Letters
June 2005
June
5 | June
6 | June
8
How freedom is lost
On Mohammad Ala's "Expensive speech":
I read your article and I couldn‚t disagree with it more. This is why third world countries or underdeveloped or whatever you choose to call them, don‚t have freedom or freedom of speech at the least. There are always a small number of people with a DR before their name who limits what is and what is not proper.
Hey pal, this is the whole idea behind FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Anyone with any type of views or ideology can express his or her thoughts. But people like you think freedom of speech only applies to those who agree with you. Anything beyond that should be monitored and even controlled. This is why there are many journalists in prison in Iran today, simply because of what hey wrote or express verbally. The regime considers it to be dangerous to their existence and a reason for rioting and their demise.
This is how freedom
is lost and dictatorship begins, when any one group or person
tries to limit how and what others should say or think. Freedom
of speech
has no limit and that is why it is hard to implement. As we
love others to hear what we have to declare, we should be tolerant
in hearing what others have to utter.
Ba Sepas
Afshin Mehrassa
The purpose of life is reproduction
On Solmaz Separy's "Who needs a husband?":
As an Iranian man who is happily married for the second time. Once to a Dutch woman; and now to a nice girl from Iran. I can only say that the ideas of this girl are the reasons that the birth-rates in Western Europe and Japan (and generally speaking the upper-classes of the rest of the world) are declining at an alarming rate!
How many Parsi existed 100 years ago? About 250,000 in India alone. Now they are almost extinct.
The real questions she should ask herself are:
Since women have been getting supposedly "educated" they have been reading and becoming influenced by the common garbage spewed by Hollywood producers who HATE EVERYTHING DECENT AND CIVILIZED! If you evaluate what kind of trash they put in the airwaves it is all about "sex" and violence and anger and pimps n whores... Is this what you want to become? Ask your self, what is the purpose of "education"? Is it to get a job so you can have a better life for your self and your "family"?
Generally speaking it is to improve one's self in the economic market of the world, not to become a worker for some multinational corporation, so that when you have sex with 40 men, by the time you reach 30, no one wants to marry you, and you end up, NOT REPRODUCING.
Then you end up like these 35 year old women (undboubtedly some loser Iranian girl) who doesn't know what is the primary PURPOSE OF LIFE? What is the purpose of life?
Ask your self that. All these Iranian girls and women who want to mimic a television program--probably made by a homosexual--good luck, because when you wake up, alone, ugly, and undesirable with your "coworkers" at age 45 and no family around to speak of. Then you can remember that you had a chance to get married and didn't.
Now your purpose -- in large part -- to exist in this world was to reproduce and have a "family". To fail your mothers is tragic. If your mother is telling you about some torshideh-trashy woman then wake up and think to yourself, if your mother didn't have YOU then you wouldn't exist to think the way you do.
If Iranians living abroad keep on having no children or one child only policies. In 100 years there will be no more Iranians.
Look at this quote from this girl, I'm an Engineer and have made some money over the years in evaluting all kinds of thigs. What common sense did you learn in the home or in a university?
"These women know that they will be, or are socially desirable, educated, and financially stable and that is what I believe will allow them to make the right decision about whom they will marry or whether they will choose to marry at all."
NO THEY WONT BE "desirable"!!! What a joke! Do you or any young Iranian expat girl SERIOUSLY think that a woman is desirable after 30 to any guy who is of the same age or younger??? Come on, MEN LIKE WOMEN WHO ARE YOUNG, VIVACIOUS, SWEET, KIND, CONSIDERATE, PRETTY, INTELLIGENT AND EASY TO GET ALONG. No one wants to marry some OLD, DISEASED, SMELLY, ANGRY, INCONSIDERATE-KNOW-IT-ALL, FADED BEAUTY, DULL-WITTED AND CRANKY WOMAN IN HER 40S! Please spare me the "Sex in the City" GARBAGE! When the movie fades and your left high and dry in your 30s then you'll be crying about,"WHY DO ALL THESE ELIGIBLE BACHELORS GO TO IRAN TO GET MARRIED? AM I UGLY OR SOMETHING?"
Don't think European guys care about any girl over 25 either, when they have all these younggirls in Eastern Europe to pick from for sex or marriage or companionship, wake up!
"Theese women will make the decision based on true feeling rather than material resources that would be available to them if they do marry, and the few years that it would take to achieve their goals and aspirations would be available to them. I believe that it is financial stability that young powerful women possess today which gives them the upper hand and the ability to have a choice of when they will marry, whom they will marry, or whether they will marry at all."
