February 27, 2000 (Cambridge, MA, USA)
By Dariush Sajjadi
Renowned American reporter Robin Wright recently spoke about Iran's political and social situation at Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES).
She said despite the ban on satellite dishes in Iran, the Iranians are avid to watch satellite programs, in particular American films and among these "Baywatch".*
Even though Robin Wright's statements are bitter for the Iranian statesmen who cherish values and morality, her words ring with actual truth!
Regardless of the Iranians’ ulterior motive in demanding the right to have satellite dishes, a member of the Islamic Iran Participation Party (IIPP) Ali Mazrooee recently declared that the reformists will make efforts to lift the ban on satellite dishes to foster "the free flow of information"!
His remarks, made at the IIPP's first press conference after the party won a landslide victory in the February 18 parliamentary polls, are indicative of the fact that some deputies in Iran's new Parliament are influenced by the mass mentality.
A number of Iranian statesmen are presently trying to prove that the Iranians' eagerness for satellite programs is because they want access to information.
Attempts like this reflect the said statesmen's unawareness of the facts. Given that some 80 percent of Iranians are not fluent in English and that most owners of satellite dishes are common people, not academics, the claim "to foster the free flow of information" is self-deceptive.
Contrary to the World Wide Web, which has a wealth of information along with recreation, satellites present minimal news but huge numbers of practically worthless films and music programs, that are mainly geared toward entertaining the youth. As such, satellite channels cannot compete with the Internet to provide free flow of information.
The Iranians have been subjected to such excessive state control over the past two decades that their physical needs have been transformed into sexual complexes and desire for libidinal pleasures which they are bent on satisfying right now.
In case Iranian officials are eager to lift the ban on satellite dishes, they have no recourse but to officially recognize the true motives behind the peoples' desire to watch satellite programs.
Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Shah's regime, contrary to the Islamic Republic officials, made efforts to foster the carpe diem motif, urging the people to take utmost pleasure (especially of the carnal type) from every moment of life. This was a means for the Pahlavi regime to keep the people busy with carnality so it could have peace of mind to do whatever was to its own advantage and best interest.
The Pahlavi regime endeavored to create superstars such as the young handsome singer Dariush Iqbali who even spent some time in the Shah's jail for singing a song that was believed to mildly criticize the Shah's land reform. Such superstars symbolized innocuous ways to campaign against the Pahlavi rule.
In other words, the Pahlavi regime prompted the Iranian youth to think that anyone who wanted to fight the regime could go to Tehran's Bakara Cabaret and listen to singers there! The youth thus believed that this was the only way to protest to the ruling clique in Tehran.
Yet during the same period, efforts were slowly made by thinkers such as Dr. Ali Shariati to awaken the Iranian youth and spur their revolutionary sentiments.
The Shah's extremist policies were, however, replaced by equally extremist policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran which has negated legitimate pastimes, practically making politics the sole recreation and concern of the public so much so that the state currently faces the problem of excessive popularization of politics. This problem is so deeply rooted in Iran's political structure that in many cases the officialdom has to practically follow the mass political demands.
The recently elected reformists' bent to follow mass demands is an inevitable outcome of mass politics in Iran, yet these reformists can actually depoliticize the politically charged Iranian community.
The state should teach the people to leave politics to the parties, lead their own social lives, and only demand that the state provide material and moral means for their social lives, provided, of course, that the state does not abstain from furnishing these means.
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* A serial which ostensibly lacks any merit and only presents nudity on the American television
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