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Friday * "Stone" Age I cried for the wretched woman Iran executed for adultery!! ["The first stone"] A once great civilization, returned to the "Stone" Age by a brutal and outdated religion. The correct action for adultery is divorce not torture. Perhaps this woman is better off dead than living under Islam. Lois Raynor * Not so I must correct the following statement made by NN: ["Islam alone"]
Not so, at least not openly in Saudi Arabia. And even then, very, very carefully. * Israel: BEYOND religious discrimination I.I. Rahmim writes ["No sense of superiority"], "On the positive side, it is a pleasant surprise to see Mr. KG not denying the existence of religious discrimination in Iran." No one here is denying that Jews and other religious minorities are at least somewhat discriminated against in Iran. But as is typically the case Jews always bring attention to discrimination and prejudice against them in such-and-so country but never consider or ponder the reality of religious discrimination in Israel. Ha! What's going on in Israel extends FAR BEYOND religious discrimination. At least in Iran the government does not show up at your front door with bulldozers ready to destroy your entire home and everything that belongs to you. At least in Iran the government does not surround Jewish enclaves and neighborhoods with soldiers to prevent you from going to work so you can come home and feed your 8 kids. At least in Iran the Revolutionary Guards do not go into Jewish neighborhoods and fire their automatic weapons at 10-year-old kids. At least in Iran Jews aren't starving and being humiliated on a daily basis. At least in Iran Jews aren't rotting away in squalid refugee camps with no hope of a future or even the chance to return to the homes that were illegally confiscated from them. You speak about religious discrimination in Iran, Mr. Rahmim, but this is the stark reality that exists in Israel today. Have you nothing to say about this? Don't you think that the barbaric treatment of Palestinians at the hands of the Israelis fuels and increases resentment not just against Israel, but against Jews in general? You speak of the obstacles that Iranians need to collectively overcome. How can these obstacles ever be overcome in light of the continued failure of Iranian Jews to ever condemn and speak out against Israel's behavior and human rights violations? I ask you how? At least there is a substantial percentage of Iranian Muslims both inside and outside of Iran who DO condemn IRI's treatment of minorities and human rights abuses. * European vs. Non-European Jews In reply to I. I. Rahmim, ["No sense of superiority"], Jews are not only cruel but are fascists. I, being an Iranian Jew, who used to live in Israel for some years of my youth observed that if my people are from Europe they are respected and well treated. If we are from Asia and Africa then we are treated like shit. Why don't we ever give these Arab Moslems or Christians of Palestine their rightful homes and land? You need to read and learn some more! Go read books by Nira Davis the great Jewish woman. She lives and teaches sociology in the UK. * The main problem What kind of a logic is this? ["Rather be a Muslim than a Jew or..."] So if we completely surrender to the barbarians and submit to their backward religion they let us live! Great! KG sounds more like a member of the Taliban than an atheist. Muslims never had any respect for others, that is why they built a mosque next to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and converted a lot of churches, Zoroastrian and Hindu temples to mosques, and destroyed many others. The main root of the Arab-Iraeli problems goes back to the beginning of Islam. All the Jews of the Arabian peninsula were either killed or deported at the time of Prophet Mohammad himself. Later on the victorious Arabs built their 3rd holiest shrine next to the holiest Jewish places in Jerusalam. The main problem with Islam is that you can never get out once you are forced in. At least the Jews never try to force anybody to their religion and I think that is a good thing. * No tolerance This is in response to a letter saying that Islam respects the other religions. Islam does NOT respect other people's beliefs, and does NOT show tolerance and peaceful coexistance. Qoran 5:55 "Do not be friends with the Jews and Christians." And as far as non-believers, Qoran repeatedly says that they should be destroyed: Qoran 4:47 "Smite them in the neck, and cause great slaughter among them." It seems like most Moslems have never actually read the Qoran, and they have invented their own brand of Islam in their heads. * Stop nit-picking I am sick and tired of the worn rhetoric directed towards Khatami and those of us who believe that the best way forward for Iran is through gradualism and peaceful reforms. If you believe that the IRI is unreformable so there has to be another violent