Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Let's talk about "Shame," female journalists and Why-Do-They-Hate-Us(Iran Edition)!

So, this happened in Iran. But, why "Shameful"?
My question: Why is "shameful," with a capital S, the best descriptor of the above situation which is quite common in busy, disorganized, state-sponsored ceremonies of Iran?
Aren't professional journalists supposed to improvise and such to do their news gathering. Professional journalists are indeed stubborn creatures who venture to flooded regions, quake scenes, war zones and even more dangerous places to cover news and basically do their job. So, someone tells me why and how when a group of female journalists improvise to sit on the floor instead of standing in the back of the hall or next to the walls this becomes shameful and an embarrassment for the shameless government of Iran? (Maybe there was no vacant space in either back or next to the walls!)

Above tweet is from an Iranian journalist who has worked with BBC, and has been included in my list of tweeps who tweet about Iran and are not asshole. This other tweet is from another featured Iranian member of my list of non-assholes, and somebody I consider a friend on twitter:
Another one from a journalist (he's Afghan as far as I know), who writes passionately about human rights, in particular, women's rights:


The amazing part is when Arash Karami tweets in reply to Josh Shahryar:
If anything, what Arash Karami tweets in his reply to Josh Shahryar is totally accurate in my opinion, but how is that comment of any relevance to a bunch of journalist who are seated on the floor for lack of space. Let's see other pictures of this ceremony:






Does it seem to you there was enough space in that hall?!

4 comments:

  1. Tout simplement honteux

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  2. Even if there wasn't space, enough respect should have been shown for at least Some of the women to be offered a seat. That NONE of them had a seat only revealed a deeper issue, not having to do with lack of space.

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  3. In Iran it would be very untoward to offer a strange woman a seat. Very. And then, because of tarof, it would take sixty-two minutes of offers and refusals followed, at last, by acceptance, making it even more awkward. Best just to let these gals do their job and leave them alone.
    Why is the whole world beating off over the fact that these journalists just happen to also be women. When was the last time any of us offered a seat to the press? They're working; that's what they do. Until we hear an interview with these journalists in which they say, explicitly, that they were forced to sit on the floor while their male colleagues were offered seats...quitcher bitchin.

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  4. If it was mandatory for women to sit on the floor, why is the blue hooded woman sitting in this image ? http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XPwSo1TsCE8/UhOTBCOmV8I/AAAAAAAAARk/qBPpw_oV7R4/s640/IMG14353813.jpg
    Does it not look like that in a overcrowded room, the men chose to stand and women chose to sit on the carpet. And yes it remains a curious question, "why do the siting men do not offer chairs to the women?" perhaps because they would need to stay standing, while the women are already seated or they just treat women to be equal in some sense.

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