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September 19, 2004
The Unintended Consequences of Free Speech
In 1982 CBS produced a documentary called People Like Us, which showed the plight of poor Americans during first years of the Reagan administration. Getting wind that the show would highlight the faults of their American counterparts, Soviet officials decided to broadcast the program live within the USSR. As Dinesh D'Sousa notes:
The Soviet Union also broadcast the documentary, with a view to embarrassing the Reagan administration. But by the testimony of former Soviet leaders, it had the opposite effect. Ordinary people across the Soviet Union saw that the poorest Americans have TV sets, microwave ovens, and cars. They arrived at the same perception that I witnessed in an acquaintance of mine from Bombay who has been unsuccessfully trying to move to the United States. I asked him, "Why are you so eager to come to America?" He replied, "I really want to live in a country where the poor people are fat."
Fast-forward 22 years and it is apparent that Iranian government censors did not learn from the Soviet Union's mistakes. A few days ago Fahrenheit 9/11 opened in Tehran. Hundreds of mainly young Iranians attended the premier, but as the press reports their reaction was probably not what the Iranian government expected. Instead of simply intensifying hated towards the United States, many of the filmgoers exited the theater questioning the policies of their own government.
And even though his twenty-something son quipped in to say he was "disappointed" by the film and asserted "politics is not as important" for Iran's younger generation, he did envy Moore's position.
"It sure is a great country, where someone like Moore trashes the president and gets away with it -- and makes so much money!" he laughed.
Another woman said she was impressed with the scene where Moore chases US congressmen to ask them if they would send their children to Iraq.
"How many top officials here sent their offspring to fight in the Iran-Iraq war?" asked the woman, one of several who directed their frustrations at Iranian authorities -- and not President Bush.
Of course, this is not to say we should not feel compassion for the poor families in the 80's who although they might have hit some rough times in their lives still have a television, microwave and car. Nor is it to say that we should support our President unconditionally, even though he is clearly a more just leader than the mullahs of Iran. It is just interesting to note that Michael Moore, who has been labeled "unpatriotic" by many, ended up demonstrating to several young Iranians an important reason that the United States is one of the best countries in the world.
Posted by Peter Mork at September 19, 2004 10:09 PM
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