Have it your way

Iranians are extraordinary people!


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Have it your way
by Ben Madadi
09-Oct-2007
 

Almost all my writings have been critical of Iranians, and I am also one of these same Iranians. I have always considered self-criticism as a sign of maturity and enlightenment. There are so many other Iranians who are truly talented in writing other things, some funny, others enjoyable from many other points of view. And I have had my own niche in which I have been active, risking to provoke the hatred of those who would see me as someone with evil intentions. However, this did not go through my mind at the beginning. But I must acknowledge one extraordinary conclusion I have reached myself.

Iranians are amazing people indeed. And if you hear this from me, that is something. Iranians are amazing people in their tolerance and open-mindedness (I am somehow contradicting myself but it is all relative, and depends on the context).

This may seem odd, but we must compare Iranians to others in the region, or other places relatively similar, and not to America or other developed-world countries. One thing is amazing, that I have been writing critical about Iran almost all the time and I even mentioned it clearly that I see myself as an Azerbaijani making a clear distinction between my own background and some others within Iran BUT then almost NO-ONE, commented or wrote that I WAS NOT an IRANIAN.

There were people who said that I was, am, a Zionist, Jew, Israeli, pan-Turkist bla bla, but they really believed that NO Iranian could be such a bastard always writing critical of his own country. And it was still amazing that many Iranians actually agreed with me, no matter which kind of Iranian they were

So, I would like to emphasize on this again that almost no-one said that I, being or considering myself an Azerbaijani/Azeri, was not an Iranian. They did insult me, but they insulted me because they thought I was crazy, not because they thought I was not an Iranian. This sense of brotherhood and unity is nothing new and has a long history behind it, which will hopefully improve.

This, beside many other things, is extraordinary about Iranians. Iranians have many other good characteristics. These characteristics will NEVER be harmed because of open discussions. They can only be strengthened. What a waste of a civilisation can it be to be susceptible to be destroyed or harmed because of opening up some taboo subjects.

I wonder which other country, with similar social and political conditions to Iran, has such vibrant and tolerant community like Iran. There are also many negative sides to Iranians as a community, or as individuals. What is wrong in pointing them out? They will all exist unnoticed as long as we ignore them, and the only way we can see whether there is any problem or not is to allow people, some with good intentions, some idiots, some psychopaths, and some even foreign plotters, to open such subjects so we can think about them and see whether they exist or not.

This is not possible inside Iran because the regime does not want to. But we, as Iranians with better conditions for freedom of expression, can pursue opening up all the problems that exist among Iranians and debate them. In case this kind of discussion was allowed in Iran for a century or so all taboos would have died out already. And let's not forget that there will always be people with bad intentions, even foreign plotters, but unless we assume this risk there will never be progress.

There is also one thing that almost all Iranians believe, though some may not dare mentioning it. Iranians believe they are very very smart. This can be attested because there are so many Iranian PhD's, physicians, engineers, CEO's, and accomplished businessmen renowned in the whole world, and all this beside the fact that Iranians have also been historically renowned for their great contribution to science, art, philosophy, or literature. This is another reason to see why Iran as a country, and Iranian communities in aggregate, are not as great as Iranian individuals, present or past.

There are some problems and things are not so great for Iranians as groups, or Iran as a country. Why not instead of talking about Iran's greatness talk a little bit more about Iran's problems? And I am pretty much tired of hearing about "we want democracy!" because that is nothing but a cheap slogan. Whoever wants democracy, the type they have in the US or the UK (like myself), is free to have it anyway.


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more from Ben Madadi
 
Brick of common sense

Lol-Laugh out loud

by Brick of common sense on

good thing to learn lol. I am afraid that Mr. Madadi may not like learning as much as the rest of us but he sure saves us money from the comedy shows. lol. It is always good as( Mr. Areyo) said to keep an open mind. Some tatics to be used to teach our friend and comedian(no offense madadi)  is the socratic method and trick the answer out .

Here are some of the quick type if you wish to learn some.

BBS-be back soon \cyal8r-see you later\g2g-got to go\g2g2br-got to go to bathroom\n1-anyone\hiya-hi yall\  hopefully that will help yall lol. 


Sasha

Many thanks Areyo

by Sasha on

Thank you very much to you and to others who have provided links, books and articles to educate Mr. Madadi. I have found them useful in furthering my knowledge and understanding of Iranian culture and history. So you see, your effort was not a complete waste of time. I am sure I am not the only one who benefited from it.

