Today was a good day for me personally. Both of my classes went well, I taught the German wildekindern outdoors, and it was a much more controlled lesson than usual. Perhaps because there were some kids in the class who aren’t usually there, perhapsbecuase some of the regulars were NOT there, and perhaps (most likely) because other teachers were within visual range, everybody behaved themselves. The Czechs beat the Americans 4-3 at the world hockey championships in Minsk. So, we’re in the quarterfinals. And when I say ‘we’ I mean the Czechs. When it comes to ice hockey, I’m that assimilated. The quarterfinals will be an all-European contest, as Canada lost a close one to Finland.
But it was a nasty day in world affairs. There was a military coup in Thailand. I don’t know anything about Thai politics. Maybe it was inevitable, maybe it was necessary, but I doubt it. Military coups are conducted by the military, and military types tend to see things in terms of control. Thailand is known as the land of smiles and it’s true, the people always seem cheerful and upbeat, but there’s nothing smiley and nice about soldiers with tanks in the streets of the city and a dusk to dawn curfew, which is undoubtedly making Bangkok’s night life a bit less lively. I see this as bad news for the people of Thailand, and I feel bad for them.
But I feel worse for the people of Iran. Six young, amateur filmmakers who made a video and uploaded it to YouTube were arrested.*
The video was the Happy song, by Pherrell Williams. To tell the truth, I think it’s rather an insipid song, and can’t quite understand how it’s become the huge, international sensation that it has. Still, people from all over the world are putting up their own dance videos to it and that is, no doubt about it, a beautiful phenomenon. An amazing phenomenon. It’s like Disney’s “It’s a Small World” but with real people. Everybody around the world loves music. Everybody around the world wants to be happy.
I’m bummed because I disapprove of censorship all around, although it comes as no surprise. What I don’t understand is what the Mullahs objected to. There’s nothing in the lyrics of the song which should be offensive to Islam. They did not sing “We are so happy when we eat pork and drink beer and marry someone of our own choice,” The dance moves are not particularly provocative. There are no crude,offensive or racist lyrics. The prophet Mohammed isn’t mentioned once. The girls in the video are attractive, and they are not wearing burkas, but they are modestly dressed. By western standards, chastely dressed. Over all, these performers portrayed Iran, and Iranians, in a totally positive light.
So, it must be the happiness they object to. Big mistake. If you object to your people being happy, then they will become miserable. And from that you go to angry. From anger, change is born.
Any society which objects to happiness is doomed to fail. Any ideology which objects to happiness is not a viable ideology.
*this might have happened a few weeks back, but I just heard about it today
p.s. they were all released after a day, fortunately
www.gurukalehuru.com 