revolution, feel free to go to Iran and get violent and see what you can accomplish. If you say that "The people only voted for Khatami because he was the least bad option", remember that this is true of any election anywhere. I didn't vote for Gore because I was personally in love with him, I just happened to think that he was the least bad candidate between the two. While it is certain true that the range of candidates was restricted, there is absolutely no doubt who the Iranians consider to be the most popular president ever. If you want to whine on an on about how things are so bad in Iran despite Khatami's election, remember first what things were like before his election, and then take a look at Afghanistan, or any other country torn by violence, and tell me that you can guarantee that your much hoped for violent overthrow won't result in a similar outcome. And for heaven's sake stop nit-picking on Khatami. Nobody said this was going to be an easy job. He wasn't elected king, he was elected as president. He'll be out of office in four years, so whatever faults he has, you don't have to live with them for long. Instead, why not think of positive, constructive things to do? At least in the meantime, please respect the millions of Iranians who voted for him and the idea of gradualist reforms, and stop attacking the poor man. He already has enough to deal with! * Stop blaming everyone else It has been a long time since I wanted to respond to one of these letters that blames everything that happens in Iran on U.S., England, Israel, etc. You did my job in your letter, "Easy way out", and wanted to thank you for that. Seems that no Iranian ever is at fault and makes no mistake. Even though this pattern of externalism behavior (looking for outside of self for undesirable outcome) is common among other cultures, is at its extreme among Iranian. As you pointed out in your letter, one would never learn if she/he does not accept her/his share of blame when a mistake happens. I don't argue that there are no interventions in other countries' internal affairs by U.S. or other economically powerful nations as the result of their foreign policies, but one should remember that this is a universal trend of all foreign policies. Doesn't Iran interfere with the internal affairs of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bosnia, Turkey, and other neighbors? Isn't this Islamic Republic who wants to export its "revolution" to other nations? There is always threat of intervention from outsiders. As far as we are not entertaining ourselves to self-criticism, don't promote freedom of expression and tolerance for differences, we are not going to stop blaming everything on outsiders. * Iranian men An American friend has been reading Mr. Baniameri's short stories at your site. She asked me the other day whether Iranian men are players, chauvinists, and immoral like they are portrayed in Baniameri's stories. I thought about it for a moment and said ... * Water shortage Dear editor, We are all ware of shortage of rainfall in recent years in Iran. Unfortunately, this event is causing a lot of problem for the Iranian citizens who are struggling with so many other social / economic issues. Below is an abstract of a proposal. As I read your Kobra Khanon discussion, maybe you would allocate a section for suggesting ways to change the weather climate of Iran. Best regards, Reza Lotfi Considering that global warming will cause extreme temperature fluctuation and rainfall or drought, soon or later Iran will be facing much bigger problems with water shortages. One of the solutions that was proposed before the revolution and published in a journal called Talash was transfer of salt water from Persian Gulf/Oman Sea to center of Iran by pipe and canals. Evaporation of the water would generate a moist environment and increase the amount of precipitation. High tide at the Strait of Hormuz could be used to compensate energy for pumping the water. It would be a good idea to investigate this alternative and propose it to the Iranian authorities for follow up. The project could be considered as multi phase and start from feeding water to regions between Shiraz and Kerman. Once successful it may be implemented to other regions of central Iran by making lakes. They could also collect salt as additional benefit. Fortunately the technology is not complicated and Iran does not have go abroad for finding ways to implement it. * Singer vs. showgirl This is to Marjan in Brimingham UK, ["Never out of mind"] I think you have completly misunderstood me in my comment about Googoosh ["The hell with Googoosh"]. First of all let not compare two diferent artists from two different backgrounds and two different srandards. Delkash has been and is the greatest vocalist of all time and I would dare compare a true singer to a showgirl. What I was trying to comment about Googoosh was the way she came here and the connections she made and of course