Wednesday
April 11, 2001
Perverse pleasure against Pahlavi
I found your April Fool's article, "Not
without my mom", in extremely poor taste. I realize you have the
right to publish anything you wish, and I would be the first one to agree
that political humour is a necessity for free and healthy political dialogue
and community, but there is also such a thing as editorial restraint and
good judgement.
In the past you have taken almost perverse pleasure in publishing insulting
articles dealing with Reza Pahlavi. Kobra Khanoum's "Our
demands" was one of them. What, I ask, is achieved by this kind
tirade other than losing the good will of people everywhere who have looked
at the Iranian as a healthy place for the exchange of ideas.
In the late sixties in Iran we had a journal of political satire called
Towfigh. Some of your readers might still recall this journal. It
was wonderful and funny and healthy. In an atmosphere were laughter about
politicians was actively discouraged and could be detrimental, Towfigh
played an invaluable role.
Then Towfigh decided to print a cartoon depicting the late Prime
Minister Hoveyda and his wife, with Hoveyda proclaiming to his wife: "short-e
to chatr-e nejat-e man ast!" That was in extremely poor taste. The
result was that Towfigh lost the good will of many of its supporters,
especially Hoveyda himself, who, I was told, enjoyed the gentle bantering
of Towfigh quite a bit, as he was a daily feature in its cartoons.
Having lost the goodwill of many, when Towfigh was shut down, no
one came to its rescue and a good thing was lost for a very bad reason.
Here, of course, The Iranian is immune from the threat of being
shut down by the authorities. This is America, after all! But what can happen
in these cases is the loss of goodwill of people who most sincerely wish
the best for outlets such as The Iranian. When one loses ones friends
in good times, who will stand by one when bad times come?
I am sure that the editorial board of The Iranian has the wisdom
and fortitude to do better than that silly article. It is time they showed
us that they do.
Professor Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajar
Political Science and Middle Eastern History
Chair, Department of Political Science
Santa Barbara City College, California
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