Letters

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Monday
May 28, 2001

We are not primitive

I am responding regarding the article "Embrace", and I 'd like to drop several comments regarding the article and the follow up letters.

What is exactly is the definition of the American ? Yariz, It seems that you believe that "America caters to every race and every taste. I think it's about time that Americans who are of Persian heritage, begin embracing this nation with an intense interest ..."

My question is then how do you define American nation? Did the land not belong to Native Americans originally? Do we not have Mexicans who have lived in the West for a long time before the West-ward expansion? Do we not have black people who form their own communities? And what about the Korean and Chinese who have their own special communities in many large cities. People of many ethnicities are born here and are citizens and yet they retain their own heritage. Some speak their ethnic language at home and some don't.

So belonging to one of these ethnic groups is o.k. but belonging to the Iranian group is "backwardness"? Why should Iranians act any different than the rest of these groups? Are we supposed to embrace this nation any differently than these other groups? All I know is that when I passed my citizenship test I received a lecture by my INS speaker that in no way any of us are urged to change anything about our cultural practices.

You also mentioned: "It humiliates me to think that there are still some Iranians living abroad who have not embraced local cultures, who have not made friends with Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Jews...have not mastered the English language..." When you are over 20 years of age and you immigrate here, you will most likely have a distinguishable accent and of course your level of English vocabulary won't be as advanced as a second generation Iranian who was born here or was raised here since childhood. So I don't think it is fair to be humiliated by grown ups who don't speak like you do. Furthermore Iranians also contribute their own local culture to the local scene so then it should be humiliating for "Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Jews..." not embracing Iranian culture.

Well, some people are very ethnocentric but based on what you wrote, your views seem to be on the other extreme. I gather that you are humiliated by the culture you came from. You clearly call Iranians "primitives... [who]... will cling to their own culture and language like a scared baby clings to a warm blanket." Well then in that case Blacks, Native Americans, and many other ethnic groups must share the same traits. Chinese Americans follow their own culture here to the point that we have China towns in several big U.S. cities. We have communities primarily dominated by American Indians , or Hispanics, or Blacks. I don't think that these people are primitives and neither are we.

Embracing MTV, basketball, or becoming a Civil War buff will not make you any more American. . If it is ingrained in one's mind that following football, looking like Brittany Spears, or Elvis, or some Rock'n Roll star is the way to become accepted here, then one already puts him/her self in a situation that compromises self-esteem. This has nothing to do with being Iranian. Of course I do not wish to attack you personally at all. I think that you feel that Iranians are backward, and you want to dissociate from Iranians. I understand you point of view.

Ironically many Iranians inside Iran also share your view. In that respect you are in fact as Iranian as the very Iranians who live in the mother country and the very Iranians that you criticize. Self shame unfortunately has been part of the Iranian trait from some time now. In Iran we have young and old Iranians who try to imitate Western figures in an attempt to dissociate themselves from the rest of Iranians.

Whether it is on a small scale such as the youth's imitation of Elvis, Michael Jackson, speaking English (striking a "ghompoz") in front of a bunch of poor kids from a poor area in Tehran , or on a larger scale such as building "shahrake gharb" when 90% of the population don't even have access to a library, etc . . . All of these actions are a manifestation of the very Iranian desire to dissociate him/herself from the bulk of the poor "backward" people who form the majority.

Such a dissociation in large scale has been harmful to our nation. For the past 50 years we have always had a generation in Iran that became wealthy, and completely ignored the needs of the majority of Iranians in poverty. It is fair to say these upper aristocracy were similarly humiliated about the rest of the country for following "backward" Iranian culture and not becoming Westernized. In shah's time our upper aristocrat class never put an effort to close the socioeconomic gap that existed in the country and this gap was one factor in the revolution. And of course now this gap is still getting worse and worse and Iranians still dissociate from each in times of stress, and refuse to be part of a team, a word which interestingly has no Persian equivalent. So although self shame, and dissociation seem innocent and harmless at a glance, these traits are partially responsible for our current condition in Iran: lack of democracy and unity, and a vicious cycle of self shame.

It is an unfortunate fact that the world is still very divided. You and I can't change that. Yet everyone wants to survive. If you are Black your best bet in survival is to team up with your fellow Black men. If you are a Native American you do the same and there is no reason that Iranians should be the exception. We can work together to reduce poverty and this mess in Iran that our parents left behind, and one day when we are in good shape we can help other people as well. But all this needs teamwork, and a fabric of togetherness. First we must wake up from our Persian glorification fantasy, and humbly accept that we have a big problem. Then we can proceed to be part of team and solve our problems. Until that day our kids will still call us "back ward primitives", poverty will prevail in Iran, we will have nothing to glorify in our fantasy and in our death bed we'll have no achievement to reflect upon.

Be omeede fardaa,

Babak Behnia

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