in her style of music can play a big role because they are certain things that one can do at a certain age and be very appealing and not so appealing let's say in their sixties. I even didn't mean that by mentioning her age. I was again trying to show how commercialized everything was. I enjoy all kinds of good music; sometimes contemporary and sometimes classics. Googoosh started a certain type of music and there have been so many like her who left the country and didn't become as famous and they are barely making a living. I Have one last question from you. Why are you living abroad while you can go back to where Googoosh is now and make connections with them? By the way I do respect your taste and I have nothing against it. With my best regards, * Chizhaaye jaaleb Salam dAyi Hamid, Man faghat mikhastam begam ke shomaa darbaareye chizhaaye jaalebi minevisin va kheili jaaleb tarifeshoon mikonin. ghorbanetoon, * Khar dar chaman Dear editor, Greetings from Professor Hamechizdon. Thank you for your inspirations in regards to devolving into the chaos of internet literary art with an artistic predilection. Here at Southern Khar dar Chaman University we are faced with similar dilemmas of everyday editing and indirectly illuminating certain themes which in turn procreate other responses. Our "fellouwuous" are constantly writing and we are constantly receiving and editing various features containing many predispositions. Some of our recent observations in regard to feature selection and literary criteria is taken from another renowned publisher which will be of great use and model to you. In one of your untimely outings (weekends that is when everyone keeps visiting iranian.com and wants to read new stuff to no avail!) we recommend that you take Highway (1) south from San Francisco to Hearst Castle at San Simeon. Take a one day tour of the magnificent private mansions there is no scary black boot sculpture in the entrance and the guides are angelic ). At Hearst Castle you will find valuable Persian and Middle Eastern art, fantastically juxtaposed art objects, thoughtful architecture and splendid manicured grounds (not like René Magritte's hat at the contemporary Museum of Tehran which is all covered with pigeon poop) you will find something very similar to iranian.com operations. Of course there are many other similarities you will personally find in common with Randolph Hearst, that giant of a publisher. These common characteristics are too numerous to count; mansions, parties, Noonehs, friends in high places, love of travel and photography, love of Abadan, inspirations for Orson Wells films, a kidnapped daughter (okay not this one), and love of khaarejeh keshvaries (of course Mr. Hearst is said to have hated minorities). One important similarity is very thought provoking. Visualize, if you please, his magnificent large dinning table. The table seats more than fifty guests, with superb service and center pieces fit for beautiful Hollywood personalities, princes and royalties, writers and artists, and film producers from all over the world. Mr. Hearst invited these friends to eat and socialize at the table. The more beautiful, the more powerful and the more knowledgeable would sit next to him. As time passed during their stay, other more interesting guests would arrive. Thus he kept changing the seats and brought the new comers near. So the previous less interesting guests would be moved further and further away from Mr. Hearst, and closer to the end of the table. So, the last guest sitting near the end of the table would know that he had to leave the next day. Our beloved editor, Let's get to Today page now. Our "fellouwuouwus" have traced the above genealogy and have found your strategy to be quite similar to Randolph's. By the time feature writers and articles get closer to the Kobra Khanom section and Letters headlines they are doomed and have to go. "No ke meyaad be baazaar kohneh shavad del azaaar." At Southern Khar dar Chaman University we take this opportunity to wish you good luck in your arduous job of "paaksaazi". Just like William Randolf Hearst' s sucessful operation was a constant source of hostility, may iranian.com be a source of envy of the other .coms eternally. Amen. Professor Hamechizdon * Koorosh Khashayar Hi, I was wondering if Sina Ferdosi or anyone else could help me find Koorosh Khashayar's email. I saw his picture in the Iranian of the day and would really like to contact him. We went to the same school in Iran. I would greatly appreciate it if you can help me with this. Regards, * Pouya Ba arzeh salam, Avalan mikhastam Vaaghean tashakor konam az in site besiyaar baahaali ke daarin. It is truly wonderful to be able to have such access to our culture. Bebakhsheed ke in harfo mizanam, vali chetor shomaa hanooz Pouya ro to listeh khaanandehaatoon nadaarid? Vaaghean honarmandan. Anyway, again kheily mamnoon baraaye vaghtetoon.
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