I CAN NOT STOP LAUGHING AT THIS PARAGRAPH! HAVE YOU EVER TAKEN A LOGIC COURSE!? First you say they want to get educated to be WELL OFF AND INDEPENDENT, THEN you contradict your self with some garbage like "feeling rather than material resources"! Marriage is about BUILDING A LIFE TOGETHER. If you can't get that through your NUMB HEAD you will never get married and will end up a dried out pickle.
Then it hit me
On Siamack Baniameri's "We're not impressed":
Wow! Excellent article, funny and sad. I laughed about it, then it hit me. Nevertheless, an excellent article.
I will pray for Massih
On A.S. Mostafanejad's "Visiting Massih":
Dear Mostafanejad,
I enjoyed reading your memory lane, it brought tears in my eyes. I will pray for your sister Massih.
Keep witting, and thank you and Rohie for sharing your notes with us.
Best wishes,
A good place to rest
On Majid Tehranian's review of Richard Frye's book on Iran:
Dear Majid,
I want you to know that it was my pleasure to start of the whole cascade to have Professor Richard Frye get President Khatami's approval to be buried, someday next century I hope, in Isfahan.
FS
Royal blood is redder
On Reza Bayegan's "Crown jewel":
Dear Mr. Bayegan,
The most significant fact in your article was that it was truly short so I enjoyed reading it! However, making a royal death as a significant point for starting a revolution is baseless.
Although in our culture disrespecting the dead is very bad manners -- you might blame me for that -- but trying to take advantage of the dead is just as bad.
If Leila couldn’t deal with her own problems, you could say they were our problems too, and she died of drug overdose. Please read "Diana not". Leila was simply weak and emotionally sick needing professional help. Consequently, her family is rather to be blamed rather than the Mullahs who were busy torturing and killing her supporters at the same time on the other side of the world.
If you will, most of us less or more has been through much harsher situations and here we are alive and intact.
So, I think diverting people’s attention from a simple death that was not as important as other deaths occurring in Iran amongst people who had been supporting this family for years and they put their lives where their mouth is, is just a desperate effort to find a way to overthrow the Mullah regime as soon and inexpensive as possible, in the expense of a dead person.
Nevertheless, you have a point, which is her royal blood is redder than our blood. May god bless you and give you a pair of new eyes to see the truth.
Since your historical memory is as weak as your eyes, please follow the time line in Molavi’s life. He was always fleeing form the kings, so bringing Molavi in this equation is not only disrespectful to him but it is a wrong analogy.
At last I would like to thank you for reminding us of how royal family and their supporters think of us, ordinary people with simple lives, names and families.
May god bless Leila and any other ordinary people lost their lives.
Regards,
Bahaullah was a nut
On Bahai Norooz photo in Haifa:
Pejhman Rahimi's photo of the Bahaiis celebrating Norooz in Haifa, Israel, is in poor taste.
First of all, Bahaullah was a nut. He was a Mullah in Iran who used a lot of opium and believed he was the Mahdi. The Aqdas, the holy book of the Bahaiis is a bogus and made-up book. And all religions were before the invention of photographs but you can find photographs of Bahaullah! The Bahaiis are crazy, psycho people following a cult.
Jamshid Richard William Tehrani III
Don't like it don't read it
On Siamack Baniameri's "We're not impressed":
Siamak Khan,
why don't you try to be a little more polite to people who try to express themselves? If you don't like what they write don't read that article. Maybe someone else can find that particular article interesting that you hate. It's very simple, isn't it? How would anyone know to write a piece that would fit everyone's taste?
I often am annoyed of some things that you write, but I always think that you might have your own audience, and I don't allow myself to insult you.
ba ehteram,
Other than those, they are excellent
On Lobat Asadi's "Damaged":
Dear Lobat,
You wrote: "I want to go to a place and have the option of five-star luxuries, not a three-star roach-infested 'luxury hotel' [in Tehran] that robs tourists."
Come on now... Don't you think you are being a bit unfair here? I know Iran is no south of France, but "roach-infested"?
I have been to many fabulous hotels, yes in Iran... and before you say it I have also stayed in many fantastic hotels in Europe & the Caribbean.
Ok I in Iran I would have preferred to take my scarf off and perhaps drink a nice glass of red wine but room, food and service all have been excellent.
