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Hollywoodism geared up to incite Iranophobia: Analyst


The recent Hollywood movie Argo once again unmasks the US’ elaborate scheme to employ every medium in its propaganda apparatus to incite Iranophobia across the globe, a senior political analyst says.

“Argo is an arrant instance of Hollywoodism. In point of fact, it is yet another attempt to foment Iranophobia not only in the USA but across the world as well,” Iranian author and Middle East expert Dr. Ismail Salami wrote on Press TV website in a recent article.

The thriller, ironically filmed in Israel, has been directed by US filmmaker Ben Affleck. It is based loosely on the historical account by a former CIA agent Tony Mendez about the rescue of six American diplomats during the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On November 4, 1979, a group of revolutionary Iranian university students took over the US Embassy which they believed had turned into a den of espionage which aimed to overthrow the nascent Islamic Republic establishment.

“In recent years, Iranophobia has come to encompass a wider scope of media including cinema which is incontestably capable of exercising a more powerful effect on manipulating the audience,” the article said.

Slamming the “false façade” of Argo, Salami argued, “The movie attempts to describe Iranians as over-emotional, irrational, insane, and diabolical while at the same time, the CIA agents are represented as heroically patriotic. Argo is replete with historical inaccuracies and distortions.”

The analyst also lashed out at Argo’s director for portraying a “stereotyped and caricatured view” of the Iranian society and noted that Affleck has consciously sought to ridicule “the very customs and traditions” of Iran.

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