Flags

I’m a little behind the curve, but Chris Anderson has an interesting post in which he expresses ambivalence about a 17-year-old Iranian who’s seeking help with building a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle—one of Anderson’s favorite hobbies.

Part of me says “Bravo Amir! Excellent work on the airframe, and thanks for posting.” And part of me says “Yikes. We’re helping Iranians make UAVs draped in nationalistic colors. This isn’t going to help us in our efforts to destigmitize drones.”

Obviously Iranian != terrorist/bad guy/anti-Israeli zealot. And needless to say, most of the terrorist/bad guy/anti-Israeli zealots out there who are building UAVs aren’t posting on RC Groups. But what should I do if Amir or someone like him from a country associated with Bad Stuff posts on our own forums looking for technical advice? My instinct is to treat everyone alike and help anybody who asks, regardless of where they’re from (odds are Amir is just a geek like the rest of us, no matter where he lives). But how does this look to someone in Washington? We’re just a pen stroke away from being regulated out of existence, and in this climate it’s politically unwise to discount the Homeland Security card (my own feelings about that notwithstanding).

I think this is pretty much spot on. One thing that’s worth emphasizing is how perverse it is to treat the kid’s use of the Iranian flag as evidence that he’s associated with “Bad Stuff.” A quick comparison with the American flag should make it clear how silly this is. American flags are flown by Americans of all political stripes. Flying an American flag is not a symbol that you support the Bush administration, the Republican Party, or the war in Iraq. It simply means “I’m proud to be an American.”

The same is doubtless true of the Iranian flag. This kid is doubtless not trying to say “I support the Iranian nuclear program” or “I support Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs.” Rather, it simply means “I’m proud to be an Iranian.”

Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, that’s not the gut reaction most people have. Our flag is an innocuous symbol of unity and patriotism. But when you’re talking about an Islamic country with an unsavory government (but no history of terrorism against the US; there has never been an Al Qaeda terrorist from Iran) the other guy’s flag takes on a sinister tinge.

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