Black, White and No Gray.

I wrote earlier in this Blog about Dr. Weaver’s lecture on American culture. In my writings, I said that Americans tend to believer on the Good and the Bad or Black and White. To the Americans what they are doing is for the best of interest to all humankind. Anyone that disagrees on this belongs to the opposite camp - The Bad.

On foreign affairs, Iran is considered the opposite camp.

During the sensitive situation of the British marines being captive by the Iranians, I was personally relieved that both the British and the Iranians had made concrete steps to settle this via diplomacy.

Furthermore, Iran’s agreement to let the British soldiers go would have injected Goodwill in current foreign affairs between Iran and the West.

However, Iran’s move was reciprocated by accusations of a hidden agenda on the part of Iran. I was in Los Angeles when the Iranians freed the British soldiers and I noticed the American media pounding on the issue with skepticisms. To the American Media, Iran is the evil empire and anything good by them should be responded by extreme caution and distrust.




What ever the Iranians’ intentions are, we may not know. But shouldn’t a positive move like the freeing of British soldiers be reciprocated by another positive reaction like a “Thank you and let’s move towards a better understanding”. However the opposite was the reaction of the West.

I know Iranians and as much as the West things Iran as being an evil empire, the contrary is true of what Iranians think of the West. The majority in Iran are moderates rather then extremists, and like many in the rest of the world no one wants another invasion just like Iraq.

The American media’s negative reaction had just fueled extremist views and further the gap of understanding between Iran and the West. Any goodwill that can be capitalized by the freeing of the British soldiers had been neutralized by a more aggressive negative reaction by the western media.

No wonder we can’t solve our problems.