Negin Farsad > Quotes

“As an American, I sit at home, watch the news, and make a series of assumptions about other countries. But news stories don’t form the picture. They only give us license to feel some kind of political and economic superiority. And I did. On this trip, at this most joyous of weddings, I found that it’s a dangerous superiority that swallows the three-dimensionality of their lives. That my guilt is useless and belittling. That the Americanness of my opinions mattered not more, but just as much as anyone else’s. The outlines of a responsibility began to take hold: I have to talk about them like they’re people, not news stories.”
― Negin Farsad, How to Make White People Laugh

“Culture creates awareness around issues, it entertains and saddens, it can encourage commitment to a social contract or strengthen personal hygiene in public. Culture is that powerful. Culture creates the icons we follow, that we see ourselves in, that we orient ourselves toward. It's culture that tells us to love or hate, accept or tolerate, embrace or reject.”
― Negin Farsad, How to Make White People Laugh