wk 9

Long’s “Unbearable witness: how western activists (mis) recognize sexuality in Iran” unveils the social power of misinterpretation and hidden agenda of the West in publicizing violence. Publicizing executions as homosexual hate crimes creates the illusion that the West is a safe haven for homosexuals. In other words, by publicizing and spreading word about Iranian executions, the West is able to contrast itself to a “backwards” oriental east. Such depictions make the West seem progressive, hiding the homosexual oppression in its own homeland. I thought Long raised an interesting point when he showed that the media sources stressed the sexuality of the victims over the young age. I think this extends the importance of the West’s view of sexuality as an identity marker. Somehow the wrongful execution of a homosexual appeals more than an execution of a young teenager. Long concludes by saying “What if they were gay? What if it is true, what if all the frenetic speculation astonishingly corresponds to fact? They died for it terribly and unjustly. But should that fragile connection then be turned into a vehicle for other ends, for promoting fear or engendering division or intimidating immigrants or selling the idea of war? (p. 133). Here, he reminds us that ALL information through a Western perspective of the “other” fits into a wider Western agenda. Nothing is ever simply informative. Many of the mainstream media articles/photos we read, perpetuate Western ideologies, whether the author intended to do so or not.

One critique of Long’s piece is that he heavily cites the source Outrage and unpacks the falsehood of it. But Long may be narrowing in on one resource as a larger representative of the West. Outrage, in its title alone, seems to be a source that exaggerates its stories to stir the “outrage” that it aims to produce. While Long does a fascinating critique of the piece and seems to have done an incredible amount of research on it, Outrage does not represent all Western sources.

Puar’s piece, although complex and at times difficult to understand, highlighted the regulatory standards of a non-heteronormative subject. For example, the Western notion of queer is often considered to be a white homosexual male. There is little space in the West for the non-white homosexual male. While there may be Middle Eastern organizations and LGBT communities, there is no space in the US for the Middle Eastern homosexual to incorporate both identity markers as a marginalized Middle Eastern and homosexual male. While this space does not exist in the US, the US intervention in the Middle East, eliminates any potential for that space in other countries.