Dreams for Granted

I saw short film by an Iranian lady recently. She went around and asked people of all ages what they wished for.

The little kids were bursting with excitement as they wished for new Barbies, remote-controlled cars and being queens of countries. The youth wished for new cars, freedom to have boy/girlfriends, freedom of expression and frankly – a new government.

Surprisingly people in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s didn’t have many wishes. Many said it’s useless to hope for something, when nothing changes anyways.

Elderly people wished their kids would get married so that they could die in peace. And Iranians from children to retired age all looked forward to the coming Savior.

The older the people, the more cynical they were. The young ones still had hope and passion. That is exactly why the situation in the Middle East and North Africa is so interesting. All those countries have populations that are very young. The potential for change is explosive.

Chopped Feet Propaganda for Black Tulip?

Last week I wrote about an Afghan actress whose legs were cut off, turns out: supposedly.

New York Times ran a correction and also reported from the Kabul-premiere of the film. The director’s claims of the actress-incident haven’t been confirmed and the head of the Afghan Film Organization says it was “just propaganda for the film”. (Cost of War sums it up nicely.)

Although the legs-chopped-off-story sounds unbelievable, worse things happen in that country, therefore it could be believable. But now the question is, is Sonia Nassery Cole  so driven by her will-not-take-no-for-an-answer-attitude, that she’s willing to say anything to get her way?  Which is not cool. It makes the all-too-real-suffering of Afghans cheap.

Our Western right-is-right-and-wrong-is-wrong -morals don’t translate to a lot of places where  the end justifies the means. Our worldviews are different. In the east it is a problem if you get caught and are shamed for it. Here you are guilty if it is wrong and you know it.

Sometimes our worldview makes us naive when we deal with places such as Afghanistan.