Iran: Real apathy or fake sympathy?
I said I won't be rambling about Iran anymore. But it's just impossible! Iran is everywhere! People turn their Twitter icons into green to show their support and solidarity, it's non-stop in the news, it's the topic number one (like swine flu used to be a while ago). What troubles me is some Iranian people who commented on my blog and bluntly insulted me or people who tweeted @ me and complained about me or Westerners or USA... I don't know wheather these are the protesters or some people infiltrated on Twitter by the government. They're becoming nastier by the day. It's annoying.
What started as a movement where all the protesters had one goal - to repeat the elections or recount the votes or proclaim Mousavi as the winner - turned into a protest against the Iranian ruthless regime. After the killings and beatings and after so many journalists were silenced, more and more people became nervous and the whole movement seems to have been derailed. I remember when I first linked to my blog posts about Iran, I recieved very good comments and tweets, people were energized and optimistic. Now it seems they are demoralized and highly strung. And same goes for the rest of us in the West and everywhere else around the world. You can be supportive and interested only for a certain period of time. After a while, it's no big news anymore, it does not have any shocking moments and more and more people become apathetic. There was hope up until the Grand Smurf had a speech and crushed the whole movement. We knew this will happen. And as I said before, the Iranian regime only understands crude force, so unless these people get guns and start shooting the riot police (like they are shooting them), nothing will change! Nada. Niente. What we will get is something like Tibet. Iran will be even a bigger police state, they will blame the West on everything, most of the communication in Iran and from Iran will be censored. So it's only in the hands of Iranians. Either they go until the end and are willing to die for their freedom, or they give up and there probably won't be elections any time soon.
The point is, sooner or later we will all become apathetic about Iranians. Let's face it! Weren't we so supportive of movements in Burma and Tibet, when monks stood up to the regime that surpressed and still surpresses them? Yes! It was all the time in the news. And now? Many people were killed, imprisoned or chased out of their homeland. Where's the support now?
We are a media-driven society! And mostly we are apathetic to all the cruelty in the world, unless we see pictures on TV or online all the time. But we can take only so much! How about millions dying in Darfur or Kongo? Not in the news, no solidarity, no sympathy. Who cares about slaves in Brazil, famine in Tahiti or riots in Timor? Not in the news, no solidarity, no sympathy. Anyone changing their Twitter icons to whatever color in support of kids in India who are enslaved as stonecutters? Anyone? Yea, I thought so. Not in the news, no solidarity, no sympathy.
Unless you go to that country and protest with the people or help people out of their misery, I highly doubt that your supportive cheerful tweets or posts are helping anyone of for that matter are any better than someone's apathy. The one who's apathetic is at least honest. Yes, I do support Iranians in their struggle for freedom. But what does this statement mean? It means I wish or I hope they will be free and unharmed, but I know (with all my honesty) that after this is passed, after the media finds an new topic for that will run on TVB non-stop, I will be apathetic and most of other people, who now change their Twitter icons into green, will be, too.
I won't care about the daily struggles of Iranians when these protest are over. Same as I seldom think about Tibetans or Burmese or people in Kongo or Darfur. Let's be honest, do you? If you are any better than me, I commend you. I congratulate you. You're an exceptional human being. If you are no better than me, then please stop with your phony bullshit, don't insult me and leave me alone. I've done my best to express my solidarity with Iranian protesters (read my blog), but that's the best I can do. And most of those now so sympathetic people are like me. We just absorb whatever the media feeds us and do nothing. That's the sad reality of the year 2009.
[Cartoon: Source (writing in the cloud by me), Photos: Source]
What started as a movement where all the protesters had one goal - to repeat the elections or recount the votes or proclaim Mousavi as the winner - turned into a protest against the Iranian ruthless regime. After the killings and beatings and after so many journalists were silenced, more and more people became nervous and the whole movement seems to have been derailed. I remember when I first linked to my blog posts about Iran, I recieved very good comments and tweets, people were energized and optimistic. Now it seems they are demoralized and highly strung. And same goes for the rest of us in the West and everywhere else around the world. You can be supportive and interested only for a certain period of time. After a while, it's no big news anymore, it does not have any shocking moments and more and more people become apathetic. There was hope up until the Grand Smurf had a speech and crushed the whole movement. We knew this will happen. And as I said before, the Iranian regime only understands crude force, so unless these people get guns and start shooting the riot police (like they are shooting them), nothing will change! Nada. Niente. What we will get is something like Tibet. Iran will be even a bigger police state, they will blame the West on everything, most of the communication in Iran and from Iran will be censored. So it's only in the hands of Iranians. Either they go until the end and are willing to die for their freedom, or they give up and there probably won't be elections any time soon.
