossdresser yourself). In fact, Giuliani's transphobia will make its way into my novel, where a transgender character is murdered in NYC in 2001; all these hate crime reports will give me an idea on how the character will die, and how frustrating the authorities will prove to be for the surviving significant other.
Heteronormativity, like homophobia, must go.
Wikipedia: heteronormativity
Wikipedia: kathoey
Southern Poverty Law Center on transphobic hate crimes in DC
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