8 Iranian Officials Sanctioned by the United States

The United States have made it their job to oversee and help out governmental systems in Iran. Last year, 2009, Iran had an election for a new President, however, angry crowds mobbed the streets of Tehran to protest the elections. There were 8 Iranian officials that played a huge role in the bloody suppression of anti-government activists against these elections. In The New York Times, U.S.'s Secretary of State (Hilary Rodham Clinton) and Treasury Secretary (Timothy F. Geithner)"accused the men of ordering the arbitrary arrests, beating, torture, rape, blackmail and killing of Iranian citizens in the violent crackdown since the June 2009 election." (Landler 2010)
Why are the United States getting involved with affairs in the country of Iran? The first reason is that this country is trying to promote and expand the idea of human-rights on an international level. Any impingements on human-rights in the United States is unacceptable and not tolerated, and the victimizers are punished. Having this philosophy, the U.S. wants other countries to adopt a similar mind set and will in turn given support to those countries. As a result of the attempt to advance this philosophy, the United States has acknowledged human-rights abuses as the basis for these sanctions and have frozen foreign assets and denied visas to all of the 8 arbitrators. The other reason as to why the United States insists on heavy involvement with Iran is to keep an eye on the nuclear activities in Iran. Even though the United Nations attempts to oversee nuclear activities around the world, it does not necessarily prevent countries from engaging in producing nuclear power. This outlook on nuclear affairs has links to those 8 affiliated people which include, the commander of the Islamic revolutionary guard corps, the minister of welfare and social security, and other intelligence officials. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the guard corps has already been identified by the United States for his involvement in the nuclear program and therefore the U.S. made sure that he was included in one of those being sanctioned and stripped of privileges, and it gave permission to the United States to further investigate their findings in nuclear activity.
"Iranian human-rights and democracy advocates have long pleaded with the United States to concentrate on rights abuses, expressing frustration that it looked at Iran only through a nuclear lens. Analysts noted that the United States has long criticized human-rights abuses in countries like the Soviet Union, with which it was also engaged in sensitive nuclear negotiations."(Landler 2010) Iran is concerned that the United States is only helping out affairs in Iran for the U.S.'s own personal gain so they can have control in the nuclear war. As stated in this quote, the United States had to engage in a similar action with the Soviet Union in order to continue being the leader in the nuclear war. I think that by the United States taking this action in affairs against the 8 Iranian officials is an example of progress learned by the United States and the Obama administration. It is a step forward for public relations of the United States with the Middle East because its efficient response to the political upheaval in the Middle East, in this case with Iran. I think that the United States need to show more that they are sincerely concerned with bettering countries for their internal affairs rather than coming off as trying to peer into nuclear activities of other countries.
In our reading for this week in the book, The Basics of Social Research by Earl Babbie, it discussed the different types of samplings that are used in research. The one type of sampling that would be useful to study thinking of actions taken by The United States by Iranians would be to get a purposive sampling which is, "a type of nonprobability sampling in which the units to be observed are selected on the basis of the researcher's judgment about which ones will be the most useful or representative. (Babbie 207) So, to carry out this sampling I would ask questions directed specifically to Iranians, instead of people from other countries, because their input would be the most useful and applicable for the research. We learned about the term "informant" which is a member of the group who can talk directly about the group per se. Informants would be good tools to use for research because it could create input necessary for conducting a study.