The point is, sooner or later we will all become apathetic about Iranians. Let's face it! Weren't we so supportive of movements in Burma and Tibet, when monks stood up to the regime that surpressed and still surpresses them? Yes! It was all the time in the news. And now? Many people were killed, imprisoned or chased out of their homeland. Where's the support now?
We are a media-driven society! And mostly we are apathetic to all the cruelty in the world, unless we see pictures on TV or online all the time. But we can take only so much! How about millions dying in Darfur or Kongo? Not in the news, no solidarity, no sympathy. Who cares about slaves in Brazil, famine in Tahiti or riots in Timor? Not in the news, no solidarity, no sympathy. Anyone changing their Twitter icons to whatever color in support of kids in India who are enslaved as stonecutters? Anyone? Yea, I thought so. Not in the news, no solidarity, no sympathy.
Unless you go to that country and protest with the people or help people out of their misery, I highly doubt that your supportive cheerful tweets or posts are helping anyone of for that matter are any better than someone's apathy. The one who's apathetic is at least honest. Yes, I do support Iranians in their struggle for freedom. But what does this statement mean? It means I wish or I hope they will be free and unharmed, but I know (with all my honesty) that after this is passed, after the media finds an new topic for that will run on TVB non-stop, I will be apathetic and most of other people, who now change their Twitter icons into green, will be, too.
I won't care about the daily struggles of Iranians when these protest are over. Same as I seldom think about Tibetans or Burmese or people in Kongo or Darfur. Let's be honest, do you? If you are any better than me, I commend you. I congratulate you. You're an exceptional human being. If you are no better than me, then please stop with your phony bullshit, don't insult me and leave me alone. I've done my best to express my solidarity with Iranian protesters (read my blog), but that's the best I can do. And most of those now so sympathetic people are like me. We just absorb whatever the media feeds us and do nothing. That's the sad reality of the year 2009.
[Cartoon: Source (writing in the cloud by me), Photos: Source]
9 KAFKAESQUE COMMENTS:
It isn't apathy you are speaking about. It is the limitations of human empathy. It doesn't start at the borders, it extends everywhere. There is a cap to the feelings and sympathies we can lend to other people. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that in the end, we need to concern ourselves first with our own persons (Our family, our selves).
But that is *why* we get caught up in the romanticism of all of it. Because every now and then a group of us get together and put all we can into bonding as one to speak out against some outward force that opresses. Not because it has any direct effect on our lives whatsoever, but because in our souls, our hearts, our minds, what ever you want to call it...we feel we must. Right or wrong we are drawn to the cause, we are drawn to the suffering, and we want to make it stop.
Yes, it is limited, but if you focus on the limitations you're already giving up half the game. Maybe your will wont last. Maybe tomorrow you'll wake up to some new crisis and, along with the rest of the world, you'll cup your hands full of water from *that* ship in an effort to keep it from sinking too. But damn, at least that is doing something. At least it is progressive. At least facing those limitations, facing the facts that all of these stories lead to sad ends, you are trying.
It might feel insignificant, but tiny things can sometimes shift history. Hey, you got me thinking, just because I stumbled upon your few paragraphs of an outcry. Not everyone is in it just for the pretty pictures, and it's the minority that always starts up the changes.
