An Iran fantasy

Last night, on my home computer, I watched part of a DVD I had purchased a couple of weeks previously. It was the 3-hour Ken Burns documentary about Thomas Jefferson, produced in 1997 and aired on PBS that same year. I had recorded the program on VHS, but of course that format is now becoming obsolete, so I decided some time ago that I would purchase the DVD edition if and when it became available. Like all of his other work, the Jefferson documentary is visually compelling as well as intellectually stimulating, and I suppose Ken Burns could produce a series about the Manhattan telephone directory and somehow make even that appear interesting and thought-provoking.

As I watched it, I thought of how much I would love to share this documentary with my friend in Iran, who, openminded and respectful though she is, still has some obvious misconceptions about America that I would like to help correct. For instance, she once asked me if it was against the law for an American to own a copy of the Quran. I assured her that it was not, and that the freewheeling exchange of ideas was so deeply ingrained in our culture, laws, and institutions that we tend to take it for granted. I couldn't help chuckling over the question, although it was perfectly understandable why she would ask it in the first place. After all, she has lived her entire life under the rule of the ayatollahs, and freedom of speech and religion are perforce alien concepts to her.

I wondered if there was some way I could buy another copy of the Jefferson documentary and send it to her, but alas, there probably is not. It is not possible to send anything to Iran by UPS because of the trade embargo, and Iranian law prohibits shipment or receipt by mail of any "seditious" books, pamphlets, etc. I don't know exactly how the mullahs define that term, but I think it is a safe bet that it would encompass a DVD program about a man who, among other things, swore "eternal hostility against any form of tyranny over the mind of man," took pride in his authorship of the Virginia statute for religious freedom, advocated a revolution every 20 years or so, and, in one of the most memorable phrases ever penned by an American, proclaimed that "all men are created equal," and that their "inalienable rights," handed down to them by the Creator himself, included "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Moreover, I would be horrified and sickened almost beyond endurance if anything I ever said or did were to get her into trouble with the authorities. But still, this basic idea does make for one of the better, and nobler, fantasies I have had in recent years.

Thus I will continue to ponder and expand on this idea, even though I know I will probably never be able to implement it. I would like to acquaint her with the side of America about which she probably hears little -- the ideals upon which this nation was founded, for starters, along with some of the best of its literature and popular culture. (With regard to the latter, I would want to ensure that whatever I sent her would be clean, wholesome, and inoffensive to reasonable Muslim sensibilities -- a limitation which, unfortunately, would preclude much of what our popular culture has produced during the past 30-plus years or so.) Assuming that such items could be delivered to her, and that her possession and use of them would not get her into any trouble with the authorities, what else would I want to send her? The following is a partial list, which may be expanded as I come up with more ideas. (Further additions are solicited from my readers as well.)

1. To Kill a Mockingbird, in both its literary and cinematic forms. I would tell her that Atticus Finch is probably my favorite hero in fiction, and that when I practiced law, I wanted to be just like him. (I like to think that I succeeded, at least to some degree. Atticus represented a black man unjustly accused of rape during the Jim Crow era and put on trial in a rural court in the deep South; I, for my part, represented dozens of destitute and battered women who needed divorces or orders of protection, but had nowhere else to turn in order to get them.)

2. Two more Ken Burns series, the first of them being his Baseball documentary. I doubt that my friend has so much as heard about baseball, but I agree with whomever it was who said one could not understand America without understanding baseball. The second item would be his program about Mark Twain, along with which I would probably include copies of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as well. Plus some of his humorous short stories, of course; "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and "Punch, Brothers, Punch!" readily come to mind. (I'm not sure how she would handle his use of dialect, however.)

3. Some westerns, probably including High Noon and perhaps a few Bonanza episodes. These would be included for two reasons: first, because the western is so uniquely American; and second, because the typical TV or movie western, up through the early 1960s, was essentially a morality play. It drew a clear distinction between good and evil, and in addition usually featured a reluctant but strong and principled hero, who was stern to his enemies but gentle and chivalrous with women, and who could always be counted on in the end to do the right thing, regardless of hazard or cost.

3. Episodes from some old TV sitcoms. The most likely candidates here would be The Andy Griffith Show and I Love Lucy, although Andy Griffith would probably be the better choice, because he personifies decency and fairness, and the show centers around the characters themselves rather than on slapstick routines and the like.

I could add more to this list, and probably will do so eventually. In the meantime, comments are invited and encouraged. What would you like to send my Iranian friend, so as to help refute what she hears about the Great Satan?