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Wednesday * Easy way out Dear Mr. Sarri, ["U.S. behind Shah's fall"] Have you ever watched the very popular series called Daei Jan Napoleon? Do you remember the phrase "Kaar kaar-e engelis haast"? Can we ever accept responsibility for what is going on in our country? As always we want to find an easy way out and blame our short comings on someone else. One day it is Britain, the other day it is the U.S., and God knows who is next! In your letter you talk about uniqueness of Iranian culture. What is so UNIQUE about Iranian culture? I am Iranian and I love Iran but sometimes I think to myself, I wish I was born here in the U.S. If that was the case I could not only have a good education, good job and my freedom, I could also have my parents, my siblings, my friends and my relatives right here with me. I love reading Hafez, listen to Shahram Nazeri and even go to Googoosh's concert, but I don't think I would have missed any of them if I was not Iranian! But I am sure Iranians living in Iran, miss having their individulality, their freedom and the sense of being someone and that is why they are imitating Westereners. Teenagers need to be different, they need to express themselves but can they do that in Iran? Mr. Sarri, As long as we look elsewhere for our problems, we will not be able to build a better future for our children and they keep going to other countries in search of that better life. * Rightesousness is a terrible I am writing to you with regards to a letter written by "CC" recently in your magazine about stonings and how they are a necessary measure for achieving a "proper" Muslim umma, or community ["Neither inhumane nor unjust"]. " CC" does not view stoning as an inhumane act, but rather asserts that these "Islamic" laws act as a deterrent for rape, adultery, non-marital sex etc. It is absurd to think that just because we do not hear about women getting raped in Iran that it does not exist. Everything happens behind closed doors and these kinds of crimes against women are no different. Women are often blamed for being the victims of such cowardly acts, and are often the one punished, not once but twice. Rightesousness is a terrible position for any government to take, Islamic or not. Until we start treating one another in Iran like humans, we cannot accept anything more from this totalitarian theocracy, which likes to refer to itself as an Islamic Republic. Shame on you "CC" and shame on anyone else who either denies the inhumaneness of such an act, or chooses to remain ignorant of it. Merci, * Rather be a Muslim than a Jew or... No, Islam is not any more terrible than Christianity or Judaism ["Islam uniquely terrible?"], it is just that the brand of fundamentalist Islam that mollas today are promoting is "less consumer friendly". I am an atheist, but if I were to choose between the three, I would go for Islam, if for nothing else just for the fact that it does promote the equality of men of all races. Unlike Jews who consider themselves as the "chosen ones" and others as inferior, and Christians who have used the religion in the past to enslave and colonize nations and peoples, Islam's history has been mainly to spread the religion, albeit with complete brutality. Even today in Iran, say a Jew, a Bahai or a Christian were to recite this magic "Kalema" and accept Islam as his religion, basically all his problems are over, finito, capote, no more discriminations, HE HAS JOINED THE MOTHER OF ALL RELIGIONS. However, a poor Palestinian, robbed of his dignity and humanity CAN NOT JOIN THE CHOSEN PEOPLE IF HE WANTS TO, EVEN IF IT IS JUST FOR SURVIVAL. I have a feeling that the Middle East conflict has a lot to do with the bad publicity that Islam gets in the western press, and we all know who controls the press here. And, I must add that our Ayatollahs, Muftis and these misfits called Talibans have their contribution in this. But do not believe for a moment that this situation is limited to Islam, there are calls for ethnic cleansing from members of the Israeli cabinet and many influential racists in the western world. The difference is that the people who are object of hatred of Christians and Jews, do not have the magic "Kalema" to end their inferiority. * Wake up Sadly our country is run by an arbitary, undemocratic religious tyranny, in which dissent is brutally supressed and every civilised norm of constitutional and legal behaviour flouted. Its religious and bigoted ruling class rules by force and intimidation and it does not tolerate any real or serious opposition, as witness its reposnse to the latest attempt by students to demonstarte peacefully in Tehran. It is very depressing that under these circumstances, there are those who see in Mr Khatami the figure of a true reformer and advocate patience and understanding with him, a man who believes in the Islamic Republic and its institutions. He believes in the system of Valieh Faghi. Why is it taking the people of Iran so long to see through this man? ["Slowly but surely"] I had been lead to believe that political maturity amongst Iranians since the revolution was at an all time high. When are they going to wake up to this deceit? * Where are the parents ? Once again, the so-called reformist government of Mr Khatami can not even tolerate the gathering of a few hundred students on the anniversary of the attack on students in Tehran. By geeting their yobs with sticks and in plain clothes to patrol the streets and putting the fear of prison and torture in people, they ensured that only a few hunderd showed up. This meant that they were easy to control, disperse and in some cases arrest. As a young Iranian of this generation, what I want to know is where the parents are? The generation that went out on the streets in 1979 and shouted "toop, taank, mossasal digar assar nadaarad !" Where are they now? Do they not owe anything to their children and the next generation, having ruined the country and taken it back to the dark ages? Why are they silent? Where did the bravery go? Did they not supposedly topple the regime of the Shah with people power? The silence is deafening. * Proud to be an Iranian-Whatever Hello Kobra Khanom, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your column. I have used many of your suggestions in my own life. I feel so relieved and happy to know that Iranians can be open-minded and non-judgmental towards hyphenated young Iranians brought up in the West. Since I started reading The Iranian, and especially your column, I feel a sense of community and belonging; proud to be an Iranian-Whatever. Thank you. Regards, * Lousy format Please ask your constituent whether they prefer iranian.com's current format or the former. As far as I am concerned, the new format is very confusing and at best agitating, not to mention it is too crowded and disorganized. Would you please go back to your old format, or at least ask your clients what format they prefer? * The hell with Googoosh For god sake no more Googoosh!!! She was no body special and she has never been such a big shot. I know she is trying to cash in as much as she can before nobody wantd to here her, but we are sick of Googoosh name, her junk music and besides she is too old to jump up and down and dance or sho her clothing and showes. She tricked people and used their emotions to make money and most people who fell for the publicities and went to her concert was very disappointed. It is so sad that that she has been introduced as an ideal to a very young group and they have no idea about the Iranian grat singers (Delkash) and Iranian quality music. I am not that old and when I was a very young girl I never thought of Googoosh or others like her as a good singer. I was introduced to class and quality. We iranians who have left our home country should not be supporting people like Googoosh who has made millions of connections in order to make money. The hell with Googoosh and others like her. Beside they are so many other ones who younger than GooGoosh who is 54 year old and had lowered her age so she could fool more people. Please no more Googoosh. Thank you,
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