By the way lol means laugh out loud. It is one of those younger generation comments. I myself do not know them all; b/c means because.


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I Agree

by Areyo Barzan (not verified) on

To Brick of common sense

Thank you my friend for the valuable advice, with which I could not, but totally agree
As you put it so rightly no one knows every thing about their history or current and past affairs and certainly that is not what I am suggesting.
However I believe what every body needs and in fact should to as most of all they owe it to themselves, is to keep an open mind by wanting to learn

It is also essential to be fair in pointing the strengths along with the flaws. Also this should be done in a respectful manor, considering peoples values and sensitivities.

In my previous correspondents to our dear friend I tried get these points across to him and to get him to open his mind. Again and again by introducing different books articles and websites to him, most of which were written by impartial non Iranian Historians or analysts i tried to follow exactly the points that you raised. However in the end it was up to him to open his mind and show willingness to learn. Hence as I failed to see any sign of change in his attitude I stopped commenting on his work until this very last one.

I entirely agree with you getting angry and attacking people never serves any purpose and if anything that would have the very opposite effect. I assure you that was never my intention and I do apologise to you and our friend if my writings indicated otherwise

With regards to sell of arms to Iran and Iraq we should not forget the fact that, this was an act driven by short-termism and greed. After all for those of us who are familiar with the history of the region that has always been to common trademark of Western governments and their attitude toward the countries in this region

PS; what does lol mean or stand for???


Brick of common sense

Ben

by Brick of common sense on

Thanks for the last joke lol sry could not reply sooner school can bite you in the ass sometimes. (sigh) Please note Areyo that not everyone knows about their entire past and no on can know everything about their past. There are only degrees of knowledge about your culture; some are more learned in it and some are not, thats just how it is. I am a Hispanic and I do not know my entire cultures history. I know some myths legends and some history but only a drop in the rain compared to how much knowledge there truly is. Now being what I am (a person who loves studying history), have studied briefly in your history but not with internal affairs but in worldly affairs. For example (The U.S. was selling weapons to iran as well as your enemy iraq in the late 1970's into the early 1980's. A pretty dumb mistake considering todays events but the U.S. did it none the less. I also studied the history in the time of the ancient persian empire which added to Mathmatics Science and Astrology and one of the greatest libraries second to only one. The library of Alexandria. It is good to respect all religions and people and their cultures as well as knowing your history of your people but you shouldn't get angry or upset or annoyed if others of your people don't know the history as well as you do. There will always be people who know more than others and people in the area of learning the history. It is just as good to tolerate people but you not only have to tolerate culture but who people are. Like people who are attracted to the same sex or extremists(not just in iran or iraq but in all countries like america to australia to the congo.) Sometimes we just have to accept that not all people want to do good just bad but we shouldnt blame everyone. That is a blunt way of saying what areyo stated in his last paragraph. Areyo please listen do not blame ben if he doesnt know the past or the present (is not the present the past within a breath??) , don't just say he is wrong give him the knowledge to correct himself. click on his blue name and it will show a blog asking for history checks. go there and give him the information you say he does not know. (It is better to give knowledge than to blame someone for not knowing it. All it does is waste time make people angry and make global warming go faster with all the hot air.) =)  You owe me a joke now ben lol. Keep it up . This is cheaper than going to the comedy clubs lol.


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Some People Will Learn The Hard Way

by Areyo Barzan (not verified) on

Dear Ben

And so we meet again. Reading your latest article I could not entirely work out how much of it was genuine or how much sarcasm was involved
However as I am a man who always looks at the bright side and tries to see the good in people, I am willing to accept that your article was really from the hearth and you really meant what you said

I must admit that I have more or less followed your past articles and some of the immature and unfortunate replies that you got from readers who genuinely love their country and people but most of times let their hearth to rule their head.

Although I know very well that there are many people who do not like you because of your approach or even accused you of all sort of things(Such as being an Israeli agent and so fort), I am glad that I have never done that. You see, from your first article I saw right through you and I realized what type of man that you where.

Your intentions was never in question for me as I knew from start that your purpose was indeed pointing out to our flaws as a nation and the reasons for our failures or the mess that we as a nation are in, today.

However as they say the road to hell is paved with good intensions. As I told you in my first article you made a few big mistakes, which are as follows.

