 Simply jealous
Our national
psychological disorder
Taraneh Izadi
March 24, 2005
iranian.com
I was watching an interview with Shahrokh Aghdashloo the other
night in which she verbally attacked Googoosh, legendary Persian
diva in a very ugly manner.
In fact after this interview I thought about one of our national psychological
disorders and diseases and that is "attacking others with no particular
reason."
Have you ever ever thought about the fact that we Iranians spend
hours and hours talking behind other's backs about things that are not related
to us at all? Don't you think we should think about this problem some day and
solve it? Isn't it true why we Iranians never tolerate other's success and
popularity?
When a compatriot of ours becomes popular he suddenly
gets attacked from everywhere.
Many Iranians not only never pat his back or encourage him with nice words,
but also try to do something to topple him and destroy his image
for good.
One of
the most outstanding presentations of such behavior can be seen by Shohreh
Aghdashloo, the Oscar nominee who takes
every chance to destroy the
popular Persian diva Googoosh. Aghdashloo hates Googoosh. This is a fact.
Everybody who watches satellite TVs knows that. She makes the most
of each and every opportunity
to attack Googoosh whenever she happens to be on the air.
I remember when Googoosh came out of isolation in 2000, Aghdashloo
was on Pars and Jam-e Jam TV saying ugly
things about Googoosh. Then recently I watched her interview
on one of these so
called stations and again I saw talking
about Googoosh with such rage
as if Googoosh had killed her dad.
Aghdashloo has done this on many occasions and I have always wondered
why. I would like to analyze the situation to get
to the bottom of the
matter. What is
wrong with our culture that we can never tolerate each other?
Why do we resort to personality
assassination to destroy others whenever we get a chance?
I would like to ask you the reader to help me find some answers.
I am
not doing it for
the sake of Googoosh or anybody else. I am doing it because
when Aghdashloo who claims
to be an intellectual appears on TV and without any particular reason
makes faces for another artist like a clown, it shows a big probe
lm in our culture.
I think we Iranians have problems and need to see a doctor very soon.
To
further clarify the situation I thought about possible incentives
for personality assassinations and I would make all my examples
from one of her interviews last month. There could be various reasons
for Aghdashloo's personal hatred and I will
put them as possible scenarios:
 First scenario: Aghdashloo is a
patriotic heroine and
Googoosh has betrayed her country and that is the root of these strong
feelings.
I don't think so. Aghdashloo and patriotism?
Wow. She's on Fox TV's "24" as an Iranian
terrorist
who killed her son's girlfriend in cold blood. In fact she
brought a big loss of
face for all of us Iranian women in that episode.
Everybody knows that
Googoosh has been dealing with charlatans and mobsters these four
years, but on
stage she always told us, "I wish if one day there will
be justice and freedom, we could get together in Iran." (AREZOO
MIKONAM AGAR ROOZI EDAALAT O AZAADI BAASHE HAME BAA HAM IRAN
BAASHIM.)
Second scenario: Aghdashloo thinks given the
Googoosh's massive popularity she should have done better
for her country.
This scenario does not fit wither because I have not seen any
spectacular action by other Iranian artists, including
Aghdashloo,
in the past quarter
of a century. Meanwhile Googoosh has done whatever she could to put
the message of freedom through to the people since the moment she
left
Iran four ears ago. In her masterpiece album Zartosht and
later on in Q Q Bang Bang and Akharin Khabar.
Third scenario: Googoosh
does not want to work with
Los
Angeles mobsters anymore
and all these interviews on those trashy TV stations are aimed at
putting more pressure on her.
In fact the last interview I saw of Aghdashloo was with the same
guy Googoosh does not
like to work with anymore! I respect Googoosh
for standing by her principles.
She could easily keep quite and continue to work with charlatans
and get $150,000 for each concert, but at some moment she said
a big
NO to
them and decided to
stand firm against them.
But I don't think an intellectual like
Aghdashloo will ever succumb to charlatans and say those things
to make them happy. Never
never never...
Fourth scenario: Aghdashloo is simply jealous
and that is the reason for hating Googoosh.
I am afraid this
is
the only possible
scenario that makes
sense to me. What other reason could there be? Googoosh
has not for one single moment talked or given opinions about Aghdashloo
and
other artists in any media
whatsoever, yet she has always been verbally attacked by
Aghdashloo.
Aghdashloo has talked about things not related to her
and she
has no detailed information about
it. You have to see the light of hatred in her eyes whenever
she talks
about Googoosh. Why? Aghdashloo has her
own career and follows it properly
and why should there be such a strong feeling
toward another artist who has never
crossed her way? Is there any other reason beyond jealousy?
I know very well that Aghdashloo has come a long way and
quite deserves
what she has achieved. I remember
her working for some radio stations in Los Angeles for
a few hundred dollars a
month, driving a battered car and living
with hardship in these past 25 years, but
Googoosh has had her share of hardship too.
She has had experienced jail, solitude
and betrayal over and over again in her life.
Yes it is jealousy. It has to be jealousy. This is our national
psychological disorder.
Just look at one
TV personality attacking another,
or this
politician and opposition leader
attacking his opposite number all day long, seven
days a week.
They are all jealous. Jealous of their competitors's
success, fame and
popularity. They
want to destroy their opponents because
their opponents happen
to better than them
in many ways.
I think I am jealous too. Sometimes I
do things that on second thought I would never have done. Don't
you think many
of
us need a shrink
to free ourselves from our goddamned
sense of jealousy?
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Simply jealous
