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Shahin & Sepehr

 

Sehaty Foreign Exchange

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Letters
January 31-February 4, 2000 / Bahman 11-15, 1378

Today

* Prostitution:
- Revealing

- Taboo
- Touch of humor

- Rated T (trash)

Previous

* Prostitution:
- Necessary and timely

- Hoping for a better piece
- Amazing
- Trashy
- Price to be paid
- Free expression
* Identity
- Born in Australia, 100% Iranian
*
Iran
- CIA dad
*
Jews:
- Frankly, I'm jealous!
*
Zoroastrian:
- Ahura Mazada has no equal
*
Iran Air:
- Joojeh kabab does it


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Friday,
February 4, 2000

* Revealing

This Internet revolution has helped shorten some people's fuses and given them a way to shoot their mouths off quickly, without putting too much rational thinking behind their rapid firebacks, with seeming impunity. Some have been conditioned in typically low quality chatrooms and newsgroups, which collectively have the cognitive value of a broomstick. In those newsgroups and chatrooms the prevailing mindset seems to be how much you can type without waking up your brain, how loud you can yell to compensate for the lack of substance behind your say, and to what ridiculous extents you can take arguments that go on ad-infinitum.

From time to time you can see the same mindset creeping into Iranian.com. You can see it in how people react to articles, how they feel entitled to debasing and insulting authors of those articles or the publisher of the magazine and whole groups of people of a belief system in the process. Their protestations amount to something to the effect of "I didn't agree with your viewpoint therefore your mother is a whore" or "I didn't like the article that you published, therefore you're a sag Bahai." >>> FULL TEXT

Hamid Taghavi

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* Taboo

I would like to comment on your sexual adeventure in Tijuana ["Nice ladies, amigo?"]. This article offended many Iranians for many reasons, namely because we Iranians, like others from Eastern and Muslim countries, consider sex outside marriage a taboo. For many Iranians, sex must be done WHITHIN marriage.

And in Iran you have boys and girls who fall in love or they are physically attracted to each other but they cannot have sex because society can't in anyway accept sexual relations whitout getting married.

And as an Iranian boy who grew up in Iran, I know about sexual needs and sexual hunger. Maybe many Mexican prostitutes know Iranians, but believe me, many prostitutes in Dubai and Istanbul know Iranians very well also.

Amin

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* Touch of humor

For god's sake, give me a break. What the hell is wrong with a story about a little whorehouse where some of our countymen hang out ["Nice ladies, amigo?"]. Not being a night club or a bar person, I found the story very refreshing with a touch of humor.

M. Asadi

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* Rated T (trash)

I am outraged with the letters expressing discontents to the article "Nice ladies, amigo?". For those people who are not happy because the article has no literary value I must say that, the author never claimed he was writing a masterpiece, or an investigative report. He was simply talking about his personal experience ...

I have a recommendation: maybe it is time that The Iranian starts using some sort of rating and warning system. I am not suggesting that you can't criticize an idea or the style of an article. I am suggesting, STOP saying "I Don't Like It, Take It Out". I am sick and tired of reading these types of comments over and over again. It is sickening to hear this from people who ran away from laws like that >>> FULL TEXT

Davood M.

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Thursday
February 3, 2000

* Necessary and timely

In reply to Ali Akbar Mahdi

I can appreciate your reservations about informative, investigative, or literary merits of this article (for a few seconds only!) ["Nice ladies, amigo?"]. Then I'll have to object to your very "intellectually fulfilling" opinion on the grounds that the report in question is about a very REAL and HAPPENING Tehrangeles fact of life!

It is so true that it was time for someone to put a pen to paper! The same thing is happening in a couple of Mexican "fun-towns" across Texas borders! Of course, there are only about an estimated 70-80 thousand Iranian-Americans in Texas (mostly in Houston and then in Dallas) but the Iranian wives in Texas may want to start paying attention!

The next past due article has to be about opium consumption by Iranian males in America!