June 25, 2009 6:32 AM
@Birds, [part2] As I said, tell me how many people are still feeling empathy for the Burmese monks? I'm sure 99% of people already forgot about them. It's 2 years ago. Heck, if a story is 2 months ago, we already forget it. Where are the masks that people wore when the media fed us with swine flu fear mongering? It will be the same with Iran. Unless the US or NATO throws down the regime with a military action, nothing will change. I commend these people, they are brave and maybe the next generation will eventually reform the regime. But many times I am right with my predictions. It's already heading the way I said: The regime will harden, not soften. They will arrest, torture and kill people, tighten the control over media and communication, foreign journalists won't be able to report. We will come to the point where there will be nothing to report out of Iran. And somewhere in the world something else will happen and the media will focus on that (I bet it will be North Korea!). People will forget about Iran. And the initial fake empathy will turn into what it really was: apathy. Sure, there will be people who will be engaged, activists. I'm sure they feel real empathy. But as I said, 99% of us are just like sheep and the media is our shepherd. I just think a few weeks of media driven 'emathy' can't and won't change anything. Same was with the anti-China protests before the Olympics. Nothing changed! The Olympics were very profitable, the Tibetan people are even more surpressed now.
As I said, Iranians are on their own, wheather I change my Twitter icon to green or not. It is nice, it may give some comfort to some Iranians in that moment. But I just try to be real: Unless they take guns and start shooting back, nothing will change. It's as simple as that. Dictators only understand crude force. Peaceful protests don't impress them. I hope I'm wrong. I hope they change the regime for the better. But I'm afraid, it'll change for worse.
June 25, 2009 7:13 PM
@Birds, [part1] I have to say, I'm approaching these things in a very sober way. You put it nicely, when you said we get caught up in romanticism. I'm just not this kind of a person, that's why I am an atheist, too. I do not believe even a tiny bit that there is a righteous almighty god, who would meddle in our affairs (or help or punish in anyway), not here, not after we die. No proof and no logic behind that, it's just wishful thinking. And there's soooooo many beliefs all over the world in all kinds of cultures. Now chose the right one. I'm sure there is none. And you can hear people chant 'God is great' in Tehran. I guess he's not, he doesn't help them, because he can't, he has one flaw: He doesn't exist!
And the same sober approach applies to the topic above. The empathy we feel is actually phony. Yes, we are shocked when we see how a regime brutally surpresses people. But can we really feel empathy in our comfortable chairs in a peaceful environment, enjoying freedoms and wealth? I guess not. We try to imagine how they feel, but only as long as the media feeds us the story.
June 25, 2009 7:13 PM
Do you find it meaningful that when people were momentarily interested in Iran they changed their twitter profile images green. And now that they aren't they are changing them to Michael Jackson album covers?
June 27, 2009 1:51 AM
Well, these are certainly not meaningful people. They prove that they follow whatever the news feeds them. Since the news is so focused on Twitter, they just follow the Trending topic I guess. They have no backbone. As I said before, it doesn't have any meaning, if you change your profile image to green or to MJ album cover! That's now the latest craze. They just do it to follow a trend. Gosh, MJ is dead, but people in Iran are still struggling. These are phony fake spineless people. They will change that MJ pics back to their own photos as soon as the media/twitter finds something new. Probably in 2 weeks.
June 27, 2009 2:21 AM
Its much simpler than you imagine. Get off your ass and DO something.
Sentimentality is love without will. Just use a little more will and you'll find both your life and the world might improve.
June 27, 2009 6:18 AM
@Anonymous, I have no clue what your comment is related to. Thank you for dropping by.
June 27, 2009 6:20 AM
Hi Nino,
I found your blog link on the twitter about Iran. I just want to share my experience. I have a blog and I was writing my thoughts about the Iranians fight for freedom and how it is a human struggle to want to be free from any form of tyranny. The most surprising thing happened. A man from Iran started writing on my blog and he said that my post were encouraging to Him and he felt less alone. He said He had walked on the street where Neda died. I don't know what will happen there, but it made me feel that if my concern and support had benefitted him it was valuable. We are all in this together and if we can alleviate human suffering and support one another maybe that's enough. So, some change their avatars to green and some like me were actually able to encourage one and know about it. Anyway, just wanted to share my two cents.
Blessings,
Tammy :)
June 30, 2009 6:38 AM
@Tammy, that's great if your posts affected some individuals. I did write in support of Iran, too. I still support these ppl in their struggle for freedom. I'm just maybe taking a cynical approach about how fast these things change in the media and how our focus is diverging to other things. As I gave the examples above: Nobody in the public opinion cares about Tibetan monks, unless there's an incident. Well, that's how we are, sadly. So I'm just trying to be real and don't have too high expectations on the outcome.
Thank you, Tammy. A very good comment.
June 30, 2009 6:45 AM
Post a Kafkaesque comment!