Western Media: Shut Up and Stay Out of Iranian Election

The year was 2004. The location was in the United States. The event was the presidential election. While Gore and Bush headed to the court to dispute the election results, millions of Gore supporters were furious and devastated by Bush’s claim of victory. Angry Americans went on streets across the nation to protest Bush’s victory. The protests began to spread all over America and turned violent. Chinese and many other foreign news media flooded their TV stations and newspapers with coverage of the protest in the US. Repeatedly, the images of protesters holding signs in Chinese appear on TV and online. Gore supporters’ signs are written as: "我投的票哪去了?" The Chinese government urged the Bush administration to go easy on the protesters and not to shut Gore supporters up, even the situation might get out of hand. Does that sound absurd? Well, what about if we replace the US with Iran, and replace China with the US, and fast forward from 2004 to the present day. Will that make the situation less absurd? I don’t understand why Western media are so worked up with Iran’s election, which is a democratic one, mind you. And, why in the world I see on TV all the time that protesters holding a sign in English saying "Where is my vote?" The last time I checked, Iranian speaks Farsi. Isn’t it obvious just to whom those Iranian protesters are displaying their messages? Western media, especially that notorious CNN, need to stop fueling the Iranian protesters and stay out of it! You are not doing anybody a favor, but you are only encouraging and provoking conflicts. Enough of politics and world affairs. Back to something pleasant. Last Sunday, I hiked three hours and went to Tennessee, Tennessee Valley in Marin Headlands that is. It’s pretty tough hike, because on the way over there is downhill all the way on a steep trail. That means on the way back, I was working on muscles on my butt all the way because it’s constantly up a steep hill. It was about 8 to 9 miles hike, on a beautiful day. The Tennessee Beach is really pretty. For some reason, the water seems greener or bluer, whatever the color is. The beach makes the hike worth every step. I sat on the beach and finished a sudoku, then came home and cooked myself a nice dinner. I was sore all over the next day. It’s good pain though. The SF Pride is under its way after the rainbow flag raising ceremony at the City Hall. I will attend the kick off party at the API Wellness Center tomorrow. I take Friday off to celebrate my birthday. Then on Saturday, well, I am sure some party is going on before the parade on Sunday. This year, I will march with Mayor’s contingent. Although Friday is my birthday, I am positive that I am not any monk’s reincarnation. However, some other kid is claimed to be one: Unmistaken Child No matter if you believe Buddhist’s reincarnation or not, Israel filmmaker Nati Baratz‘s documentary "Unmistaken Child" (Israel 2008 | in Tibetan/Nepali | 102 min.) will take you to an extraordinary journey that is hard to forget. The "unmistaken" child’s curious eyes will not leave you alone—either joyfully worshipping the little boy, or wondering what has been done to the child and his family in the name of reincarnation. A Tibetan Lama passed away at the age of 84 in 2001. His disciple Tenzin Zopa goes on a quest that lasts over four years to search for the "unmistaken" child to be his master’s reincarnation. The film documents the search process and reveals the human aspects behind the religion believes and faith. It allows the audience to come to their own conclusions if the little boy is indeed the unmistaken reborn of the deceased monk. There is no doubt shown by the film that Tenzin Zopa is a devoted monk. He has been at his master’s service since the age of seven. For over 20 years, he doesn’t think but simply always follows his master—he told us in very good English, wearing a Northface jacket. After his master’s death, he needs to fill the void by completing his reincarnation. Based on the Tibetan tradition, the master’s reincarnation should be a new born between the age of one to two. Would you want to be chosen as the unmistaken child? Whether the child is the unmistaken child depends on who you ask. To non-believers of reincarnation, it’s an incredible sad to witness that a child is lured away by toys and balloons from his parents. To believers of reincarnation, it’s a delightful celebration of the reborn of their master and a remarkable achievement of finding the boy. However, one thing is surely unmistaken is that the boy’s fate is sealed and his life is forever changed, and he doesn’t even know yet. He is no longer living in poverty condition and he drinks American brand orange juice even in a remote mountain area. He wears clean clothes, although not a Northface jacket, yet. He is preoccupied by many toys that he has never seen before and sleeps soundly in a sea of teddy bears. I hope he will feel a little comfort in the future when he sees his parents speaking to the camera in this film, with profound sadness in their eyes: "If it’s not for this (reincarnation), who is going to give up his child?" "Unmistaken Child" opens on Friday, June 26, at Landmark’s Lumiere Theatre in San Francisco and Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley.