Siftography: Farhad

posted by persephone 1 decade 7 years 2 months 2 weeks ago • 785 views
It is easy to form a fairly superficial impression about someone on VS based on their comments, their avatar or the types of videos they post. If you really want to scratch below the surface, you need to engage with them on another level, if they’re willing.

I’m glad Farhad was willing, because it was so rewarding discovering what lies beneath the riot cop avatar and experiencing firsthand what a sensitive and thoughtful guy he is.

I had already ascertained from his comments and videos that he was intelligent, well-informed and had a strong social conscience, but I had no idea about how this had evolved, especially in someone as young as he is.

Farhad has had a largely nomadic existence, living in countries as diverse as Uzbekistan, Zambia, Kuwait and Canada. This has given him the kind of perspective on life that many people do not attain over a whole lifetime.

Here is a little of his perspective on the different places he’s lived:

Persephone: Do you think your moving around has had a positive effect on you?

Farhad: I can totally see it. I mean, there was just so much that I got exposed to. Take Zambia and Kuwait. Since we basically left Uzbekistan, we lived in relative poverty in poor communities in Africa. It wasn't hard or anything like that... it’s just something I can see now... the people themselves were poor by Western standards but very happy.

Contrast that with somewhere like Kuwait, a rich society swamped with oil money, yet the people are mostly unhappy and treat others as lower than themselves.

Along with this, I’ve had experience living in Canada and Uzbekistan. It’s good in that you see a kaleidoscope of life, bad in that you often can't really relate to anyone fully or be fully accepted by society.

Persephone: What perspective do you have of Canadian society?

Farhad: I liked Canada a lot. It was a great place, the people especially. But it’s the first time that I have seen a capitalist society. I felt like everyone lived in their own island of sorts, making their way, relating to a small set of people and that’s it. But my views could be tainted because I myself felt lonely. It was the first time I was away from my own family for such an extended period of time. Nearly 4 years.

It was a long growing process as well, maturing and finding my way in life.

Forming real and meaningful relationships was hard.
In the 4 years that I was there, I can say I only had 2 friends that I could share my real feelings with.
It doesn’t help that am an introvert as well

I asked Farhad whether he would want to return to his homeland one day. This is what he had to say about Uzbekistan:

Farhad: I was born there, but after the Soviet Union collapsed my dad, who is a doctor, decided to leave. I am actually going back this November for the first time in like 12 years.

Persephone: Are you looking forward to that?

Farhad: Well yes and no. Yes in the sense that it is my homeland and I haven't seen it in years. No, because I know all too well the political and social oppression that exists, since we have pretty much a dictator there. There are several posts on VS I made regarding that.
It is miserable. The entire country is basically run by an elite, presidential mafia.

Persephone: Any chance for change in the near future?

Farhad: We actually have elections coming up and the current president Islam Karimov who has been ruling since 1991 is lining up his own daughter or himself to continue holding power.
Chances for change are entirely bleak.

Persephone: Would a woman make a difference?

Farhad: Not really, at least not this woman. She already holds incredible power in our nation. She was once married to a man who set up the Coca Cola factory in Uzbekistan. When their marriage fell apart, her father basically confiscated the business and kicked him out. There are too many neighbouring countries that benefit from an oppressive non-democractic society in Uzbekistan.

Persephone: Do you feel like you can never go home? Or do you feel like home is wherever you are at the moment?

Farhad: Having moved around so much in my life, I only feel for Uzbek because of my passport, there is little chance of me being able to relate to it anymore. Much of my formative childhood years were in Zambia, then high school in Kuwait.

Don't get me wrong I love my country, there is much I admire, but it’s like watching a slow train wreck perpetually.
My parents are highly educated, some of the many skilled labourers who left our nation for better opportunities elsewhere.

It has been 16 years of the same thing. Things are actually worse now, than they were under the Soviet Union.

When the topic changed to his studies, I realised that Farhad is one of those rare characters one meets, who listens to his heart and makes decisions based on what feels right. Here’s what he has to say about economics and the kind of field he’d really like to get involved in:

Farhad: Right now I feel like I know more about what I want out of this life then I did when I started my studies in Canada. I ended up dropping the Economics degree I was doing because it basically made me miserable in the long term.

Persephone: Are you going to study something different, or leave the books for a while?

Farhad: I am definitely going to study something different from economics. I realized I cannot suppress the creativity that is inherent within me or do something I am not passionate about. I am passionate about journalism, media and communication studies.
This actually relates to VS in a lot of ways, I really believe in the power of images, and media to influence people.

Persephone: Was economics just too boring, or did you have a problem with the ethics/theories?


Farhad: Back in high school I was really passionate about economics. The teachers I had, advocated for it for ethical reasons. It seemed like a way to influence change in society, because a lot of what we learnt related directly to the outside world.

This contrasted with what I started to learn in university. There was little relation to the outside world.

In university, what I learnt basically would boil down to justifying a lot of things I thought were just unethical, like the power of the dollar over the people.

Furthermore there seemed to be a large disconnect between the theory and the outside world.

The market is like strapping down a chaotic system into a straight jacket.


Media seems to be a good fit for Farhad. He’s obviously at home on a site like the Sift. Here’s what he has to say about his Sift experience:

Persephone: You've been on VS for a long time. How did you first discover it?

Farhad: I discovered the Sift via Bluesnews. I think it was Jake’s ukelele video or something. I hung out a few times watching one video or so. But took the plunge much later, after I wanted to put a video up.

Then it got posted and it was very fulfilling in some weird way, getting to know the community and such.

Then you get a Silver, then Gold and I was addicted like it was smack by then.

It’s very much like Wiki. I would get lost in the relational articles on Wiki and this is the same in VS.

Persephone: Any bad side-effects for you?

Farhad: I used to lose hours in a day checking perpetually if my video posted, or watching other videos.

It’s less now because I have a full time job and the Internet here isn't as fast to watch videos one after the other

Persephone: Did your friends/girlfriend complain?

Farhad: My friends definitely did. But they also enjoyed how much new stuff they got exposed to. Personally there are so many videos that just made me so happy on VS.

Persephone: Why did you choose Obscure to manage?

Farhad: I used to watch MTV, back when it played actual music videos and got attracted to obscure acts that I never heard of before or that just that had something about them. I wanted to bring that forward and this is why I formed Obscure. Obviously its scope and usage has changed with VS 3.0

Persephone: It's not just music that gets posted, is it? Are you a fan of obscure movies?

Farhad: Yes, this is something that’s been there since I was very young. I learnt English by watching films mostly. Like just recently I watched Mon Colonel, Cinema Paradiso, The Lives of Others and The Black Book.

I like movies that are more than the Hollywood stuff like Transformers.

This is why I have the Greatest Moments in Cinema playlist.

Zakir Hussain playing the tabla with a Japanese drummer is typical of the stuff I wanted in obscure.

The Foreign films usually follow unconventional forms of narrative, like this.

Persephone: Do you think your style of participation has changed with time/experience?

Farhad: I think my level of participation has stayed pretty much level, my queue is almost always full, in many ways it’s like a fulfilment of this childhood dream I had of programming my own TV broadcast. I think I comment far less now though.


I think Dag would like to think that the Sift has a positive effect on its members. I know he’d love to think that it inspires them in their career choices. This may be true for Farhad.

Persephone: How do you see yourself using studies in communications/media in the future?

Farhad: I hope that whatever I will end up doing will highlight something about the world that is either beautiful or striking... something that can say things in ways not normally said simply through words and narrative. I can't really explain it fully, only exemplify like through videos like Koyanniqasti or Baraka.

Persephone: Are you thinking of making movies?

Farhad: Yes. It’s something I have thought about a few times. I don't know if it will happen though, its nice to have a go at it but there are realistic obstacles to something like that. But you never know, right?

When I joined VS I had dropped out of school and had started doing commercial and non-commercial film projects. The job I had previously in Kuwait was a video editor. So you never know, I never thought a year and half back that I would ever do anything related to film.

Persephone: If you feel inspired, don't let anything stop you.

Farhad: That is true, but right now there are a lot of doors in front of me. One can never be sure which door will lead where, and you want to make the right choice.

But I guess you can only just trust the heart and go with the flow.

We talked about how currently most media sources are pretty limited/unreliable and how VS can play a role in better informing its viewers. Here’s what Farhad said about this:

Farhad: Well one of the things I like about VS is that it offers a platform for political discourse that usually doesn't boil down to insults.

The way the media is set up there are very few places where people can actually discuss issues. That is one thing.
Another is just bringing forward so much of the past that we have forgotten.

Persephone: Do you think a lot of people's opinions are limited by what they read/hear on the news? Are VS people generally better informed?

Farhad: I believe so, I mean the way the media is right now, it almost boils down to breaking news stories, this and this happened but there is very little of analysis and looking at the issues with a long term perspective.

Take for example the surge report by Petraeus, it was spun like it was a draw-down in troops when in reality the surge was 30,000 troops on top of the 100,000. Pulling back the 30,000 is just going back to pre-surge levels. Hardly any news organization framed it as that.

VS people are generally better informed. This is something that I like about the site and its unique mixture of users.


I really enjoyed speaking with Farhad. I hope he can get into film or media when he’s finally finished his studies, because I think the world needs well-informed, intelligent, sensitive and sincere people like never-before. Good luck, Farhad.

14 Comments

choggie says...

farhad grilled me but good, the first time I reared my keypad on VS....his first comment for me was, "A westy for the 21st century." I think he imagined me as a counterpart of QM for a while too, because I dissed Islamic radicals, and the retrograde contributions from the culture since they gave us the frikkin' zero....He soon discovered, I am not to be preoccupied with the fine points of people acting like monkeys when given snips of data as opposed to complete information, and low and behold, his musical tastes, are much more rewarding an association for me, than the scope of his political lens-He turned me on to a load of new sounds-Thanks Farhad, hope I get to meet you up close and personal one day, camped around a hooka!

swampgirl says...

Farhad was the first Sifter that sort of befriended me last summer when we were both new here. I was impressed with him from the start. He's a thoughtful, mature, well-rounded..down-to-earth guy. A real catch ladies...

(Farhad, don't let that go to your head. Brat )

arvana says...

Great to learn more about you, Farhad! I lived in Zimbabwe for 5 years, and now live in Canada, so we're like neighbours.

These interviews are fantastic, Persephone -- can't wait for the next one!

joedirt says...

Make sure these interviews get linked into people's profile pages!

Farhad translated a whole Russian documentary about the giant hovercraft plane video. Hard to believe that was almost a year ago. It's just something unique on the Sift where you wouldn't find that anywhere else, like YT. We have lots of diverse talent members with different knowledge bases.

Anyways, thanks for some good discussions and helping to counter "Morans" talking points.

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