BuzzMachine

The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the democracy

9 comments on If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the democracy

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the democracy
: Alireza takes me to task for my taking him to task for his taking Michael J. Totten to task (because of this) and now I’ll take him to task just for the symmetry of it.

Alireza says that I am “romanticizing” Iranian-American relations in weblogs.

Well, of course I am. For the alternative is to stick with the old, bigoted, hateful stereotypes. Sadly, that’s what Alireza does when he says, “Well, I think that America is an imperial terror master with a trigger-happy cowboy as President, and that before we start running around exporting freedom, we should put ‘Support Democracy in the U.S.’ banners on our blogs, because there is no democracy here, there

9 responses to “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the democracy”

  1. Kirk Robinson Avatar
    Kirk Robinson

    Jeff,
    As usual you are right both in the things you say and the things you don’t say.
    Kirk

  2. Mojtaba Avatar
    Mojtaba

    It is a good,mature and civilized post.

  3. ken Avatar
    ken

    I’m not a religious man, but “Amen, brother”

  4. Seyed Razavi Avatar
    Seyed Razavi

    Nicely put.

  5. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    I agree with you completely. And thank you very much for taking the time to explain. So many Iranians have extreme anti-American biases. If those biases were based upon acurate information, the bias itself wouldn’t be so unhealthy. Unfortunately, the biases are based on eroneous information.
    The United States of America has been in the position to be the worlds greatest imperial power for quite some time. That is, if we wanted to. We don’t.
    When Japan invaded US teritory; we conquered them. When Germany invaded the territory of our friends; we conquered them. Those countries are now some of our closest friends. Both countries have their own very unique forms of government. The citizens of both countries enjoy more wealth and freedom now than they ever have throughout history. If we are an imperial power, we are very bad at it.
    I can understand Iranian’s paranoia, but it’s time that it be seen for what it truly is -PARANOIA!
    It is time that Iranians learned the truth for themselves. With all the information that is available, it’s hard for me to imagine how so many continue to hold onto such false beliefs.
    From my own experience, I have noticed that their paranoid beliefs are based 1% on facts, but are 99% wildly false assumptions with no basis in facts.

  6. Eric Avatar
    Eric

    So many Iranians have extreme anti-American biases.
    I partially disagree with this. What I see in the attitudes of Iranians towards America is very similar to the attitudes I see among Indians. That is, while America may not be completely loved by the average guy on the street, it’s not hated either, and there tends to be a good amount of admiration for America’s wealth and popular culture. A large number of people also dream about emigrating to America.
    However, there is widespread anti-American sentiment among the intelligentsia, owing to a combination of Marxist/anti-globalist political inclinations, resentment of American economic and military power, and contempt for American popular culture. Alireza fits into this stereotype nicely.

  7. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    Yeah, you are right again. You have a gift.

  8. Gitanes Avatar
    Gitanes

    “I’d also ask Alireza why he’s tolerating a graduate education at Harvard and not moving to, say, the Sorbonne.”
    Point of information – The Sorbonne is really just a local university for Paris and not very distinguished, certainly not in the same league as Harvard. It is the Grandes Ecoles that equate to Harvard.

  9. linden Avatar
    linden

    “Well, I think that America is an imperial terror master with a trigger-happy cowboy as President, and that before we start running around exporting freedom, we should put ‘Support Democracy in the U.S.’ banners on our blogs, because there is no democracy here, there