A Politically Inconvenient Truth (or Not?)

INTRODUCTION

"You're listening for story, because story communicates more about a person than simply facts. When people share their story, they get a different sense of themselves, and you get a different sense of them. Barack did that very well. One of the remarkable things is how well he listens to people who are opposed to him." (emphasis added.) So said Gerald Kellman about Barack Obama, as quoted by Liza Mundy in The Washington Post Magazine interview "The Jackpot" published August 12, 2007."

Let me tell you my story and hopefully you will listen as would Barack Obama.

MY STORY

Quietly I sat in my seat on the DC subway, waiting for the stalled train to regain its momentum and continue its race down the track in the direction of my home. As sometimes happens, during the evening rush-hour the train had stopped for unexplained reasons. Metro personnel accommodated what was only deliberately vaguely described as a "police emergency." A police emergency might be anything ranging from Metro security officials trying to nab an on-board pickpocket to investigating a bomb threat or suggestions of a possible terrorist attack of a chemical nature upon Metro's unsuspecting passengers.

In the seat next to me, a quiet young man waited patiently for the trip to resume. Sensing he might be a visitor from overseas taken aback by the sudden, unexplained halt in his journey, I softly said "we should be moving again in just a few moments. It's probably nothing."

He turned and looked at me and shyly smiled, as if in thanks for the verbal reassurance.

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"I am from Iran," he responded.

"So what do you think of our City so far?" I inquired.

"I LOVE GEORGE BUSH!" he exclaimed.

His words took my breath away. The young man from Iran continued to look at me with his beautiful black eyes filling with passion, as he sincerely expressed the depths of his admiration for the man sitting in the Oval Office whom I abhor.

"The average Iranian is not an Islamic fundamentalist," he continued. "Only about five percent of the population is, but they are the ones with the arms and control. The arms and the control are used on the rest of us -- the other 95 percent -- to keep us in line. Many of the young men use hair gel to keep their hair nice, and for that alone -- 80 lashes. If we drink alcohol -- 80 lashes. If we get a tattoo -- 80 lashes. So those of us who do these things are not the Islamic fundamentalists. We just want to do the normal things you do here. And so -- we are fed up. Many of the young people have collectively decided to just go ahead and do these things. If so many of us do, how can they give all of us 80 lashes for each of these things?"

Quickly a flicker of fear was reflected in his eyes. He suddenly whispered, "I could be killed for just saying these things." But just as suddenly the look of fear evaporated and was replaced with the earlier sparkling excitement.

"But the mothers of the younger people are very upset. They are terrified for us. And so we wait for George Bush. People keep saying he's going to bomb Iran. We WANT him to bomb Iran. We want him to set us free," he said.

This was a very politically inconvenient truth I was hearing -- but -- perhaps not. Distant bells of my memory started to toll and suddenly for a brief moment in time, I was in the zone of the dark days immediately preceding the Bush pre-emptive attack on Iraq. I could hear Dick Cheney's repeated refrain, "The Iraqis will greet us as liberators."

Reverting back from that moment to the now on the train, I continued to listen to the young man from Iran earnestly express the passions of his political convictions. There are six American warships just sitting there on the Gulf ready to come in. And we are waiting ... we are waiting. We are waiting for Bush."

"Most Americans do not feel the same way about George Bush as you do," I responded. "To us, he and his cohorts represent a small part of the population, and the rest of us are meant to be kept just under control. George Bush does not promote the ideals most Americans believe in; he does not present the face of America to the rest of the world that most Americans feel is our true portrait. In a way, our country and your country are in the same place. Just as your country is controlled by a small percent of Islamic fundamentalists, Americans have been under the dominance of a handful of radicals -- the neoconservatives -- who also have the arms to control us.

"George Bush does not speak to the American people with the truth," I continued. He tells us what he thinks we need to hear to support whatever posture he has assumed on the issue at hand. He thinks we are all morons who cannot think for ourselves. Americans are not morons. Many of us do our own homework on issues to arrive at a well-reasoned decision on the proper course. Most of us do not support a war on Iran. We are desperately focused on how to stop him."

"So why can't George Bush just come out and tell Americans the truth about Iran?" he asked.

"That's not who George W. Bush is," I responded. "He thinks he only has to answer to God. After all, who here on earth can stop him? But, this is NOT George W. Bush's country; the country belongs to all of us Americans."

Suddenly the Metro lurched back to life and resumed its interrupted rush to the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

People who live and work in Washington, D.C. know that to be an ambassador of good will for our city, we must present ourselves as people who can listen to viewpoints diametrically opposite to our own. This we must do to the myriad of people who come here to experience first-hand the history and the culture of the political capital of the world.

As the tired passengers started to drift back into our resting silence as the rush-hour race home got back on track, I smiled at the young man from Iran and said, "Welcome to D.C."