Anti-Muslim incidents on the rise

Pearl Harbor. What "enemy" nation would you associate this event with? Unfortunately, many of us would think of Japan. During this time period of the events of Pearl Harbor, Japanese people residing in this country were believed to be associated as bad people that were spying on the United States, and were therefore thrown into jails. Even though these were U.S. citizens, the Japanese were automatically tossed into the category of "against the United States" because their mother nation was the enemy against the United States. The same stereotype has been placed on Muslims here in the United States as well as in the Middle East. Things have not been turning out well for citizens here, because there have been hate crimes occurring all around the United States that are geared specifically towards Muslims.
In New York City, just a few blocks away from the site of Ground Zero, a Muslim cab driver was stabbed to death on the job by a person that shared in this hatred towards Muslims. There have been numerous reports on a national level by "FBI agents and civil rights division investigators also are looking into vandalism and other incidents at mosques or mosque construction sites in Arlington, Texas; Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Madera, California,; and Waterport, N.Y." (New Haven Register E3). It seems that this hatred is spreading to all ends and angles of the United States in the North, South, East, and West. Threatening messages of lives were left at several mosques, and the list goes on about the occurring hate crimes. It appears to be the "season of hate" against Muslims, considering the anniversary of September 11th, 2001. As discussed in one of my previous blogs, A Flordia pastor caused a global uproar with his event of National Burn a Quran day on the 9/11 anniversary.
How do Muslims here in the United States feel about the hate crimes targeted towards them? "U.S. Muslims say their national organizations share the blame, for answering intricate questions about Islam with platitudes, and failing to fully examine the potential for extremism within their communitities" (Record Journal, Rachel Zoll). Muslims here as well as in the Middle East understand that ignorance may be what is causing this hate crime, but they don't appreciate the fact that they are being grouped as one unit in that all are terrorists. Muslims here all insist that "I'm American too",but many people questions their loyalty to this country. What is making this worse and escalating the hate crimes is the propoganda and intensified images of violence overseas in the name of Islam with the U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. In my opinion, this country is being very contradictory because while they are poking fun of a situation and its members, they are also hurting members of this country too. The media needs to understand that what they profess to the public can catch the attention of its audience and persuade people to act on behalf of their feelings, which can lead to these hate crimes. Public Relations in the Middle East are trying very hard to maintain and repair their image seen in the United States for the sake of their area, and Muslims in the United States.
What is the United States doing as a result of these hate crimes? After these reports, the Attorney General Eric Holder met Tuesday with Muslim and other religious leaders to discuss these attacks and "reiterated teh department's strong commitment to prosecuting hate crimes. Violence against individuals or institutions based on religious bias is interolerable, and the department will bring anyone who commits such crimes to justice" (New Haven Register E3). I wonder if the Attorney General will hold true to his statement and make a concerted effort against hate crimes. I also wonder, what will be the punishments or the "justice" brought forth against those who promote this hate crime. It will be an interesting case to see once an occurance happens. Other religions have been supporting the Muslim faith against these hate crimes because they realize that it is not fair to prosecute those under one faith, especially when one of the beauties of this country is based on the First Amendment, "freedom of religion". "Many Jewish, Roman Catholic, Protestant, evangelical, atheist and other groups have responded with an outpouring of support for Muslims, but suspicion remains high among many Americans." (Record Journal, RAchel Zoll).
This relates to what we are learning in the textbook ,"The Basics of Social Research", by Earl Babbie, because it discusses first of Conceptions, Concepts, and Reality. A conception is a techniccal term for mental images that we put together to form a concept. Not always are our conceptions correct, because they may turn into misconceptions in which an idea/thought is not true in reality. This relates to the idea that Americans have a misconception on Muslims, because they seem to believe that all Muslims are terrorists after the events of 9/11. What I hope to get out of my thesis is a conceptualization which is, "The process through which we specify what we mean when we use particular terms in research" (Babbie pg. 134) and I hope to better understand feelings of the MIddle East. When studying variable, I could look into nominal and ordinal measures to better understand people and what they believe.
I strongly agree with what Scott Morrow says in the New Haven Register, "Our communities are strengthened by the religious observances and practice of our neighbors." How true this is, all of us need to make a conscious effort to do good in this world, and then we can make the world a better place.

