does it bug you when Iranians are referred to as "Arabs?"

[Syrinx]

I can't remember if it was on NBC or CNN, but Saturday evening the anchor referred to Ahmadinejad as an "Arab leader." Specifically, as the third most trusted "Arab leader," among the Arab people.

Maybe I'm ignorant, but is there any way in which an Iranian can be referred to as an "Arab leader?"

The TV anchorpersons are probably smarter than I am, but Iranians aren't Arabs, are they? :shrug:

[rpannier]

1. Iranians are Persians

They are not Arabs.

But that's our press in action.

[Syrinx]

5. on second thought, it may have been Fox

I'm still not sure. I guess it would be better if it was on Fox. I guess.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

17. Home run, Absolutely true

Persians are as Arab as Filipinos are Chinese.

edited for drunken typing. Why an I channeling Brian Griffin?

[ForeignSpectator]

2. does it bug you when people are f'ing ignorant?

You forgot the "sarcasm" tag after your last sentence... ;)

[Syrinx]

9. I forgot because I have been intentionally "dumbed down"

I think that is true. I think the nation is being intentionally turned into brain-dead consumers. That's a deep subject, and controversial, I guess. But it seems pretty obvious to me.

[ForeignSpectator]

12. "The TV anchorpersons probably being smarter than you"... I mean

COME... ON!

Sometimes I watch CNN International and can't make it too long, especially sundays when they bring on the "Situation Room" for a couple hours... how can you all stand to watch this?

That dumbing down is sure not by accident, screwing up the public school system is part of this plan, too. And I am sure that's a chapter somewhere in the neocon handbook. Informed citizenry, lifeblood of democracy, can't have that!

[LeftishBrit]

3. Yes, because they aren't.

If people get such a basic fact wrong, you wonder what else they're getting wrong.

[Syrinx]

10. and it wasn't just the network that it was on

It was a "poll." A supposedly reputable polling company listed the Iranian leader as an "Arab leader." Garbage in, garbage out. :shrug:

[bananas]

4. They're Aryan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan#Iranian

Iranian
Main articles: Iranian peoples and Iranian languages

Since ancient times, Persians have used the term Aryan as a racial designation in an ethnic sense to describe their lineage and their language, and this tradition has continued into the present day amongst modern Iranians <6>. In fact, the name Iran is a cognate of Aryan and means "Land of the Aryans." <7> <8> <9> However, many of these usages are also intelligible if we understand the word Aryan in its sense of "noble" or "Spiritual".

This Iranian necklace was excavated from Gilan, Iran (1st millennium BCE, National Museum of Iran). Because of evidence of its use in several Indo-European cultures the swastika came to be identified as "the oldest Aryan symbol" by several writers in the late 19th century.<10>

Darius the Great, King of Persia (521–486 BC), in an inscription in Naqsh-e Rustam (near Shiraz in present-day Iran), proclaims: "I am Darius the great King… A Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan, having Aryan lineage...", although Herodotus claims that it was the Medes who were the Aryans, having changed their name after the arrival of Medea and potentially her son Medus<11> on the Iranian plateau.<12> He also calls his language the "Aryan language," commonly known today as Old Persian. According to the Encyclopedia Iranica, "the same ethnic concept was held in the later centuries" and was associated with "nobility and lordship." (p. 681)

The word has become a technical term in the theologies of Zoroastrianism, but has always been used by Iranians in the ethnic sense as well. In 1967, Iran's Pahlavi dynasty (overthrown in the 1979 Iranian revolution) added the title Āryāmehr "Light of the Aryans" to those of the monarch, known at the time as the Shahanshah (King of Kings).

The term "Airya-shayana" (abode of the Aryans) has also been used in the Avesta referring to all the lands where the Aryans dwell.

"Iranian Glory" (Airyana Khvarenah) occurs in the Avesta 23 times.

The term also remains a frequent element in modern Persian personal names, including Arya and Aryan (boy's and girl's name), Aryana (a common surname), Iran-Dokht (Aryan daughter, a girl's name),Aryanpour (or Aryanpur, a surname), Aryamane, Ary among many others. The terms "Aryan" and "Iranian" are sometimes used interchangeably, as in the Iranian bank chain, Aryan Bank.

[Syrinx]

7. thanks, bananas!

That really is very interesting. Plus, I've always wanted to say "thanks, bananas," since I really don't like bananas at all, but have nothing against them personally.

And I do like banana flavored Popsicles. :)

(Seriously, it is interesting.)

[BlooInBloo]

6. "The TV anchorpersons are probably smarter than I am"....

One would have to work really hard at being stupid for that to be true.

[Syrinx]

8. good point!

:hi:

[vaberella]

11. I'm more pissed when they're called Middle Eastern. They have Persian/Arab lineage but are Aryan,

originally. I'm into Muslim warlords the fall of Persia falls into that.

[MiniMe]

13. When I was young and stupid (before DU) I would have referred them as Arabs

Yes, I admit readily that it was ignorance. So don't beat me up on that. It was also before I understand Shia and Sunni. However, no news person can claim that excuse. Espeially with all the differences between Sunni and Shia being publicized so well.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. No, they are not

They are Persians, and have a history very different from that of the Arabs.

It pains me when the US touts their ignorance on such matters, but it concerns me, too--its an indication that the US media wants us to think of Iranians as Arabs, which, of course, equals terrorists or price gouging oil sheiks in the eyes of many Americans. It is so much more convenient for the media to lump all folks in the Middle East together into one stereotyped group, you see.

Edited to add--I also wish to thank bananas for the information about Iranians being Aryan. I know Iranians who live in this country, and they call themselves Persians. I think the word "Aryan" has too many other connotations now, which is probably why they call themselves Persian.

[Starry Messenger]

15. Arabs?

Really?

God I hate tv news.

MPK

[tsuki]

16. Yes, that, and when they refer to fundamentalists as evangelicals. nt

[KharmaTrain]

18. American Myopia

It's a funny paradox of the American spirit. Many will proudly proclaim their "heritage", but overall, to "be an American" you have to have a distorted view of the world. We've grown around a news/popular culture based on stereotypes and where Americans either are superior or the other culture is viewed as primitive. The lens is so narrow that many people can't differentiate cultures rather than to use a blanket term...be it "Hispanics" or "A-rabs"...and many use it as a pejorative to things that are both different and alien to them.

[Solly Mack]

19. I find it sad mostly

[npincus]

20. even worse when they say: "AYE-rabs".

and "EYE-raq".