First go at blogging

For my first go at blogging I went online and searched for any blogs that were related to the issues I wanted to blog about. I found one called “Andisheh: some thoughts on Iran”. Andisheh means, “thought” in Farsi. The blog’s subjects are politics, arts, and architecture. The writer is Cyrus Shahidi, an Iranian art student living in Geneve, Switzerland. According to Mr. Shahidi he is “pro-freedom and a supporter of a united, secular, strong and independent Iran”. It seems that Mr. Shahidi feels the same way about Iran that many Americans do about the U.S. and his basic but strong opinion is one reason why I chose to profile his blog rather than a number of others that contained a great deal of rhetoric from one political viewpoint or another. Mr. Shahidi also has many recent and frequent posts. His posts are very interesting and he gleans his information from a number of sources on the Internet and in the media. In addition, when he quotes somebody he posts links to the source article or website.

A recent post to the blog and a very interesting one at that contained parts of an interview Mr. Shahidi read from Rooz Online. The interview was with former CIA field officer Robert Bayer. Some trivia on the side, Bayer was the main inspiration for George Clooney’s character in the movie Syriana whose opening scene took place in Iran. In the interview Bayer had some very interesting things to say about Iran’s position in the Middle East, Iran’s relationship with Israel and the U.S., and the Iran-Contra affair. Read Mr. Shahidi’s post and the interview for yourself.

http://andishehblog.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/secret-co-operation-and-deal-between-iran-and-israel/#comments

Another fascinating post from Mr. Shahidi contains his take on the recent proclamations issued by two very important religious figures in Iran concerning the supreme authority held by the top Islamic cleric over all other positions including the president and parliament. Overall, it was a very interesting event for Iran and possibly a sign of hope for change in the future. Thank you Mr. Shahidi for bringing it to my attention.

http://andishehblog.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/ayatollah-montazeri-and-ayatollah-rafsanjani-on-velayate-faghih/

I feel that Mr. Shahidi's blog relates well to my blog in that it is informative and realistic and stays away from the bias and propaganda that has been running rampant for so many years now. Many of Mr. Shahidi’s posts are related to Iran and that is also similar to how my blog will run. I also get the feeling that Mr. Shahidi cares a lot about the possibility of war between Iran and America and would like to find away to avoid it, which is similar to my goals. Mr. Shahidi’s blog is not what I would call academic in the sense of strict writing and struture but it is definitely academic and scholarly in that he is actively searching for, analyzing, and critiquing current events in a competent manner. The posts are rich in detail and contain the required references when needed but they are not boring or too wordy. Mr. Shahidi lays out the situation and his opinion quite eloquently. I am not entirely certain who Mr. Shahidi’s audience is but I assume, going by some comments that I read and the country flag counter, that it is a mix of people from every continent with quite a few Iranians and people living in America. Depending on the number of American and Iranian readers, I imagine that the audience’s relevance to the field is around the same level as Mr. Shahidi’s and my own; people who have a personal stake in the situation and people who wish to stay informed and current with their information.

There is much to choose from when writing about the current situation with Iran and a number of ways to do it. So although I will probably continue to read Mr. Shahidi’s blog I will not use it as any sort of reference or generator for ideas on what to blog about. My blog will contain posts on what I feel are the most interesting or relevant topics to blog about. I would also like to focus a little more on clearing the haze of misconceptions currently spouted in America about Iran, its people, and society. Although I feel that this is a worthy goal, I also feel disturbed and ashamed by the fact that there is still so much ignorance in America concerning foreign countries, especially Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, I plan to refute any and all false information that comes to my attention concerning Iran and portray the most accurate picture I can of Iran and its people. This does not mean I will be singing Iran’s praises and denouncing America, for I will also talk about the Iranian’s misconceptions of Americans. I will give credit and criticism where it is due to both countries. I also would like to blog about current events taking place in Iran (not just political ones) in order to share more information with readers about the everyday lives of the Iranian people.