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Experiments With Culture: The Iranian Revolution

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In 1979, a large scale revolution in Iran led to the fall of the Shah and the rise to power of a new, more religious leader: Ayatollah Khomeini. This event, later known as the Iranian Revolution, marked a drastic change in the ideals and culture of Iran. The United States, a Western country, was against the Islamic Revolution for many reasons, and had a very different perspective on this event than Iran. The contrasting American and Iranian perspectives are demonstrated by how they portray each other and themselves in various sources.
The opposing American and Iranian perspectives are shown by the stark difference between how Argo, an American movie, and Writings and Declarations, 1941, 1970, a propaganda article by Ayatollah Khomeini portray …show more content…

Even though the American textbook section on this topic, Experiments with Culture: The Role of Islam in Iran, presents the information in a very objective manner, the bias can be seen from what information isn’t included. For example, there was no mention of the Hostage Crisis or the various U.S. military failures in Iran. The textbook does mention the Shah’s westernization, but fails to address the CIA/America’s major role in the 1953 coup (Staff 2009) that overthrew the Iranian government and put the Shah in power. Aside from these shortcomings, the American textbook was fairly unbiased. Conversely, the Iranian textbook is a very biased source that demeaned American actions and justified their own. They inserted derogatory comments about America whenever possible; for example: “The Americans ran away disgracefully, without reaching Tehran…” (The Hostage, 1996) The purpose of this textbook was to educate and instil anti-U.S. sentiments. This makes sense, because this Iranian textbook was published by the “Tehran Ministry of Education”: the government body responsible for education in Iran. Government sources tend to have a patriotic bias, and aren’t a credible source – especially because Iran and America weren’t on good terms when this textbook was published (1996). Macmillan Education, an independent source, is the publisher of the American textbook; which explains why the information is given in a more objective

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embassy in Tehran and seized control of the embassy. Farber provides both an international and domestic viewpoint on the crisis, which offers the reader more of an outlook on the situation. Farber’s international viewpoint provides the reader with the look into the origins of the situation and the policies the United States had put in place in Iran. These policies include the part in ousting Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh by the United States, the United States backing of the Shah and the inclination of policy makers to turn their backs to the problem of authoritarianism in Iran, which was causing suffering for the people in the country. These problems began when the United States took interest in the Middle East in the 1970’s because of its oil rich ground.

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Farber states, “It’s all the more important, therefore, to take another look at America’s first major confrontation with Islamic fundamentalism.” Farber's detailed storyline looks past the day by day situations of the crisis, using the events leading up to the suffering as a means for understanding it. Farber shows in the book a portrayal of the United States in the 1970’s as a time of unsuccessful potentials in a nation overwhelmed by uncertainty and anxiety. It reveals the American government sick and ready for the fall of the Shah of Iran which many are unable to reckon with Ayatollah Khomeini and his militant Islamic followers. Farber

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Farber successfully argues that the iranian hostage crisis was infact the first encounter with radical islam. Farber paints the picture of two oppossing rivals. The Shah represents corruption and the Khomeini represents relegion. The Shah is allowed to enter the United states to recieve treatment for cancer. The fall of the Shah of iran leads to Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers to take over.

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Taken Hostage tells the story of the Iran hostage crisis lasting from November of 1979 to the day Reagan’s inauguration. During this period of time, sixty six Americans were held in captivity by Students Following the Line of Imam after the United States allowed the Shah to undergo medical treatment amidst the Iranian revolution. Americans, after a tough decade of inflation, gas shortages, lack of trust in the government, and the defeat in Vietnam were yet again brought into a situation in which required their complete faith that the Carter administration would save the captives. The hostage crisis was a complete shock to the American people in addition to the heightened tensions because of economic decline, government mistrust, and energy

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