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October 24, 2001 * Intelligence cannot be proven As a professor of education, I can assure you that no group of individuals has ever been proven to be more intelligent than others. In fact, when tests have been attempted to be done, the Chinese have always come out on top with the average IQ score of 109, several points higher than any other nation. If you have ever seen any international tests comparing math scores, Asians always win, including East Indian, Chinese, and Japanese, never "blondes." However, although several hundred tests have been run on different nationalities of the world, they are not conclusive because intelligence cannot be proven. Therefore, it is inane and baseless to say that any race is more intelligent than others, even those that have been "proven" to be so through international comparisons. I would suggest to you to stop reading Nazi/ KKK literature and get a true education based on actual research, not based on insecurity, ignorance, and racism. * Most civilized Dead Right Blondi! ["Blondes have higher IQ"] I have never seen any hungry blond baby and the most civilized countries in the world (Scandinavians) have a high proportion of blondes. However dare I say that the quote at the begining of your letter is not from Setareh Sabety's "Blond and Bearded". Or was it a mistake from our black haired editor?! That quote was from another letter (which I could not find), the joke was meant to be insulting to suicide fanatics and not blondes who are good looking as well as intelligent. Best Regards, * Dark IQ Dear JC Wolf, Reading your letter "Blondes have higher IQ" I must admit that I had to laugh and feel sad at the same time! I just don't understand how a person with an attitude like yours, which I think stinks, can be a teacher! I could not believe how shallow you are. I feel sorry and concerned for the pupils you teach! The reason we can not find pictures of blond mothers holding a bloated starving baby is not because blond leadershi is supreme! It is because "blond" people have gone to "dark" people's land and stolen their food and money! ( I am writing in this manner because I think it is the only language you understand)! IQs have nothing to do with the colour of your hair or skin, you can go and do some research on it before you write and insult people. Higher literacy rate? "Dark" people were writing books about chemistry and astronomy and physics while the "blond" people were still living in caves! So lets not go there! Blond jokes are only "jokes" after all... but then again if they hurt you they must be true! Best wishes Nila, * Smart and touching Dear Mr. Khorsdandi, I wanted to thank you for your very smart and touching "tanz" regarding what is going on in Afghanistan. Hope that one day all this nonsense ends and the innocent people of Afghanistan can start living their lives. * Enjoy I always enjoy reading Mr. Tavakkol's writings ["Safer skies"]. * Touched This is in regards to Leila Farjami and her poem "Khaahesham een ast". I was touched reading the words she had chosen to create her latest poem, knowing "she looked at the withering flowers whose hearts were dry and whose seeds sought shelter in earth's bosom like refugees seeking a new life". - Gibran Kahlil Gibran Wishing Leila more success, * Iran is beautiful After reading Mr. Omid Parsi's "What we do best", my blood boiled just enough to sit down and tell others what I know is going on in parts of Iran. I went back home this last summer, and by luck got invited by my cousins to take a trip to Khorramabad, Lorestan. They were invited by some Lore community leaders to the Cultural Festival of Lorestan. The trip started great. We went through Tafresh (now I know why Arabs never found this city. It was hard to get to by car!). A beautiful city, sitting in a bowl, surrounded by mountains and orchards. The drive through the Zagros Ranges (they say seven of them) was beautiful. Green pastures and many rivers full of water, in the heat of summer. e got to Khorramabad and went to the Shahrdary Hotel, which my cousins were invited to. The hotel has 73 rooms. Everyone and their brothers from the government were there. Next day, we went to the University where the Seminars were held. The festival was opened with prayers and of course the Governor of the state was the first speaker. Up until that time, I was thinking that this was going to be a festival of culture and I would get to know some of my countrymen. The Governor started by saying that the world share of tourism is about 600 billion dollars a year (as he was drooling) and Iran only gets about 1/2 a billion and it is up to EDUCATED class to devise a way to get more dollars into Iran! What followed next was interesting. The next several speakers revealed of several historical artifacts that were found, some under the Falak-ol-Aflak castle, some in nearby city caves, and one speaker even talked about being contacted by someone who had knowledge and access to golden coffins with mummies going back to the Achamenid period. He told the guy he was not interested, however, he wanted to see it. He never heard of the man again. The speakers said that truck load after truck load of artifacts were taken away from these sights by unknown private people, with guards, and regardless of all the phone calls they made, no one from government came to investigate. One of them even went as far as saying that some artifacts were sold to museums in U.K. One would think that any historical findings are a way for us to connect to our ancestors, our history, and, a national treasure. We also heard that water from large rivers in the Zagros was being sold to Kuwait. Keep in mind that Tehran with a population of 15 million, has now tapped the ground water so low that all the sewage (from all the wells) is not being flushed under the ground anymore and lots of people are coming down with diseases from drinking contaminated tap water. Coming back to the hotel, we learned that the city workers had not been paid for the last four months. Yet, they told us that we were the guests of the governor, and no room charges were asked. We took one look at each other, and said: "Let's get out of here." We packed our bags and headed to Gehar Lake. A beautiful snow-fed lake. Mountains go up around it and amaze you at the beauty of Iran. The ranger we met at this place was the best part of my trip. This guy loved the country and the animals that he cared for. He told us of the thriving population of cheetahs, with more babies each year, bears, mountain lions, sheep, goats, as though he was talking about his babies. Iran is a beautiful country. Maybe in my eyes. I hope some of it is left for my child. Pictures are another story. Respectfully, * Baffled In reply to "You ain't Iranian": The writer states: "Mr. Parsi is not satisfied; he wants 'carpet bombing' all over that troubled region which includes Iran." It baffles me how someone can read my postings and forge the kind of accusations stated as such in this letter. Where did I ever mention that Iran or the "troubled region" should be bombed or attacked ?! Where does the phrase "carpet bombing" (quoted by the author as if taken verbatum from my text) appear anywhere in my postings ?! What is the basis for accusing me of "racism"? Please, for the sake of keeping the quality of debates respectable for literate Iranians, let's at least have the integrity to READ each other's postings before inventing and planting opinions in response. And if anyone has a certain opinion, they can just state it independently rather than make it appear to be in reply to someone else's opinion that is totally unrelated. Omid Parsi * Historical accounts Dear Mr. Sheibany, ["It all became clear"] Regarding Sandra Mackey, here is my letter to her analysis on Cyrus the Great a long time ago, I wonder how her book seems to catch so much attention. It even has sold well. I believe she is a totally unobjective writer with a true grudge against the Pahlavis. Your comments only convinced me on this matter. The work of a historian is to look at the facts and explain not to promote some form of ideological explanation. I must say her book excerpt, "Cyrus the (not so) great", really shocked me, all the more that few compatriots even reacted to such nonsense. That dousn't mean not to have a critical jugdment, but on the whole Iranians should not accept everything written by an author and feel too shy to respond. A number of books on Iran have been written. As for the Pahlavi era, William Shawcross book 'The Shah's last ride" is probably one of the most researched ones, even though he also jumps to quick conclusions, such as "the Shah liked Iran but not Iranians." Their is Amir Taheri 'The unknown life of the Shah" which is also a quite objective account by a prominent Iranian journalist, however the worst book ever written is 'The Shah of Shahs" by Ryszard Kapuscinski a polish writer who compares the Shah with Jaruzelski among other extrapolations. All books are on amazon.com. It is up to readers to draw their own conclusions. I wish more Iranians would try to react as you have done so brilliantly, because for more than 20 years Iranian history was written by Westerners in general. It is high time for Iranians to look at their history and try to give their account. Regards,
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