Minister vows to burn Quran as a protest for 9/11

As we know, there are many different religions in the world all with its religious leaders. For example, there are priests, ministers, rabbis, and an Imam. These religious leaders are supposed to be holy people in which they act in accord with their beliefs and represent their religious organization, so its followers agree and go along with its leaders. Many times this can be a wise thing to follow, but at other times, there are questionable actions that people follow.
In the New Haven Register, I read an article entitled, "Florida minister vows to burn Quran as 9/11 protest" in which a Christian minister wanted to create a movement in which people gathered together to each burn a Quran(the holy book of Islam) as a protest to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th. Pastor Terry Jones claims that this idea came to him in July because he believes in an anti-Islam philosophy and preaches this idea to his small, evangelical Christian church. Ever since this thought in July he prayed about whether or not he should proceed with this event and decided the week of the anniversary of Sept. 11th, that he would go on with the burning of the Qurans.
This sparked much controversy on a global scale, public in the United States, in the White House, and for the top U.S. general in Afghanistan. The public in the United States have shown their disapproval of this movement, because there have been press articles regarding the disagreement against Pastor Terry Jones. Pastor Jones has also recieved more than 100 death threats from unknown sources. On a global scale, this reflects badly on the United States, because one of the beauties of this country is the freedom and acceptance of religion for all. Now, that there is this act by the minister, it is making this country sound contradictory and untrustworthy, and so it is inflaming public opinion and inciting violent views towards this country. The U.S. general in Afghanistan said that "the images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan and around the world to inflame public opinion and incite violence." (New Haven Register) The White House is unsupportive of this movement because it is impinging on what this country represents and is causing too much disruption among the people. Although people are unsupportive of this, Pastor Terry Jones is protected by the First Amendment and he has the right to take this action.
This event has caused much attention to the Middle East as a whole. People are looking to how the Middle East is going to react to this and what action they are going to take in response to such a distasteful event. The Middle East and the United Sates are trying to mend their relationship and trying to improve it, but it is no help when people in this country are doing things to incite ill feelings. In a sense, Pastor Terry Jones is ripping off the bandaid covering a wound and then him burning the Qurans is like re-opening the wound. Now, the Middle East has been more affected on how people perceive this organization even after alomst a decade after the events of September 11th. Just when people thought the hatred against the Middle East was lessening, more controversy towards the Middle East has resounded.
In my opinion, I believe that the actions of Pastor Terry Jones were unpatriotic, wrong, and illegal. The Quran is similar to that of the christian Bible, in which it is the sacred word of God and it insists on being treated with the utmost respect. As mentioned in my previous blog concerning the potential building of a mosque near Ground Zero, the Islamic religion should not be punished just because of the actions of a couple of individuals from that religion, not all members are bad and terrorists. Why then are people, especially Americans, who are Muslim, being punished and criticized for something they should not be attributed to? This issue links to the reading we had for class in Chapter 4 of The Basics of Social Research, in which the term ecological fallacy is, "erroneously basing conclusions about individuals solely on the observation of groups and that it is an assumption that something learned about an ecological unit says something about the individuals making up that unit." (Babbie, 108). People in the United States and I am sure all over the world assume that all Middle Eastern individuals are bad people and terrorists after the events of September 11th, and that any Muslim is deemed to be associated with the terrorists and events of September 11, 2001. We also see that a spurious variable which is, "a coincidental statistical correlation between two variables, shown to be caused by some third variable" (Babbie 98), and example is the location of people may have an affect on a differing opinion whether it be people within the United States and people outside of the United States, from a different country. I am shocked to see that such a holy man that is supposed to represent God is doing something so distasteful just because he wants to protest the Islamic religion. There are other ways to do so in a more respectful manner and get your point across. Stay tuned in one of my future blogs that will address how this protest went and what results, if any, were created from this protest.