Best regards,
Ammeh Rouhi's Albaloo Polo in Le Monde
On Faranak Ravon photos of Iranian dishes "Iran food journey":
I think you'd be happy to know your website is read by journalists from all over the world! This one is from a journalist at Le Monde who asked for permission to post my pictures of Iranian food. See the Le Monde page where sone of the photos were featured.
BTW, the Albaloo Polo was made by Ammeh Rouhi and it was delicious!
Best,
This is all just window dressing
In response to Qumars Bolourchian's "Moin is the man":
I read your piece on Iranian.com in amazement. Then I realized,
the Islamic Barbaric has its bloody hands everywhere, even in a
seemingly neutral online outlet such as Iranian.com.
You're staunch support of the Islamic butchers is no doubt a result of either
the handsome annual stipend you must receive from them, or you're completely
off the deep end. By the way since your article, your boss Khamenei has
decreed that the so-called reformists be reinstated as candidates for presidency
of the Islamic Hypocrisy. So rest assured your bosses are on top of it. The
last time we were in this situation, Khatami was running for the first time,
and even though he was the clear favorite, no one thought he would actually be
allowed to become president by the supreme clown-ery.
As it turned out, he was inaugurated, but only to calm the masses who
were ready to erupt and toss out the mullahcracy on its rear end. Iranians
were jubilant, incorrectly thinking they've rid themselves of the devil, only
to realize they've merely helped fill another layer of the many layers
of power, in the Islamic tyranny. Your analogy of the situation in the pre- vs.
post Khatami era, and how Iran has reached utopia, is laughable. Letting
women wear their headscarves a bit higher, while the principals continue
to crush any opposition with brute force and help themselves to the nation's
coffers is not mine or any sane person's idea of eden.
Now eight years later we've come full circle. None of the hardliners have popular
support, and the "reformers" were at first banned. Miraculously out
of nowhere (surprise surprise), your boss the supreme butcher (with advice
from his EU staff, no doubt) decides to reinstate the reformers. With
efforts by conspirators such as yourself, at some point one of these candidates
will become the favorite, get elected, and we'll have another Khatami for eight
more years. Through this vicious cycle of horror, the terrorist regime has
managed to survive over the years.
In your ridiculous article you're asking folks to support this
new clown, Moin, instead of the "exiled oppostion". You're
critical of the monarchists and the MEK (both of which suck by
the way) and their American backing. In your case,
you'd prefer to stay with the current regime and continue
to gauge your emolument while singing the lyrics to "Long
Live the Queen" all the way to the bank!! What nerve,
what gull, what hypocrisy!!!
Iranians should realize that this is all just window dressing. Khatami is
one of the biggest traitors in the history of this nation, and this next guy
(remember no women are allowed to run) is sure to follow. These elections
are a sham and must be boycotted nationally and globally. Bolouri, if
you are a true patriot, you will call for a boycott and help spread the
word on a referendum for a democratic society, instead of this propaganda. We
must never again trust anyone running under the flag of the Islamic Republic,
dressed up as a "reformist" or otherwise. We must never again
participate in any type of elections in Iran until this gangster regime is
null and void. Shame on The Iranian for posting such rubbish from
the likes of Bolouri on its main page. See Bolourchian's
reply below
Hojjatali Namdar
God save the Queen
In response to Hojjatali Namdar's comments -- "This is all just window dressing" -- on my article "Moin is the man":
Of course you're on the right track about the British being behind everything. I already did the in-depth investigation and found out that there's truth to this popular conspiracy theory. Read for yourself.
PS. God Save the Queen.
Finally, someone with a voice of reason
In response to Qumars Bolourchian's "Moin is the man":
Thank you, Mr. Bolourchian, for a wonderfully realistic article on the situation in Iran. Finally, we have someone who is not "obsessed and consumed" by hatred of the regime and can rationally analyze the events and the situation in Iran. Finally, someone with a voice of reason on what is going on in Iran and what Iranians should do both inside and outside Iran. Finally, someone to expose these so called "opposition" groups for what they are and what they stand for.
And fianlly, someone who described
so realistically the "illusion" of regime change from
outside and another so called "Ajax" style coup by
the U.S., as if nothing has changed in the world and in Iran since
1953!
The most realistic, rational, achievable, and legitimate change
for Iran is, as you explained, from the grass root efforts and
movements inside Iran and by those Iranians living, breathing,
and feeling every day life in Iran, those who are inside the "gowd" and
struggling, not by these "opposition" groups behind their
microphones and satellite televisions!
Thank you again for such a balanced and illuminating article.
Nahid S.
Do Iranians discuss this threat?
In response to Jalil Bahar's "Nuke mullahs":
First response: I was glad to see your articles on the inevitableness of Iran having nuclear power. Although, i believe there are many other alternative energy sources that we have not explored. However, if Iran was a legitimate democracy, i would not oppose it. I am very interested in reading more on the current administrations' back door ties with the Mullahs.
Second email: I have changed my mind ... I forgot about something that actually has kept me up nights in the last couple of years. So even if Iran was the most respected democracy in the entire world, Iranians would not want a nuclear power plant because of new safety concerns.
A major concern any nuclear power plant anywhere in the world brings with it is the threat of a terrorist strike upon that nuclear power plant. Where i live, we sit between two nuclear power plants, there is no way to secure these from a hijacked jet or another form of determined suicide bomber. Do Iranians discuss this threat?
Exploiting abuses for "regime change"
In response to U.S. Senate hearings on Iran:
The office of U.S. Senator Brownback, the author of the Iran Democracy Act, and Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, has confirmed that on June 9th, the Commission will hold a hearing on Iran "to discuss the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran and the prospect for a joint US Europe response." This hearing is scheduled between 1:30 P.M. - 3:30 P.M. at 192 Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. It is now confirmed that Goli Ameri, the Co-Founder of Iran Democracy Project at the Conservative think tank, Hoover Institute, and Larry Diamond, a Senior Fellow at Hoover, will be among the panelists.
The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, is a U.S. Government agency, which consists of nine members from the United States Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.
Goli Ameri was appointed by President George Bush as one of three public delegates to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Ameri was the Republican candidate for Congress in Oregon's first district during the 2004 election cycle. Last year, during her campaign, Ameri wrote an open letter to Secretary of State, Colin Powel, encouraging him to take a harder stand on Iran, which stirred much reaction among Iranians.
To our knowledge, Ameri has now contacted a selected number of her supporters to attend this hearing. Diamond, who is introduced on Hoover's webpage as "a specialist on democratic development and regime change, and on U.S. foreign policy affecting democracy abroad," served as a senior adviser on governance to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad in 2004. In his Iran Democracy Act, Senator Brownback, the author of the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act, suggested the establishment of an "Iran Democracy Fund," according to the model that allocated money for Iraqi opposition groups in exile in 1998.
Considering the political background of the organizers and participants in this hearing, we, a group of concerned Iranians living in the U.S., are worried that the plight of human rights in Iran may be abused for geo-political agendas that will only harm the development of any viable democratic movement, by the imposition of economic sanctions or military intervention.
We believe that the voices of the Iranian diaspora should not be limited to the selected few that claim to represent the will of the Iranian people. Despite our objection to the arrest of Iranian journalists and bloggers in Iran, we strongly oppose military intervention or monetary support for "dissident groups" in Iran or in its diaspora, and ask the U.S. representatives to represent our voices, which are often suppressed in such hearings.
If you are against U.S. military and/or monetary intervention in Iran, please sign this petition. We plan to send this petition to the members of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe by June 7th. Please help us circulate this petition by sending it to others in the community or by posting it on your websites and weblogs.
Thank you,
Nicely-cloaked sinister initiative
Open letter to Goli Ameri:
I write this letter to urge you to speak
against the pending bill on Iran in the US Congress, which in
the name of promoting democracy
in Iran violates Iran's national sovereignty. As you have circulated
a letter stating your intention to speak at a Congressional forum
on Iran, sponsored by an ardent opponent of Iran who has sponsored
this controversial bill, as a political scientist see it as my
ethical duty to remind you not to be duped by the crocodile tears
of certain pro-Israel lawmakers about democracy in Iran, same
lawmakers who would not hesitate a moment to authorize another
Middle East
war in the name of combatting Iran's alleged weapons of mass
destruction.
Dear Mrs. Ameri,
I would also like to congratulate you for the presidential appointment in the Human Rights Commission. I certainly hope that you bring under your purview the mistreatment of Iranian and other Middle Eastern individuals and communities in the US since September 11th, instead of allowing yourself to become a convenient tool of anti-Iran propaganda. On a personal level, I have been a victim of academic intolerance in America and fought a civil rights battle in various courts in America, all the way to the US Supreme Court, for nearly a decade in vain, and have complained to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights about it (which you can red by researching me on the internet).
