I just returned from a trip, and saw the revision.  Well done, Mr. Fish, well done.

RE: “Iran Election (revised)” posted June 15, 2009 by Mr Fish
Nice to see the changes; however, the garb has not been sufficiently altered by removing the “hatta” & putting glasses.  The egal should go as well.  Suggestion: suit with unbuttoned shirt.  This is more average Iranian dress.  Glad to help here.

Funny, how western ignorance shows even a liberal such as thruthdig, you must hire at least someone from our world who knows that (egal) is not Persian at all, mostly wore in Persian Arab gulf and some parts of Jordan, Syria nd Iraq.
Mr. Fish you lost my respect and I feel sorry for Gore Vidal for he is a wise and was my attraction to this website, he must be laughing for stupidity.
As an Arab Muslim, how many times NCSU professor address me ” Namastee” I always reply Namaste back with smirk, does he know the joke is on him? So is Mr. Fish!

By Mr. Fish, June 16 at 9:47 pm #

  I merely wanted to render someone who might appear middle eastern at a glance.  Such shortcuts are useful when executing a cartoon.
=================

You just made a bad thing worse.  That’s called “stereotyping” because the situation in Iran is NOT representative of the rest of the Middle East.  To say that all who live in Middle East suffer from the same problem is dangerously ignorant and contributes to Americans’ horrendously ill-informed view of that trouble area.  You obviously lack the basic understanding of that area.  If you want to right your error, go back and redo the cartoon and make it Iranian because the current situation in Iran is nothing close to what is happening in the rest of the Middle East.  That’s how you right a wrong, not by some sloppy throw-away explanation.

@Mr. Fish

“I merely wanted to render someone who might appear middle eastern at a glance.  Such shortcuts are useful when executing a cartoon.”

I think what renders this logic moot is that TruthDig audience is not the same as the New York Times audience (besides the obvious misrepresentation, of course).

When will the world get it right?  Persians are a different race than Arabs!  Iranian men don’t wear scarves on their heads like that. Grrr!

Mr. Fish’s post with four links to “prove” to us that there are Iranian-Arabs appears like a weak attempt to avoid acknowledging his mistake.

Mr. Fish has responded to criticism that he conflated Arabs and Persians in his cartoon by posting links showing pictures of Iranian Arabs. According to the CIA World Factbook, only 3% of Iranians are Arab:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/IR.html

If this is a cartoon about Iranian Arabs, what exactly is the punch line, and how is it relevant to last Friday’s election? Perhaps I missed some news about Iranian Arabs. If so, my apologies.

Iranian Arabs certainly couldn’t be considered representative of Iranians generally, who considers Iran a Persian, not Arab nation. I’m not a political cartoonist myself, but if Mr. Fish meant to portray the Iranian people generally, using a caricature of an Arab, representing only 3% of the Iranian population, doesn’t seem to be a particular astute judgement.

What I’m guessing really happened is that Mr. Fish needed some way of showing that the man in the cartoon was a Iranian. Not having educated himself enough about the region, he thought he could portray the ‘Iranian’ just like he would portray an Arab. It’s wasn’t an act of maliciousness, rather a lazy blunder.

Mr. Fish, consider owning up to your mistakes in the future.  Speaking truth to power means first acknowledging your own shortcomings.

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/iranaftertherevolution/2008/12/200812691745418706.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Iranian_Arabs
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Iranian_Arabs
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/01q35rJdsgcwX/610x.jpg

I think Mr.Fish is making a larger point about democracy and elections in the Middle East, which tends to be less-than-trustworthy in general.

I don’t think he meant Iran specifically.

I’m not familiar with Truthdig’s editorial policy, but keeping this up without some sort of commentary seems problematic.
As other comments reveal, this is a broken cartoon, that unwittingly reveals more about Mr. Fish’s ignorance of the Middle East and Central Asia than anything about the Iranian elections. The man in the cartoon is a caricature of an Arab man. “Iranian are not Arabs”. Had this been posted on a conservative website, liberals would be up in arms about it.

Truthdig editors should highlight and comment on the dangerous conflation in this cartoon, both to educate Truthdig readers and shame Mr. Fish for his laziness and ignorance.

get your cultural references right mr cartoonist. iranians aren’t arabs

mr fish
i am guessing you have no idea that iranian are persian and not arab. persian people don’t wear the (i have no idea what it is called)on thier head. next time please pay attention to details.

Tropicgirl;

It is to get the message across to America, so that when videos are broadcasted on the news here people can follow…

Seriously, poor caricature.  I don’t think Persians look or dress like that at all.  Good sentiment, bad execution.

Sir, your cartoon, while funny, betrays a basic lack of understanding of Iran.  Iranians are NOT Arabs.  The person voting in your cartoon is an Arab.  Did you mean to draw an Arab voting in Iran’s (rigged) elections?