Monday, September 22, 2003 |
11:45 - World travelers
http://www.iranian.com/Travelers/2003/September/Trip/index.html
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Via Tim Blair, a Canadian guy studying in San Francisco takes one of those globe-trotting, apologizing-for-America's-existence backpacking tours to discover what it's like in the places that we call evil:
In the end I just tried to absorb the situation and try to read as much as I could about it. I found out later, when he left the car, that he was a government official working in intelligence for the national broadcasting company. But he was not complaining about the conversation in the car, he was the one complaining about the government. His frustration was to the point where he was almost losing control, he needed to vent or he would burst.
Many of the people in the cabs in Tehran had the similar thoughts. "Tell George Bush to come and get rid of the mullahs for us." I was shocked by the openness of that statement. With one fellow I tried to discuss it with him in more detail to see if he really meant it or was just talking. I told him that if George Bush came and got rid of the Mullahs, it would not be to help the people of Iran; he would be coming for the oil. The fellow replied, "He can have the oil, its not doing us any good anyway and at least then we would be free."
Either way, I'm sure we can find it in our hearts to sell them some of that oil we've stolen from Iraq. At a modest markup, of course.
Oh, and I like this part:
Midway through the tour we stop for a refreshing beverage. I drink my juice and my guide, with a sly smile, tells me to look at my cup. I see that written on the side of it are the words "Down with USA". Ouch. I chuckle a little and tell him that's very interesting. He tells me to read the other side of the cup, which I see says "Down with Israel". He's smiling quite gleefully, like he just did something brilliant, and I'm laughing along with him, because it's so banal. I mean really, is that it? After that, I headed over to a friends home for some khoresh e seeb, and ghormeh sabzi.
Maybe the reason "why they hate us" is that although we've got it amazingly good here, we're squandering it with self-hatred. Our problem isn't chauvinism; it's the opposite. We live in a place the rest of the world dreams of living, but we're too blinded by guilt to appreciate it.
I suppose I'd hate us too.
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