This aside, I have read with interest your article on Iran published by a Stanford weekly some years ago on your trip to Iran, and certainly share your sentiment for a democratic, civil society in Iran. Of course, I fully understand the information limitations imposed by more than 25 years of isolation from Iran and, as a result, do not expect you to fully understand the intricacies and complexities of today's Iran.
Case in point, I refer you to my article on the burgeoing environmental movement in Iran, published in the Summer 2003 issue of Middle East Journal, just to get a glimpse of the "other Iran" that almost no one writes or talks about in the US media. Clearly, the mainstream US media is playing in the hands of Washington's warmongering neo-conservatives, some of whom openly advocate a military invasion of Iran. I refer you to my recent articles in Asia Times both on this subject and the potential democratic backlash in Iran if this bill is adopted as law.
Last year, in response to your letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, I also wrote a letter to Mr. Powell reminding him of Iranian government's cooperation in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in promoting regional cooperation and friendly relations practically with all its neighbors. Unlike you, I am not sold to the ferocious demonization of Tehran's regime and prefer not to succumb to the manichean image of certain opposition groups, who have no inklings about Iran's national (security) interests, either.
It has come to my attention that more than 85 percent of Iranian-Americans oppose the pending bill on Iran, and I am certainly one of them, and only hope that you can reflect the sentiment of your community when you address US lawmakers in the near future. To do otherwise, to bandwagon with a nicely-cloaked sinister initiative that reminds us of the ugly history of US intervention in Iran for decades prior to the 1979 revolution, is to lose legitimacy in the powerful Iranian-American community and to isolate yourself.
Now I understand you have a technical background and that you
are more fit to speak of problems in your home state in the United
States than the home away
from home in Iran, nonetheless because of the position bestowed upon you, you
are now at a fork in the road: either you fine tune your politics beyond the
anti-Iran jingoism reflected in your letter to Secretary Powell, and urge civility
and dialogue in US-Iran relations, or you continue the present path of one-dimensional,
blind politics to no where. I sincerely hope that you make the right choice
and the right message to the Iran-bashers in Washington.
Respectfully yours,
Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, Ph.D.
What's truly at stake
In response to Slater Bakhtavar's "It's Bush's fault":
Thanks for the article. I had already read it when it came out
last year.
What the article, and many like it, lacks, is details over why Iranians in
America and the West in general are so lacking in mobilized political prowess.
Sure, Iranians succeed in academia, the sciences and business in the West,
yet can't seem to look out repletely for their own political interests. Persians
more likely opt timidly to relegate the brunt of their political determinism
to others in a consistently co-dependent fashion.
I.E. The Jewish political lobby A.I.P.A.C. retains over 70,000 members (who
knows how many J.I.N.S.A. retains), whereas N.I.A.C. doesn't hold more than
a few thousand at most (one source said they only retain 900 or so members).
I.E. The Persian Diaspora in the U.S. is -- almost farcically -- so detached
from the wholesale day-to-day political sentiments on the street in Iran (let
alone from the rest of the world) that one would think we speak different languages
from the sources that report on them (and yes, they are available in English
as well). Reporting solely on the sentiments of anti-regime student movements
does not a credible homeland political reporting apparatus make. Myopia is
apparently better treated by our esteemed Iranian opthalmologists than by our
citizens, lobbyists and businessmen.
Persians, on the whole, apologetically defer core and vital issues involving
widespread civic and geopolitical involvement to other cultural 'hand-holders'
whilst rendering politics as 'ugly', 'deceptive', 'unholy' or ironically, 'uncivil'.
This is due to decades of religious, autocratic and familial influences that
dissuaded awareness of politics as a vital course of study, let alone political
involvement as a vital function of the citizenry. It didn't matter whether
the ruler was a Shah or mullah. Hence the incredulity over current cries
of "democracy for Iran" from these very same Iranians in the West.
Please.
Meanwhile, Jews (and no, not just of the Neoconservative strain) consider politics
as literally "a matter of life and death", as political philosopher
Leo Strauss put it. Again, study Professor Shadia Drury's "Leo Strauss
and the American Right" for the many eye-opening reasons why things in
the world are proceeding as they are today.