Firstly as I said before you took a wrong approach toward your goal and got the wrong end of the stick. Off Corse there should always be room for criticism and we should all learn to take or give criticism without taking the issue personal. However there is a very fine line between criticising and patronising and in your past articles you not only crossed this line over and again but even through up on it.

I accept that everybody should be able to raise any point of short come within our culture religion or society and open a debate on it. But this should be done with care and consideration for peoples pride and sensitivity. Also when ever possible a criticism should be padded with complements and highlighting the good aspects of national or personal practices which surrounds the issue.
This is a universal code of conduct, which is being a practiced by every successful and influential politician scholar or even company executive.

Secondly there is an issue of impartiality. You seemed to have followed the issue of impartiality and lack of attachment, note giving special favouritism or even respecting their sensitivities when you were dealing with Iranian or Persian issues and took no prisoners. However when it came to dealing with these same issues with regards to the West or Israel you were over careful not to step on any toe or open any taboo.
And so this gave many of us some concern about your intentions.
Also for you it seemed that the financial success of the West was enough to ignore all their short comes or crimes and intolerances (after all holocaust was committed by the West) and to get you and many others to look the other way.

I would also like to mention that this very same flaw applies to many other Iranians who demand respect and recognition from the rest of the world but when it comes to themselves giving respect and tolerance toward other religions (Such as Islam) or other nations (such as Arabs) they do not practice what they preach and believe it is ok to insult Arabs or Muslims just because they do not want to face their own demons ordeal with their own mistakes on one hand, and ask the world for respect understanding and recognition or the other.

I would also like to mention one important point in here and it is that I am not a Muslim or an Arab. I am a Zartishty Iranian however I respect all Nations and religions. If there is a short come it is within ourselves and it is about height times for us to look inside for the cause and solutions to our problems.

Thirdly: The other important thing that I have noticed in your article, which contributed to these disasters results, was your utter lack of knowledge about the current and past affairs. Not knowing about the history of our country or even the history of your own province of Azar-bayegaan.

Over and over again I would have found it amazing that despite so much published books and so many dedicated sites about the Western conspiracies and interferences and so many memoirs written by the ex agents about these maters such as control of oil, their missions in Iran or the back ground and rule of Israel in US and middle East, you are still beating the same drums of ignorance and not wanting to know.

However as they say some people learn have to it the hard way.

But in the end I hope we all learn a valuable lesson about being tolerant in giving and receiving criticism and in the same time show some respect and sensitivity to our fellow human being


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For the most part you all suck, because most of you are arab-

by Anonymous666 (not verified) on

zadeh and muslim! Now, go work with that!


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Reply to "Iranian Not"

by Vahraz Yadanmehr (not verified) on

First, get off this site! Second, this is not “Dear Abbey” or some kind of an online therapy session. We are also not your sounding board. People are trying to have a discussion about issues that affect them. If you feel betrayed by Iranians, create a web site, write a book, file a lawsuit, go on Fox News or hold up a sign on the street corner and talk about all the bad things that happened to you at the hands of those evil monsters who took your money, your virginity, etc…This is not the forum for you to air your grievances about a group of people who wronged you. As an Iranian-American who left Iran when I was five years old, I can tell you that I have come in contact with people from all nationalities and ethnic groups in this country, including, of course, Iranians. The percentage of rotten Iranians is no greater than that of any other nation or ethnic group. I have been helped and wronged more by other ethnicities than by Iranians. The fact is that most Iranians are highly educated, decent professionals. And Ben, we invented the “modern” standard of decency. When Europeans were living naked in caves, painting themselves blue and eating raw meat, we wrote the first Declaration of Human Rights. Read some history!


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to ben

by iranian-not (not verified) on

i got it Ben, I know you do not take anyone's side but your own, i am aware of it,that is also an iranian trademark. I must also tell you guys that I do not hate you, hate is too strong an emotion to waste on you, I just despised you, by your actions, not with prejudiced, when i first let you guys into my life, i admired you, i thought like you, that you had high family values, and were smart and decent, you proved me completely wrong and now I am in just in constant shock by your displays of arrogance, and your complete lack of human kindness and decency, it is only all about you in your little planet, and that just stones me.
and i am signing off, it is just not worth my energy totalk to you guys, it is like plwing a desert.


Ben Madadi

Why would my identity be important? Also Iranian-Not

by Ben Madadi on

I am not curious to know about somebody's real-life identity! It doesn't have any relevance. To Iranian-Not... I am not taking your side, I just mentioned that if some people bother you then instead of hating or blaming them you would better ignore them. That doesn't mean I agree with you. Hating people or even individuals solves nothing. You don't like someone, ignore them! As simple as that!