Since the sentence "hey khaashar, your seemingly happy shohar visits Mexican prostitutes across the border every other weekend!" couldn't be spray-painted on the backyard fences all over Los Angeles and Orange County, then it had to be brought forward in an article. This sounds about as necessary and timely as any literary and artistic work that fits in the current trends of a society (or community in case of Iranians in USA).

B. Bagheri
Texas

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* Hoping for a better piece

In reply to B. Bagheri (above)

All I can say in response to your comment is to repeat what I said to another gentleman who thought I was "abhorrently offended" by this piece. Here is what I wrote to him:

"Please read my comments carefully. I am not offended by the subject or the fact that Iranian men buy sex on the other side of the border. Iranian men do many more things and everyone is free to let others know about what they do. Nor did I object to publication of this gentleman's view about his trip. My objection was to the POOR quality of this piece. Read my two comments carefully. Any magazine is free to cover any subject it deems appropriate. However, magazines, like schools, set standards for themselves and try to maintain those standards. The Iranian is not a SOAP magazine. It could have covered this issue with a better piece, not one with an "Akh Joon" ending."

Hope this explains where I come from. I believe it is a very interesting subject and you, or someone who knows and cares about these issues, should write a piece on the case of Texas too. My hope is that whoever does this, does it right and does not limit his observations to ONE BAR and three girls and a taxi driver.

For a generalized observation to be valid, one has to have more than a few cases. S/he should be careful to avoid "sensationalism" of the topic and write about "facts." Studies show that when it comes to sex, there is a tendency for both exaggeration and denial, depending on who is talking and what is being talked about.

Ali Akbar Mahdi
Associate professor of sociology
Ohio Wesleyan University

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* Born in Australia, 100% Iranian

I am an Iranian guy who was born and lives in Sydney, Australia. I am 21 years old. Firstly I like to congradulate you on becoming an Aussie ["Proud Australian"] but I really don't understand why you did this because to me that's like taking your identity away and forgetting who you are!

My dad came to Australia from Iran in 1972 and still to this day he has not become an Aussie and still has his Iranain passport this is the same for my mum and they both are very proud of thier culture and the fact that they are Iranians.

As I say, I was born in Australia and I consider myself 100% Iranian and I am proud to be Iranian. I think we have the greatest culture in the world! Why you would become an Aussie is above my head I really don't understand!

Shahab

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Wednesday
February 2, 2000

* Amazing

I am surprised at all the fuss over this article ["Nice ladies, amigo?"]. Is it because it touches on the subject of prostitution? Is it because it involves some "fat, bald headed Iranian men?"Or is it because it was not scholarly?

I agree that as far as the subject or the "literary value" goes, it does not compare with many articles published in The Iranian. however, it was an amuzing piece. While not all Iranian men frequent brothels, many do; as men from all other cultures do. Iranian men also go to Dubai, and anywhere else that offers sex for sale, incluing locations within Iran. Have we forgotten, that there were times when women could not wait for taxi cabs in many respectable areas of Tehran without being harrassed?

I think Mr. Mahdi is being a bit of a "molla loghati". We all know that this article was written just for the fun of it. We all know that The Iranian is not a refereed journal, it is merely a forum. This article did not mean to and will not change anyone's view about prostitutes or prostitution; about women; about Iranian men; or about Mexico and Mexican people.

It is upsetting to ask for one's name to be removed from a list just because of one written piece -- it is denying oneself from a feast of good writings and information. Please get real, so to speak.

Shahin Shoar

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* Trashy

You should seriously think twice about putting trashy articles in your magazine ["Nice ladies, amigo?"]. You are not the National Enquirer. If you enjoy these articles, maybe you should start another magazine specifically with this kind of material, but it just doesn't suit The Iranian.

Iran Javid

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* CIA dad

I enjoyed your reading about your experiences in Iran. Very focused and I thought your writing was awesome. I was there in 1961 and was born there while my dad was in service for the army. I also returned in 76-78 to live there a second time while he worked for the CIA as engineer for our listening stations on the Caspian. I graduated from the American high school and we have reunions etc.

