As previously seen on The Daily Show promoting his book "The Ayatollah Begs to Differ", Hooman Majd is becoming my favorite seasoned Iranian hyphenate. His candor is clearly relayed through his accent free, very American sounding voice. This is a guy who'll tell you about smoking opium with Muslim clerics (we've heard from a few Iranians that "they're all addicted to it") and he'll also tell you what part of Tehran you can buy weed.
Anyway, friend Val sent me this short (less than 8 minutes) NPR interview with him about the Iranian customs that most Westerners know nothing about. Michael and I saw "taroff" in action when every cab driver denied payment the first couple times our translator offered. Listen here!
Oh, yeah, this:
....click here for full article/permalink.
Showing posts with label mainstream media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mainstream media. Show all posts
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Media in Tehran // PressTV and George Galloway
Because we don't speak Farsi/Persian and we were in a hotel (read: no satellite) we only had two English options for news. One of those options was Iranian run PressTV. I was super impressed by the speaking skills and level of consciousness that one particular newsman offered (though I watched him for probably less than 2 hours total). I'd never heard of him, but George Galloway is apparently quite famous. A member of British parliament who had many call-in fans from around the Middle East (check out his Facebook fan page to get an idea of his fanbase) as it turns out, he was also involved in the UN Oil-for-Food scandal (YouTube testimony below) and US pundits have their own opinion about him.
(This wasn't a clip I saw, but the date it was uploaded is closest to when we were in Tehran.)
(hit permalink just below for more videos)
Believe it or not, it did totally surprise me to find out that some politicians in the US House of Representatives wanted to brand PressTV a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist' (SDGT) organizations (House resolution 1308). It seems pretty out of line, considering what I was seeing. PressTV even has a story about it here.
(This is what I found when I got back to New York and googled this guy.)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Unconditional Love on The Daily Show
His book is "How to Break a Terrorist".
Friday, December 5, 2008
U.S. Protest Group points to Media Seeding
World Can't Wait, an aggressive U.S. protest organization (that focuses largely on George Bush and his administration), has sent out a bulletin encouraging readers to contact editors of various U.S. newspapers in response to their assertions that Iran already has a nuclear weapons program. (In the article, they are explicitly referring to a 'weapons' program, rather than an energy program). Theisen compares this to drumming up support for the Iraq War by seeding papers with implications of Iraq WMD's.
From the bulletin:
Challenge the Renewed Bush Regime Lies About Iran! Follow Ken Theisen's example:
12-05-08 From Ken Theisen, World Can't Wait Steering Committee:
This article in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle which originated with the Baltimore Sun. It appears it was in many papers across the country under different titles but with the same content. The article asserts as fact that Iran has a nuclear weapons program and goes on to detail how Obama may deal with it. I think we need to counter this article and others like it. I am relatively sure this story was planted by the Bush regime. It is similar to the propaganda put out prior to the Iraq invasion. It reminds me of the Judy Miller stories in the NY TIMES.
I have written the letter below to the Chronicle in the hope that they print it. (It is 199 words long.) I am also going to write a letter to their ombudsman to raise the same point and hopefully get him to do a piece on it. If people in other cities that have papers that printed this article want, they can use my letter as a sample to write their own letters. Ken Theisen
Dear Editor:
Please consider publishing this letter to the editor.
"There is no credible evidence that Iran currently has a nuclear weapons program. Despite this, the article "A Visit to White House can't even hint of enormity of job" (12/04/08) basically assert that Iran has such a program. The article states that Obama intends to halt Iran's nuclear weapon program. The author further says Iran is "rushing headlong toward building" a nuclear arsenal. He also refers to Iran's race to build a nuclear arsenal." Where did the author obtain these "facts?"
Both the Bush regime's own National Intelligence Estimate and numerous reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency contradict the above assertions. The "news" article makes no mention of these facts.
Prior to the Iraq invasion, numerous media stories appeared with propaganda from the Bush regime about the weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Saddam. Judy Miller of the New York Times often scooped other reporters with the "details" of Iran's [Ed. He may mean "Iraq's"] non-existent weapons programs. It turned out that her scoops were based on leaks from the Bush administration in it attempts to mislead the public. Is this happening again, but now with Iran the intended target? If so, why is the media going along with this deception?"
....click here for full article/permalink.
From the bulletin:
Challenge the Renewed Bush Regime Lies About Iran! Follow Ken Theisen's example:
12-05-08 From Ken Theisen, World Can't Wait Steering Committee:
This article in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle which originated with the Baltimore Sun. It appears it was in many papers across the country under different titles but with the same content. The article asserts as fact that Iran has a nuclear weapons program and goes on to detail how Obama may deal with it. I think we need to counter this article and others like it. I am relatively sure this story was planted by the Bush regime. It is similar to the propaganda put out prior to the Iraq invasion. It reminds me of the Judy Miller stories in the NY TIMES.
I have written the letter below to the Chronicle in the hope that they print it. (It is 199 words long.) I am also going to write a letter to their ombudsman to raise the same point and hopefully get him to do a piece on it. If people in other cities that have papers that printed this article want, they can use my letter as a sample to write their own letters. Ken Theisen
Dear Editor:
Please consider publishing this letter to the editor.
"There is no credible evidence that Iran currently has a nuclear weapons program. Despite this, the article "A Visit to White House can't even hint of enormity of job" (12/04/08) basically assert that Iran has such a program. The article states that Obama intends to halt Iran's nuclear weapon program. The author further says Iran is "rushing headlong toward building" a nuclear arsenal. He also refers to Iran's race to build a nuclear arsenal." Where did the author obtain these "facts?"
Both the Bush regime's own National Intelligence Estimate and numerous reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency contradict the above assertions. The "news" article makes no mention of these facts.
Prior to the Iraq invasion, numerous media stories appeared with propaganda from the Bush regime about the weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Saddam. Judy Miller of the New York Times often scooped other reporters with the "details" of Iran's [Ed. He may mean "Iraq's"] non-existent weapons programs. It turned out that her scoops were based on leaks from the Bush administration in it attempts to mislead the public. Is this happening again, but now with Iran the intended target? If so, why is the media going along with this deception?"
....click here for full article/permalink.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Forgive Mumbai attackers
Those of ye understanding the philosophy that is encapsulated by "Unconditional Love is Global Security" can surely appreciate the CNN daily headline in my inbox this morning:
Forgive Mumbai attackers, victims' relative says
You can read the article here. ....click here for full article/permalink.
Forgive Mumbai attackers, victims' relative says
You can read the article here. ....click here for full article/permalink.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Mainstreamedia // NYTimes
A friend of mine sent this to me today. An article in New York Times about Iranian artists and the new market door that is Dubai, UAE.
....click here for full article/permalink.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Prohibited information, connections
This must be one of the more frustrating consequences of the Iranian government.
No Facebook.
No MySpace.
No Craigslist.
No YouTube.
(New York Times is available, Huffington Post is not)
Blogger is definitely allowed and utilized by Iranians.
Apparently, they have a super high number of bloggers.
I was able to update my facebook status and post blogs via email. I love technology.
....click here for full article/permalink.
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