"Oh, So You Are From that Country?"
As an Iranian, I normally have to give a lecture about “why I'm not muslim” and “the reasons I don't support many actions of the regime” after meeting a new foreigner. With Chinese people, it doesn't happen quite often. They usually react with “you have a very ancient and rich history,” and “Iran and China are brothers” comments that I assume are flattering enough to skip the urge to initiate that conversation. With some communities, however, it's a completely different story. A couple of months ago, my friends' parents had to change their flight and come to Shanghai due to the conflict in the Middle East that shut down airspace over the Gulf countries. Giving the war was literally started not by Iran, but by Israel and the US invasion, I wasn't really expecting to comment on "as you know, the airspace was shut down thanks to your missiles," but I had a decent time providing context on the matter and explaining the reasons for why I don't support any wars, which I believe is still one of the discussions we should have more often in the 21st century. I hear from my friends in other countries as well that sometimes during the encounter with foreigners, there's often a need to justify how being an Iranian doesn't always mean you're a radical Shia or you hate the LGBT community. It seems like thanks to years of the US sanctions and propaganda, the regime's horrendous actions within the country, and the overall stigma and racism attached to being from that region, no matter how many attempts have been made to change that image by Iranians inside the country or our diaspora, we haven't been as successful as Japan after doing a total genocide in China, Germany after Holocaust and burning half of the continent, or the US after 3749264 coups, ongoing interventions in almost everywhere, and dropping two nukes. Naturally, if you meet an American, I don't think you'll imagine that person as a nuke-fanatic or a colonizer. The same goes with Germans or Japanese, who have a high percentage of racist and fascists group that are favored among the masses to this date. I'm not trying to push the agenda of Iranians are the most positive or all highly educated, and the Germans I had the chance to meet were indeed lovely people (I don't have any American or Japanese friend at the moment of writing this post), but what irritates me is this specific belief that "if you are from this or that country, you support every action of your government," an unwritten rule that doesn't really apply to everyone, and I hope it just vanishes so people stop interrogating each other. Two nights ago, I came across a Pakistani guy in the elevator of my building who, after realizing I'm Iranian, responded with "I'm so proud of you guys for bullying the US and Israel in the war," and while it is undoubtedly nice to get positive words from foreigners regarding your country, and I'm happy as well if the US just leave our region as soon as possible, I still prefer the "you have a very ancient and rich history" comment as it's not that related to a war that massacred thousands of people and destroyed many homes, while putting the country in a more challenging economic situation with a unclear future.
Last night, a friend of mine mentioned that she has a relative who was born in Israel, and the other friend started asking about the political standpoints and heritage of the person. I suppose those who know me, or have been reading my blog, understand what I think about what Israel has been doing in Palestine and the genocidal activities of Netanyahu and zionists. With that being said, I don't think associating every person who was born in Israel with Zionism is a good idea. Sure, there are many Israelis who flex on the number of Palestinians that they tortured, but there are also many Iranians who think all the homosexuals will go to hell, or women have a lesser value compared to men. It's a very basic thing to understand that every society has its imperfections, and I don't think there's anywhere in the world that everyone is super politically correct. For me, seeing my countrymen going through answering stupid questions has always been annoying, and I think it contributed to radicalizing the immigrants to take actions that make that image even worse. When you have to defend your beliefs all the time and prove you're "normal" to every person you meet, while seeing people from communities who also did or still do horrible things in the world get a pass just based on their skin color or nationality, you will go through an identity crisis that can lead to catastrophic events with no return point.
Hatred will always lead to more hostility, and maybe I'm too woke for saying it, but I just don't get associating people with their governments all the time, as long as there's no specific evidence that they support all those decisions.