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Ben

by 2-cents (not verified) on

Hi Ben,
If I may ask, what is your education (field, level), and what is your day job?
If you just give a brief answer, instead of rasing a discussion, saying "what is the releveance" or "why should if tell people about my job" or ....

It is just a couple of very simpel questions and you can answer them with a single sentence, without exposing your identity.

Regards,


Sasha

To Brick of common sense

by Sasha on

You should do a blog with this young talk or type. I'm sure the readers could learn a thing or two. I know I could learn it myself.  Every day they come out with something new.  I keep telling my young friends to pleasssssssssse spell it out lol. Especially when they text message me. I do not have time to decode their text message.


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reply to ben

by iranina-not (not verified) on

good advise, will try to follow it, and you are right as to them not having any concept of decency, you are right it is very difficult to be sorry for something, that you do not even know you have done worng, but i also call that a lack of conciense,
thanks for the adivse anyway i will definitely try to pretend they do not exist, God willing soon, they will not, at least from my life :)
thanks


Ben Madadi

To IRANIAN-NOT

by Ben Madadi on

Okay... so Iranians have been mean to you! They are mean to each other too. You targeting Iranians in general is not correct, because they DO NOT form a band of thugs who are united against people like you. Iranians come from the Middle East where modern concepts of decency and respect hav not yet gone beyond theory. That doesn't mean they are evil to others. They are evil to each other much more than they are evil to others. By the way, I give you a nice advice! Never ever ever never ever do any business or anything else with Iranians! You will be happier! Imagine they do not exist :D Good luck!


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reply to sasha

by iranian-not (not verified) on

thanks Sasha, very wise words, i could of guess you were not iranian, even if you had not mention it, by your tone, i will try to follow your advise, although it is easier said than done, when the wounds are so deep, but i will try to just not trust them and le go of the hate, but i do not even think is hate, is more hurt, which is even worst to shake.
but thanks, care is written all over your words, but also, i truly feel these people sometimes do not realize what they are saying and they need a mirror to their face, arrogance which is as bad as hate, blind them all,take good care


Sasha

Reply to Iranian-not

by Sasha on

I'm sorry to read that you have been hurt by Iranians of all ages, and genders.  I too have met many Iranians and I have not been hurt by them. You must agree that there a good and bad people in all ethnic groups. I have been hurt over the years by my own Hispanic culture, the White culture and so on. I do not hang on to any pain or hate inflicted by them. As I have mentioned before "Hate can consume a person", it does not allow you to move on. If you do not want to trust a certain group then so be it but for your sake let go of the hate. You will not find happiness if you do not. You owe it to yourself.


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all this hatred comes from

by iranian-not (not verified) on

all this hatred comes from having been victimized many times by iranians, whom i thought were trustworthy and good, iranians have robbed me of many things in my life, including my inocense and large sums of money,i have been deeply betrayed by iranians of both sexes, young and old, and in between, unfortunately for me i have around them and made them part of my life for many years.
I have never seen such a large group of people, having such a mean streak, and i have been around many nationalities, you are arrogant, takers, givers, double faced hypocrites, if the usa is so bad, please go back to iran, or if you cannot or you would not, because the money is here, then shut-up about it. i do many things, but i feel my many wounds, done by the iranians, and the issues and struggles i carry around, because of the iranians, give me enough right to read this periodical and to comment about it,i am hoping maybe i act as a mirror that reflects light in what sorry group of people you are, and prompt some of you to change and maybe that way i can save at least one person from being a victim of one of you.
so i feel that if by comments


Sasha

Very funny Madadi

by Sasha on

You and the Brick of common sense should get together and dialogue.  Your fan club is just going to love your comments. :o)

moraghebe khodet bash


Ben Madadi

To Brick of common sense

by Ben Madadi on

I just received more money from a group called "The Pure Aryans" than I was usually receiving from the other group called "We Hate Aryans", and also another group called "Pan-Turks", and also the other group called "Israelis", and (God, I am forgetting them, so many...) "Regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran"... sorry folks but these bills are killing us ;)
Just kiddin...


