I’m debating this issue with a diehard Obama hater on facebook. He claims that the Iranian protesters are begging for US support, and his proof is that their protest signs are written in English.
Now I’ve pointed out to him that English is pretty much the de facto universal language, and Iran is a former British colony, so the fact that some of their signs are in English really isn’t surprising. He says I’m being illogical, and the only conclusion that can be drawn is that they are asking for US support. He also quickly throws out my “English is universal” argument by pointing out that if Iranians lack a unified language, they’d be much more likely to use Farsi than English (which is probably a good point.)
If I were smarter I would walk away from this debate, but I can’t get past one simple question - why the hell are Iranian protesters carrying signs written in English? Is there some idiotically simple explanation I’m missing?
I thought about starting a new thread on this, but since this one was already conveniently here… anyone?
What do the signs actually say? Do they say “Obama please come save us?” No. They say things like “Where is my vote?”, “Achmedinejad the cheater”, and other generic protest slogans which broadly convey the movement’s main grievances.
Why are they written in English? Well, it’s because, as you already pointed out, English is the de facto universal language. English signs allow the protestors to spread their message to the rest of the world, not just to America. It’s easier than having fifty different languages on each sign. Frankly, Facebook guy’s “rebuttal” doesn’t really make any sense.
You are correct, and your Facebook buddy is a provincial idiot.
Well, thanks. I was hoping for some magic bullet like “Iranians use English just like Indian people do” but I’m sure if they did, it still wouldn’t change my buddy’s determined conclusion. He hasn’t even bothered to read the wikipedia article on Operation Ajax, fer crying out loud.