Dave Brown
Knoxville, Tennessee

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Tuesday
February 1, 2000

* Frankly, I'm jealous!

This is a letter I wrote to an Iranian Jew in reply to a topic called "Why do Iranians hate Jews?"

Dear Moshe,

I enjoyed reading about Isfahan and the brief history of the Iranian Jewish community. When it comes to discrimination against minorities (Jews in particular) in Iran, I agree with you 100%. Often the unkown or a mystery creates prejudice. And often the unknown is translated into hatred. As they say, not knowing is the greatest fear. I think in regards to the Jewish community there are many unkowns for some of us non-Jewish Iranians which can be translated into an "anti-semitic" outlook. I hope by writing this letter I can express our sense of confusion with the Jewish community. I also hope that in writing you this letter, you won't confuse my questioning or curiosity with "prejudice" or an "anti-Semitic" attitude.

The majority of Muslim Iranians don't like minorities. They are called "najes". In fact some consider them "smelly"! Sounds funny, but it's true. For instance, when my mother was growing up in the province of Azarbaijan, she was told not to go out alone cause the Jews will kidnap her! That was some 50 to 55 years ago >>> FULL TEXT

Saghi Zarinkalk

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* Ahura Mazada has no equal

Please do not refer to Meher Yazad as God in any form, for the Yazads hold a very unique place in Zarthushtras religion, they cannot be called gods, for this word suggests the independent divine beings of a pagan pantheon, the origin of most of the yazatas as pagan divinities and their position still as being worthy of worship in their own right makes them more than the angels with which their monotheism's have bridged the gulf between man and divinity.

As for Meher Yazad, with whom the sun was linked, like the other Ahuras, was a lesser created being, according to th revelations. They are SERVANTS of the lord, like all the other Yazads, to whom veneration should be duly accorded.

Ahura Mazda's creation of the Amesha Spentas and the Yazads being compared to the lighting of a torch from a torch. All these Yazads were part of the creation of Ahura Mazda, brought into being to help him oppose the forces of evil owing him utter loyalty and obedience.

This, to sum up, is the monotheism of Iran, that in the beginning Ahura Mazda alone existed as a being worthy of worship -- the sole Yazata the only uncreated God, wholly wise, just and good, for after bringing into being his divine helpers (Yazads) he proceeded through them to fashion the world and all that is good in it, as a further means of confounding evil and and bringing it to nothingness in the end.

Feroz Dinshah

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Monday
January 31, 2000

* Price to be paid

What is Mr. Mahdi really saying? That by admitting the existence of three unfortunate Iranian prostitutes in Mexico, we're showing that all Iranians are prostitutes? Then what are we promoting by forbidding the publication of such descriptions? That there are NO Iranian prostitutes anywhere in the world? That our race is incapable of producing prostitutes? That Obeyd-e Zakani and Sa'di and many other poets were all liars? That Iraj Mirza and Parvin-e Etessami were spreaders of untruths? Are we not making an ignorant bunch out of ourselves, then?

To me, writing about and publishing the ugly truths about ourselves is a sign of maturity. Let the stone-throwers fling their stones and hurt us. There's a price to be paid for attaining high culture, and someone's got to foot the bill >>> MORE

Massud Alemi

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* Free expression

In reference to what should and should not be covered by The Iranian It is sad that some of us just don't get it. If The Iranian censured every letter in its own liking, it would not be a medium of free expression and not so many of us would read it.

To me, the most important service of The Iranian is that it is a medium of freedom of expression that is a unique privilege of living in America. As we know this privilege is in process of erosion all over the world including America >>> MORE

Ali A. Parsa

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* Joojeh kabab does it

I am not sure Iran Air's ad for their 50th anniversary was a joke. I rather fly Iran Air to Iran from Europe than fly KLM or Swissair and such, because I feel more comfortable in it . They all are good airlines but Iran Air is a bit better in my opinion. In addition they serve "joojeh kabab" and/or "baaghalaa polo".

Hosain Massiha

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