Opinion * Support iranian.com * FAQ * Write for Iranian.com * Editorial policy The great insult Islam and Iranian National Self-Esteem By Omid Parsi April 1, 2002 The Iranian While it is impossible to identify any concrete economic reason for the Iranian Revolution of 1979, it should be quite obvious to anyone who took part in, or merely observed the Iranian Revolution that it was an eruption against what felt like a colossal "insult", a courageous effort to recover a degraded national self-esteem. Over two decades hence, it is evident that Iranians managed to lose their esteem in the eyes of others without gaining any real self-esteem of their own. The reason for this grave failure is that the stupefied Iranian masses mistook a chronic disease for a cure. Revolutions can best be defined as the crisis of nations to achieve greater sense of collective identity and self-esteem. Just as individuals may err gravely in their actions to achieve prouder selves, nations may try and fail miserably as well. A basic survey of Iranian history can reveal where the Persian national identity and self-esteem was degraded and lost: A nation that was once a dominant empire over two millennia ago was for the rest of its history conquered, ravaged and chopped up by other warrior tribes and city states. Though the author generally considers the tribal invasions of the early and middle ages an inevitable and positive trend in the evolution of mankind to mix, diversify and improve the human gene pool, the cultural beating can persist, analogous to the suffering of a rape victim regardless of how robust and healthy the rape child turns out. Devotion to Islam, by far the strongest and most foreign ingredient of the present day Iranian psyche, is the result of the beating that the Persians received from a movement originated by a primitive bedouin warrior tribe from the Arabian Peninsula. There has been much historical commentary and justification for the "gentle" nature of this domination and its historical necessity, but that would be irrelevant to this argument. It suffices to say that the victors have always had the luxury to rewrite history to glorify themselves. It is easy to imagine that if Germans had prevailed in World War II, the Nazi ideology would be a modern day religion of which Hitler would be the prophet, German would be the holy language and the history books would rave about how the world welcomed the domination of Nazis with open arms. The plain truth is that the fault-line in the Iranian national self-esteem and psyche is nothing but Islam itself with a holy book in a foreign language and historical references that have nothing to do with Persians. How can a nation raised on Arabic mumbo jumbo as the essential part of its culture and education, ever have any hope of achieving self-esteem? What could be the meaning of self-determination for a nation that is already occupied? What Iranians try hard to suppress in their national subconscious is akin to the bitter shame of a nominal matrimony that was announced to save face and cover up a violent rape. Indeed the Iranian masses conceived the Islamic revolution as an effort to rid themselves of the great "insult", the cultural domination of the technology and media driven democratic "West". However in fighting what was like a sleeping pill addiction they resorted to Malaria. Moreover, it is now increasingly evident that their ill condition will perhaps never be overcome by their own immune system and they will have to accept more drugs from the same rogue pharmacists, adding apology to shame. On an optimistic note, it is likely that every nation will eventually in one way or another be dissolved and absorbed into the global capitalist system, though with many lagging and dragging behind and plagued by ignorance, poverty and cruelty as "developing" nations for a long time. However most nations will not leave much of a legacy the way for instance the English have with their culture, language and sports. In the end, one may have to search very hard for traces of any real contribution that the Persians will have made to the new world of global capitalism. Comment for The Iranian letters section Comment for the writer Omid Parsi RELATED Victimology It is not America's moral responsibility to create or foster "free societies" in the Muslim world. This is the responsibility of Muslims themselves By Lee Howard Hodges Axis of excess Are we at the edge of a global civil war among civilizations? By Majid Tehranian Placing the onus Of victims and perpetrators By Manoutchehr M. Eskandari-Qajar Largely a myth Gandhi's nonviolent strategy By Lawrence Reza Eshraghi Hard to point fingers Where there is hate, there is a reason By Ali Khalili Civil parade of faiths Terrorism has no face or nationality By Shahla Samii The rest is history When things started to become sacred By A. R. Begli Beigie Sacred vs. Secular Clash of civilizatrions By Samuel Huntington ALSO By Omid Parsi Asserting principles U.S. gave impression that fanatics would be spared no matter what SECTIONS * Recent * Covers * Writers * Opinion * History * All sections

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