Media coverage of the crisis ignored Iran’s actual modern political history
Evidence
Interestingly, there were frequent reports showing the popular confusion between Arabs and Iranians, such as the one carried by the Boston Globe on November 10 of an angry Springfield crowd chanting “Arab go home.” Special features on Shi’a Islam proliferated everywhere, although it is surprising how relatively few articles treated Iran’s modern history, or referred to the singularly important political resistance of the Persian clerics both to foreign intervention and to the monarchy since the late nineteenth century, or even considered how it was that Khomeini was able to bring down the shah and an undefeated army with radio cassettes and largely unarmed popular masses as his major instruments. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 238
Categorization
- XREF: The radio-cassette revolution detail evokes the tech-and-mobilization theme in 2001: A Space Odyssey’s treatment of tools extending human reach — and the ADDENDUM on grafting/trees doesn’t apply; closer is how Thucydides-type accounts credit organizing strategy over hardware.