The Foreign Service Journal, June 2007

hold a paranoid belief that the entire world is plotting against them. • Incomprehensible. Many of their actions are inexplicable. One cannot begin to understand or pre- dict how they will act. • Vindictive. They will harbor grudges for decades and even for centuries. They over-react against opponents or critics, murdering translators or writers who present no political threat. In 1979, for example, the regime executed an elderly politician for his role in Reza Khan’s coup d’etat of 1921. • Fanatical. They have thrown themselves in front of Iraqi guns in a quest for martyrdom. I then turned the question around, and asked them how they thought the Islamic Republic, in light of that same history, viewed the U.S. administration and its lead- ers. The answers, equally uncomplimentary, included: • Belligerent. The U.S. cannot tolerate opposition, and will react violently when it believes it is challenged. • Hypocritical. The U.S. lectures others on human rights and democracy, yet supports numerous undemo- cratic and oppressive regimes, including that of the late shah, the Egyptians and the Saudis. • Calculating. The U.S. is forever weighing the prof- it from courses of action, without regard to any moral or religious scruple. It is always willing to sacrifice humani- ty for some strategic advantage. • Godless and immoral. The U.S. exports and glori- fies a corrupt culture that undermines family, religion and tradition. It deliberately seeks to lure young people in the Islamic world away from the militant spirit of their reli- gion. • Exploitative. The U.S. is constantly looking for sources of oil and other resources that it can steal or buy cheaply in exchange for the trash — especially military trash — that it makes. • Materialistic. The U.S. believes that people are ruled by their desire for material goods, and have no inter- est in spiritual values. • Bullying. If the U.S. cannot get its way, it will resort to threats, subversion and direct intervention. The U.S. has never stopped bullying the Islamic Republic because it has refused to submit to American demands. • Arrogant. The U.S. is seen as exemplifying “global arrogance” (estekbaar-e-jahaani). It claims that its political, economic and cultural system is the only valid one for humanity. It has no curiosity about or interest in other systems or ide- ologies. • Meddling. The U.S. has been meddling in Iranian affairs since it occupied the country during World War II — if not earlier. The shah was nothing but an American puppet. The Bush administration is determined to over- throw the Islamic Republic and install a more obedient regime. • Patronizing. The U.S. denigrates other cultures and lectures the rest of the world on the need to recognize American hegemony and imitate the American way of life. Next I asked my students how they thought each side viewed itself. Their answers were in stark contrast to how we look at the “other.” Americans, they said, see them- selves as humane, open, well-intentioned, democratic, freedom-loving and generous. Iranians, they believed, see themselves as spiritual, cultured, artistic, courteous, literate, generous, quick-witted, good-humored, articulate and devoted to friends and family. Iranians also view themselves historically as victims of external forces they could not control. Why is there such a gap between these positive self- images and the negative view by the outsider? Why do we see nothing but malevolence in each other? How have both of us come to believe that history proves the other is the personification of evil? Why, after 27 years, are the United States and Iran unable to get beyond these opin- ions and the accompanying fruitless denunciations, accu- sations, finger-pointing and sterile rhetoric? The Stuff of Myths One answer lies in decades of two-sided myth-making, in which the United States and Iran have built our nega- tive views on versions of two recent events —versions that mix reality with fantasy to concoct a picture of absolute malevolence in the other side. In the American case, the seminal event is the 1979 seizure of Embassy Tehran and detention (with the connivance of the Iranian authorities) of its staff members. The images of screaming crowds and F O C U S 22 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 7 For the American side, the 1979 seizure of Embassy Tehran by Iranian militants laid the foundations for the subsequent myth.