I guess it'll take an invasion or sloppy bombing campaign over Tehran, Isfahan,
Tabriz, Bandar Abbas, Bushehr, Natanz and other 'tactical targets', let alone
the widespread internment of cognitive Persians in the U.S., for people to
realize what's truly at stake.
Payam
p.s. Many O.C. and L.A. Iranians are lock-stepping, culturally confused
and drunken automotons following warped propaganda about themselves
and their homeland's true influence in the modern world...regardless of what
said sunny region's sycophantic local press may state praisingly.
Middle East needs a lot of it
In response to Omid Parsi's views on holy scriptures in "Satanic bathroom":
Bravo! I enjoyed your well written piece. The Middle Eastern community needs much of such a clever and thought-provoking appoach!
Keep up with your good work!
Hataw Sarkawt
Little too far
On Peyvand Khorsandi's "Comic timing":
Peyvand Khorsandi's letter to the iranian giving praise to Mr. Hushang Touzie is a bit too much. Who is Mr. Touzie? He is an immigrant to Los Angeles who makes a living as a thespian. He is in no way Iran's Shakespeare. And his wife is a better actor than he is. At least Mr. Aghadashloo was nominated for an Oscar. In America and Hollywood Mr. Touzie is known as "Ms. Aghadashloo's Husband".
And to compare the movie, The Lizard with a play is just plain stupid. In Iran the Lizard out sold any movie at the time. We are talking about two different types of acting, one being the theater (plays) while the other is a cinema movie. Mr. Khorsandi is just a little bit off. In farsi, there is a saying that goes, "Yaroo, yek kami parteh". The guy is just a little bit off. Another saying is that his screws are loose. "Yaroo, peechash sholeh".
I know Mr. Khorsandi is a big Touzie fan, but his letter goes a little too far. Even an Iranian on opium can't make such statements he does in his letter. America is a place of freedom of expression. I disagree with what Mr. Khorsandi says but I will defend to the death his right to say it. No matter how absurd it sounds to me.
Jamshid Richard William Tehrani III
You are not a poet
I read your "Baazi 5" that you would like to believe is "a poem" which is not, my dear; these are just words / sentences written vertically on top of each other. They have not the slightest signs of a poem in them. You just don't have it in you.
Besides, why don't you begin to learn Persian language by taking classes, reading a lot, novels, classical and modern Poetry of prominent Poets of Persia; then start writing plenty and tearing off many of your 'bad' writings. You may then and only then become a good 'prose writer,' and later on learn to have some imagination for 'short story writings' only. You have no gift for writing poetry.
Don't deceive yourself and don't let to be fooled by some who may praise these kind of 'vertically writings' of yours as 'complements'. Be humble and be the best critic to your abilities. Don't waste your time and mental energy on something that is not in your capacity and you don't have talent for it. Sorry to disappoint you but sit down and try to understand all these that I have tried to tell you openly and frankly.
The content of this E-mail letter is also for all the others that I read their "poems!'' on this site.
Look after yourself and good luck to you. See Aram Gharib's reply below
MM
--N. Y. (I am a woman)
Emotional connection
In response to MM's comments -- "You are not a poet" -- about my [Aram Gharib's] poetry:
Bahai relatives
On Jahanshah Javid question on whther Farrokhroo Parsa was a Bahai:
One of the main principle in the Bahai faith is the prevention from interference in the political issues. This is among the twelve main principle of the Bahai faith. Not acting upon these principles can cause expulsion from the faith which have happened many times in the revolution period.
Both Hoveyda and Parsa came from the Bahai family. I should first mention that according to another Bahai principle, a person who has born in the Bahai family should investigate his/her religion independently at the age of 15 for both men and women. In the cases of Hoveyda and Parsa, they were born in the Bahai family but they did not registered as a Bahai and also their interference in the political issues is another fact that they are not Bahai.
I ,as a Bahai, have respect for both of them for their great contribution to the people of Iran, but the fact is all the accusations of the Islamic Republic of Iran against Bahais for being allied of shah is wrong and baseless in the cases of Hoveyda and Parsa.
We, Bahais, did not have human rights in the shah's period nor do we have it in today's Iran. Dear Jahanshah, I am a 25 years Bahai deprived of my right of education and human being. I escaped Iran and I have not seen my parents for more than 7 years. I wish one day all the persons in the power pay attention to the fact that the people of Iran, no matter from which religion, race, group, and etc, have the human rights for themselves and their children, the rigth that I did not have it but I am seeking the freedom and justice for my children.