THE QUESTION

Keeping in mind how Gerald Kellman admires Barack Obama's listening ability and acting as a good ambassador of the DemocraticUnderground toward possible Iranian visitors to this site, please let me ask you the following question.

What would you have said?

That is what I would have said.

I know a woman who was once my girlfriend. She was a Stanford student of philosophy back in the 70's. Her dad delivered the Shaw's babies. And her mom still lives in Tehran. After thirty years I recently called her. What pleasant surprise it was to be talking to someone who echoed my exact political sentiments. No wonder we got along back then. She isn't fooled. She knows the fascists that comprise this administration. But she came from a wealthy family. She's well educated. She has traveled and taught all over the world. You can't teach someone what they need to know in one sitting. All you get is a couple of one liners, and you're out of the subway, going in separate directions. Some people get it, and some don't. I grew up only around people who get it. All educated in places like Cal Tech and Harvard. Old men who when young, hung out with JFK, and the likes. I suppose that is what it takes. After all, who is really educated in this administration? And I suppose that Iranian on the subway still has a lot to learn.

It took me two weeks to write this story. I was stunned by this incident, really taken momentarily aback when it happened, trying to contain my disbelief yet be polite as any resident of the area should be when interacting with visitors who come here from around the country, as well as the world. The last thing we need to do is violently verbally attack those who disagree with our political opinions, acting in the repulsive manner those in the current administration do when someone opposes their policies. Yet after a few moments I realized I could not simply listen to the admiration this young man was expressing toward George W. Bush without as politely as I could present what I feel is the opinion TODAY of the man sitting in the Oval Office. I tried without being offensive to simply show another perspective.

The words that six Americans warships were sitting on the Gulf and most Iranians WANTED Bush to bomb truly put me near the edge. I could not help but wonder if the situation were reversed and the young man had a son, would he be willing to possibly sacrifice that son for purposes of fighting in an Army to save Americans similarly-situated to the position he described most Iranians are now in. I honestly believe that if Americans were in that situation, we could not help but revolt. This country was founded by revolutionaries repelling that type of barbaric control over those who inhabited this land at that time. Americans are not the type to cry out, "Save us, Save us" to anyone else -- we save ourselves. What can't the rest of the world do that? Why don't these citizens under such barbaric rule save themselves instead of asking others to save them?

I thought the incident was important enough, no -- shocking enough -- to report here, but it took some time to frame the story in a manner that I thought would not invite a royal flame fest. Your response makes me hopeful others will read this thread in the spirit with which I intended to present the story. Thank you.

as you just did. Bush is promising to come to Iran just as he promised to come to Iraq. Why do you think things will turn out better for Iran than they did for Iraq?

And then I would have told him to pick up this week's Rolling Stones issue and read Taibbi's article on what our real intentions in the ME are.

If Americans cannot believe what George W. Bush says, why do people from Iran think they can?

I also wondered as you point out, why Iranians would think they would end up better off than the Iraqis now are. Personally, I would prefer to remain collectively defiant than live as the Iraqis today do.

power, political and religious, all over the world and in different varieties, and most conveniently, together in tandem. So it has always been. Religion and politics in tandem are a lethal dose. So it has always been. If you have a 95% majority against the powers that be in Iran, then you can certainly reverse the revolution of 79.

Watching the evening CNN special on God's Warriors, I am surprised civilization has lasted this long with the 3 major religions. It's a testimony to those who don't allow themselves to become slaves of religious fanaticism worldwide. This is not anti-God. Everyone can communicate with their spiritual guide without some mass hysteria that makes it clear "That it is us against them".

George Bush can't set you free. You are free now. You were free in Iraq. Only you can set your self free.

I remember seeing a picture of Father Berrigan being arrested during Viet Nam.

Tell me which of the three is free????

Point taken. Thank you.

suffer under Saddam or suffer under America.........there are no more and no less free than they were before, it is all just an illusion anyway........

On Edit: Live Free or Die...

I am a volunteer.........

perhaps it would have been better to use "their" or even "his" or even left the pronoun out entirely; perhaps "yours" is appropriate.

What do you mean by "I am a volunteer"?

military service........

My family is part Indian (subcontinent type) part Eastern European, so the Sanskrit comes from the heritage and warrior denotes my military service.........Basically I am a super tan mofo with blonde hair that would fit in in Delhi as well as Warsaw..............

and one's a daughter of a hanger-on of the Shah

always make we wonder -- how can ANYONE ever choose force over negotiation? So sad.

It will be interesting to see others react.

They dream of being restored to power by the Bush** regime.

stories from the Farsi language instructors we have on Schofield.........

hoping to get some more comments....

It might explain what he was doing in Washington. He could be part of some political outsider party that wants to fill in the gap of power in Iran.

So I wouldn't say he speaks for the average person there.