Letters February 2005
America not what it's all cracked up to beIn response to Amir Nasiri's "1979 things that went wrong": Greetings From Canada! There was much passion in Amir's column and I was enlightened quite a lot.... I hope. I'm not aware of what it was really like in Iran during 1979 as the internet had not arrived and only selected news ever gets into the U.S., as much as they like to claim, freedom of information is alive and well there. Once I find something in a column that bends or distorts the truth, it becomes American to me. This is a very common problem in the U.S. and I think Amir has taken up the habit. For example, he provides this comparison between the U.S. and Iran on about 6 different areas of interest, one being the "unemployment" comparison. Before all Iranians melt in envy, perhaps they should consider the following points that are not shown in the Forbes report; 1- First of all, there are 330 million people in the U.S., not 283 million. The difference almost the size of Iran. 2- With 35% being over 25 years of age, we can assume 215 million are working. Consider about 60% work for minimum wage (between $5.15 & $7.00, depending on the state) The usual work week is 40 hours. You do the math. That's about $15,000 per year. 1- Maybe the 'average" income is $37,000 but with 60% of Americans working 2 jobs to get 60 hours per week, that might fetch them as much as $20,000, that leaves 40% who must earn much more than $37,000 to make the "average". The fact is, about 20% more people represent a "lower-middle" class who might earn closer to that "magical" figure and another 12% who are "middle" class who are between $35,000 and $75,000 per year. Then there are the 5% "above middle" class who earn between $75,000 and $125,000 per year and lastly, the remaining 3-4% who are very rich and control America's wealth. Anyone who travels to the U.S. will notice plenty of lights. Those lights represent business and the paeans who work inside those place are making $5.15 per hour. Management might be earning $35,000. The franchisee might earn $75,000-$200,000 but the Corporate bigwigs who own the company lights are the rich people. And you only need one owner. Sports and entertainment are huge in the U.S. You have uneducated athletes who earn (depending on any one of the 5 national sports) between $500,000 and $20 million per year! One ballplayer earns the equivalent of $43,000 for 3 minutes work. (For those who are familiar with baseball, one time at bat breaks down to $43,000) A brain surgeon might make $300,000! Imagine that. On the merits of standing 7 feet tall and being able to reach up and drop a basketball into a net, you are paid $20 million per year. Saving lives is secondary to hitting a home run (in baseball). That's America! The affluence of the rich is there for all to see. The live in big homes (maybe 3 or 4), drive 5-10 vehicles and are in all the newspapers and magazines each time they take their dog out for a walk. Many times this news makes the front page. So Americans see this everyday and the poor and lower-middle class want a part the glamour. It's like a drug. They will do anything for it, even kill and there is lots of that in America. As of 1987, there were 1.8 million people in a U.S. prison (are they in Amir's unemployment total?) and as of this year, there are 87,000 murders being housed (at a cost of $30,000 per year for each one) Now, the U.S. has no problem going into other countries, overthrowing the reigning Government and killing civilians along the way but for some strange reason, they (for the very most part) refuse the death penalty on a convicted murderer. Furthermore, the U.S. Government and leaders of the Evangelical Right-Wing groups, drown the American public with news of the horror, killings by the drawn up by the governments like the ones from Iraq and Iran. In some cases, to make the case, the treatment is deemed to border on genocidal. In closing, I was born in Canada from Irish/Ukrainian immigrants who came here in 1887 and 1903. Canada has been a tremendous country for my family and for all my immigrant friends who left conflict at home and came here for a better quality of life. Living 12 minutes from the U.S. border I have met hundreds of Americans and I'm happy to say, they are good people but where they suffer is not in their wealth but rather in their knowledge of the rest of the world and they are prone to rely too much on their government for safety and truth. I like to say, they like to think of themselves as safe and wealthy and they were willing to compromise (trade) their intelligence and wisdom for these two feelings. It's like the very stupid slob-type of person whose parents left him/her $500 million. It doesn't matter what people feel about him/her... they are rich and you're not and they can enjoy the material things that you can't. Americans are like that. It doesn't matter what the world thinks of them. It doesn't matter if they know where Canada is. They eat well, practice their immoral lifestyle, can invade your country and kick your ass if they want. So they feel secure. Hmmmm... so they think. Obviously they never read stories about the Roman Empire and Genghis Khan. America is a good place but all Iranians should know, the people there are driven by other motives than what are important to you. It isn't what it's all cracked up to be. Here's wishing you all good health and safety in the times to come. T. Nazar
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