May God bless you and your site?
What is up with Iranians and spelling?
On language:
I do not know why many of us Iranians don't learn proper English even after 10-15 years of living in the U.S. or U.K.? I am not an expert linguist myself; but at least I can freakin spell or use spell check if and when in a bind.
I give you 2 examples; first one is an excerpt from an online dating site where a girl, claming to have held a M.A. in Psychology had written the following: "I am looking for a highly ejucated man who is generes and kind and from a good famile." I thought this was a joke but there were so many other mistakes in what she had written that forced me to nix that thought.
The second example is the fine print on the back of a CD jacket/case, called Persian Nights Party Mix. The fine print was written as follows: "ALL RIGHT RESERVE WARNING ANY UNATHURIZED REPRODCUTION OR PUBLIC DISTIRIBIUTION OF THIS RECORDING IS A VIOLATION OF APPLICATABLE LAW". Can you say Espell check? Learn the language or have someone proof read and edit for you people.
Finally someone said it
On Behrouz Bahmani's critiquie of Persian Pop music "Death to 6 / 8":
Thank you, thank you, and thank you some more. You
are %1000000000000 right.. Finally someone said it. Thank you again...
Afshin Mehrassa
Etymological connections
On Guive Mirfendereski's "From Ardebil to Ardeville":
Loved it!
Also, I should to thank you for the Ferderesk study [Plain of paradise].
I wish there were a website where we could record these etymological connections and build a database.
Hairy Caucasians
On Tahereh Aghdassifar's "Pretty hariy":
The author refers to Persians as non-caucasians.
Caucasian refers to the people who originated around the Caucus mountains- running from Azerbaijan to Georgia. A Persian is more of a Caucasian than his/her less hairy Western European kin.
Europeans used the term Caucasian to distinguish themselves from Africans and Chinese in the 18th and 19th centuries. As with most racist lables, it is inaccurate.
Let's either stop using it, or include ourselves in it.
I want to look better
I am emailing Iranian.com hoping to get as much information as I can in regards to getting a nose job in Iran (Tehran).
Those in my family that have had a nose job (either because they really needed it or because they just wanted it) had the procedure done about 8-10 years ago. As for me, I need to have the surgery done and I want to look better!
I have heard there are many excellent doctors in Tehran. Although, I have the names of 3 doctors, I don't think I have enough information.
If anyone has had the surgery done recently (or within the past year), would you please email:
1) The doctor's name & phone number
2) Were you happy with the result?
3) Would you go back to the same doctor?
4) Any recommendations in regards with finding a doctor/going ahead
with getting a nose job
5) Approximate price
6) And last but not least, any other advice you think would be
helpful.
I'd like to thank Iranian.com, as well as anyone who can
help me.
Merci,
Wedding music
I was wondering whether you and the readers of iranian.com can help me. I am getting married in December of this year and still haven't found a wedding song, I don't know many Iranian songs, especially slow ones. I was wondering whether you would post this message on your site so in case some people know some songs they can give me some suggestions.
Thanks in advance
Lost friend: Afshin Ahmadi
I’m looking for an old friend named Afshin Ahmadi. I think
he grew up near Shiraz and his parents had a chicken farm there.
We met in Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia at the Foreign Language
institute. We had a class together there. Last I heard he was in
medical school in Budapest. He could be in Los Angeles area because
he always talked about going there some day. I think he had an
uncle in LA. We lost contact with each other and I would like to
see my crazy friend again and catch up on life. He is in his early
thirties now, probably around 33.
Thank you,
Sheryl (Barker) Porter
Calgary, Alberta Canada
Lost friend: Yasi Ilyavi
Esmeman Massy ast. Donbale doustam Yasi Ilyavi hastam. Baham dar madrese modiriat e Gilan dars mikhoundim va akharin bar dar farance ham digaro didim.
Dar Amrika zendegi mikone. It was about 17 years ago.
Thank you for all informations you can give.
Pakravan's genealogy
Dear Sir
Is this brother the same Fathu'llah Pakravan who was an ambassador
to Egypt and to Italy under the Qajar King and under the Pahlavi
King Muhammad Reza Pahlavi? Is the name Pakravan meaning of the
Palani Tribe under the Bavand Clan in Khorasan? is there a genealogy
on this person?
Sandy Kellogg
Okaliptooth
In response to a Quiz on a certain type of tree:
Is it an Okaliptooth?
DB
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