Building a Mosque at Ground Zero

When you think of September 11th, what comes to mind?  Before the year of 2001, the day of September 11th was just an ordinary day like any other day of the year.  People went to work, school, and did other activities attributing this day to nothing special.  For one of my good friends, September 11th was his birthday.  After this date in 2001, my good friend's birthday would become known globally and would be a day to remember.  Unfortunately for my friend, people wouldn't remember this day as his birthday, but rather a tragedy in which thousands of lives were lost and landmarks that represented the United States would be destroyed.  After this tragic event, people in the United States began to associate the small terrorist group with the Middle East as a whole and combine them into one entity.  Accordingly, whenever someone hears the words "Middle East" people automatically think terrorists and bad people.  This stereotype has damaged the reputation of a specific region along with its people as a whole, and branded them with a demeaning title.  This past June, there has been much controversy on the plans of constructing a mosque just two blocks from Ground Zero.  People believe that Ground Zero is a sacred ground that should be preserved to honor the lives and victims of September 11th, 2001.  On one side of the debate, people for the mosque believe that the mosque will serve an educational purpose and promote a better understanding of the Islamic religion, especially when people in this country are ignorant when it comes to the beliefs and values of Islam.  They believe that this can serve as a healing power by turning the tragedy from 2001 into a positive, in order to create a better relationship with the Islamic and Middle Eastern society.  Those against the mosque believe that it is a slap in the face to the victims that lost their lives just a little distance from the site of the mosque, a cause of those under this religion, and that it would be a constant reminder of what "evil" lurks in this religion.  Both sides of this debate are very opinionated and raise different issues.  President Obama supports the building of the mosque in the desired site.  Looking at this issue from a legal standpoint, people need to realize that this country is founded greatly on the Constitution and the laws contained in this sacred document.  The First Amendment says that, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" so there is a basic freedom of religion that is granted to all of the citizens of the United States of America.  This event connects to the Public Relations in the Middle East, because it affects the Middle East in a negative way.  The reputation of the Middle East is not placed on a pedestal and seen in high regards by this country, because of the events of 9/11.  The Public Relations of the Middle East are working very hard to try to heal the perspective on the Middle East as a culture and with its people.  It is unfortunate to see that one event and crisis can damage an entity as a whole, even though the majority of its people are good.  The Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA) is now busy working on ways to stimulate good viewpoints toward this region, and how they can improve the reputation of the Middle East, especially after the events of 9/11.  After doing the reading in The Basics of Social Research by Earl Babbie, I thought it would be interesting to examine this issue of the building of the mosque through a premodern, modern, and postmodern view.  The section relates this to the term "naive realism" because it is true that because people are ignorant on certain topics, they automatically assume ideas based on the little knowledge they do know.  Looking at this issue from a premodern view, people think that it is a bad idea to build a mosque because it will promote terrorism and attract bad people into the area near Ground Zero, because all Muslims are bad.  According to a modern view, even though very few people that were part of a religion did something horrific, does not mean that all people of that religion are bad, and that people should be able to exercise their freedom of religion wherever they desire because they too are citizens of this country.  A postmodern view would acknowledge that people of this religion have the possibility of either being good or being bad.  All the different images and ideas portrayed by having this mosque with people of this religion are equally "true" in the sense that anything is possible.  It is interesting to note the different views and how they would react if faced with an issue like this.  My personal opinion on this issue is that the mosque should be able to be constructed on the desired site near Ground Zero.  I am very disappointed in the attitudes of people that attribute the religion of Islam with terrorism.  Before the events of 9/11, there was an act of terrorism that was very deadly that took place within the United States.  Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck bomb in front of a building that killed 168 people and launched other attacks in various areas that took the lives of many people.  Did I mention that Timothy McVeigh was a Catholic? It is interesting, because after the killings done by McVeigh, the whole religion of Catholicism was not branded as a terrorist group and it was not assumed that just because someone was Catholic, it automatically made them a terrorist.  So, why is that another religion, in this case Islam, has the reputation that all of its members are terrorists? This baffles me.  While I think that the mosque should be able to be built wherever it desires, I think that it is wise on the Islamic community to not continue to build near Ground Zero.  Wisdom means acknowledging when it is a good or bad time to act in a certain way.  After much controversy and debate over this construction and to avoid any more bad publicity towards the Middle East and its assocaited members, I think the mosque should consider to be built somewhere else in the area.