The Presidential Question

Everyone seems to have a favorite president. It's like having a favorite color or food, or a favorite sports team. You feel an inexplicable and rather insipid loyalty to someone you've probably never met -- someone who may have died before your grandparents were even born. It's a personal connection to the past that most people probably never give a second thought. Why should they?

My favorite president was a master of language, a student of philosophy, the architect of the Louisiana Purchase, and a Founding Father. Thomas Jefferson is widely seen as the main author of the Declaration of Independence, which is the draw I think he possesses for me. The words themselves are eloquent yet raw, direct yet inconspicuous; he was clearly brilliant. But, it least for me, the power of the words, not the words themselves, is more incredible:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

He must've had some idea that these words had a certain potential, but did he know that one day everyone in America would be able to recite them? Above all, that is his mystic quality for me. Through his language, he lives on -- somewhat disguised and somewhat ignored, because, for most, his words are more known than his name. In addition, he was just a cool guy. I mean, he had every job under the sun, and he was basically a literary genius. Oh, and he doubled the size of the country literally overnight (no big deal, right?).

Being the history nerd I am, I tend to judge other people on who their favorite president is. It's not so much judging in the pejorative sense, I just think I gain insight about people from their answers. So, don't be shy. Who's your favorite president?

And if you're also interested into the aesthetic nature of presidental favorites, check out this article by Clinton Cargill!

< Histrophile >

The Land Before Time: Iran

What happens when history works in reverse? What happens when history doesn't just repeat itself, and the world doesn't just stay the same -- what happens when time reverses and history comes back from the past to manifest itself in the present? No, I'm not crazy. I'm not talking about a sci-fi movie that involves a very athletic and attractive young actor traveling through the centuries on a time machine. I am talking about real places in the world today -- places like Iran.

In Reading Lolita in Tehran, Nafisi recalls a conversation she had with her daughter at one point in the 1990s. Her daughter was complaining about school and Nafisi told her basically to get over it. But Nafisi's daughter response is curious for many reasons. She told her mother that she could never understand how she, Nafisi's daughter, felt because her mother was never punished for wearing the wrong color shoelaces when she was in school.

First off, it's a rather wise remark for a quite young person to come up with. But, more interestingly, the roles seem to be reversed. The daughter -- the younger person from the newer generation -- is expressing exasperation at the ignorance of the mother -- the older person -- in regards to growing up in an unstable, oppressive society.

Since the start of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the nation has unilaterally become a different place, a place that almost seems to be thrust backwards in time. For example, the portraits of current leaders of Iran more resemble portraits from the Iranian leaders of the 1500s and 1600s than they do the leaders of the 1970s. The nation, in many ways, has become reactionary. New out, old in.


So how does this new generation, who has grown up with the Islamic Republic of Iran, relate to their parents and grandparents, people who lived through times much more liberal, much more open, more lavish, much more free? Is it possible that they would feel more of a kinship to their ancestors from the pre-modern Iran?

Also, one last thing to think about: are there any other societies that have, in recent times, had this sort of history reversal occur? If so, I'd like to hear, because I was unable to think of any others.

< Histrophile >