Letters to the Editor (March 30)

    **Review of “300” causes controversy**

    p. To the Editor:
    It is my duty to address the grossly inaccurate and inflammatory statements made by Beth Sutherland’s review of “300” in the March 27 issue, as not only an Iranian American, but, more importantly, as an informed citizen.

    p. My main objection is not the fact that the review of this film treats the plot as fact, stating that it contains “an impressive amount of historical integrity” and is “how it actually happened.” Nor is it the author’s inappropriate references to “liberal Hollywood,” “villains [resembling] the monstrosity of their actions” or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I am simply disgusted that a hateful diatribe masked as a movie review was published in a student newspaper without a thought to its effect on a section of the student body. I will engage the author in a “quick history lesson” of my own.

    p. Spartans were by all accounts ruthless (non-democratic) savages who murdered slaves for sport, endorsed thievery and rape, practiced infanticide and lived for war. They were Greek Jihadists who lived only to die fighting. Further, slavery was a cornerstone of Greek society (Aristotle’s manifesto even sanctions it). There is no evidence that the empire, which freed the Jews from Babylonian captivity, ever made use of unpaid labor. This same empire even created the first bill of rights. In fact, Herodotus is an exemplar of Persia’s freedom. He traveled freely throughout the empire, openly criticizing it. He lived in the Persian city of Halicarnassus because Persia afforded him the freedom to publish his scathing report of it.

    p. Hostile words are exchanged regularly between Tehran and Washington. The United States is engaged in two wars with Iran’s neighbors. In a time when we are in need of cultural understanding, this film and this article drive the wedge between the people of the Middle East and of the West even deeper.

    p. **__— Kayvan Farchadi ,’09__**

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