Sasha

Response to the account Brick of common sense

by Sasha on

Perhaps you are correct in your assessment of my writing but I do believe that I am expressing my opinions. Simply because I am not controversial as you say does not mean that I do not know or stand for what I believe. It simply means that I take a different approach on the subject matter. I prefer to hear the opinions of all to gain a better understanding.


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Reply to IRANIAN-NOT!!

by GoodIranian (not verified) on

Iranian-NOt,

What is WRONG with you? why so much hate, so much negativity? I'm sure you know all this darkness comes from within.
And if you hate Iran and Iranians so much why do you keep on reading Iranian.com and comment on people's writings? Don't you have anything better to do?
You are very sick, I'm sorry for you!


Brick of common sense

Ben Ben Ben (sigh)

by Brick of common sense on

I am sad to see you decided not to write a humourous one today lol. oh well; i may not agree with your (sarcastic sounding essay) or at leasts some points on it . EX. superiority in science math and astrology, it sounds as if your trying to make an iranian superior race like the germans or the mongols or the japanese even america and what was its imperial empire in the caribbean. Case in point history shows only disaster lies on that path. I know you werent meaning that but as you have seen already by the (aryan) comment. the meaning is going down that path. now that that is out of the way i would like to say so far your writings have made a huge impact. It made people think. One of the original purposes for writing itself which came from the ancient empires of the greek and egyptian to the sumarians themselves where the alphabet started. you make people think about what to say and write down their opinions.  I am suprised that you bared your throat to your obvious haters. Though whether it was a good decision or a bad one it has been made.  Oh Sasha please remember the road of destruction is paved by good intentions and labeled by forced gratitude. Please I know you dont like making a stand but you must stand up for what you believe in and go for the controversial subjects sometimes. like with haji and ben (alias most likely). I mean this with the deepest respects. Mr. Madadi I hope you will write some more humorous writings . Pretty funny to read what some people say =) lol. I wonder what you will write next and i fear it as well lol might die laughing.


Ben Madadi

To sasha

by Ben Madadi on

Sasha, there are soooooooooooooooooo many who like writings like my usual ones, and that is also something nice about Iranians. And they get angry if I write something nice about Iran or Iranians. But I won't do this much. I just wanted to show that I am not just some angry anti-Iranian or something some may have believed I am :) I actually do like this kind of tolerance I have seen amongst Iranians. They are not as tolerant as Americans (this is what I believe) but they (Iranians) are more tolerant than many others who live, or come from, societies as developed as the Iranian society.


Sasha

Unbelievable

by Sasha on

Unbelievable Ben finally gives you an article that says something good about Iranians and you are all still not happy. Totally amusing. I'm sure you all realize he was being sarcastic in writing this article. Yes, as he is an Iranian there are things he will always like about Iran and his culture; to completely hate it would be to hate himself.

 


Ben Madadi

Reply!

by Ben Madadi on

Let's not misinterpret! I mentioned it clearly that Iranians are tolerant compared to others (individuals or peoples) with SIMILAR conditions, and not compared to developed-world countries. I will not spare continuing my usual RANT as my dear loyal reader, Vahraz, usually points out ;)


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Iranian are not tolerant people since they converted to Islam

by Omar (not verified) on

Go read your last 100 years history to see how Iranians have treated other Iranians that are not in the mainstream. Islam has fucked up what used to be a tolerant culture of Persia. I guess you are on the payroll of IRI.


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WOW, YOU CAVED UNDER

by IANIAN-NOT (not verified) on

WOW, YOU CAVED UNDER PRESSURE, WHAT A COWARD
THAT IRANIANS ARE TOLERANTS? PLEASE???
WHT HAVE THEY DONE TO THE BAHAIS???
IF THERE IS ANY SIGN OF BEING TOLERANT, IS TO LOOK DOWN ON PEOPLE AND PITY THEM, FROM YOUR MIGHTY, ONLY IN YOUR OWN MIND, PLACE AS THE "ARYANS OF THE WORLD"
LOL


Daryush

Hallelujah

by Daryush on

Hallelujah. Praise the lord. There is a God. Ben Medadi has finally wrote a peace style article rather his normal hateful.

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Surprise, Surprise...

by Vahraz Yazdanmehr (not verified) on

Alas, a somewhat coherent, albeit strikingly different, article by Ben Madadi (alias, of course). I am glad that you finally accepted the point that I made to you sometime ago in one of my responses to a rant of yours which consisted of saying that Iranians are not special at all. In response to that article, I wrote, I think verbatim, that our culture was superior because of our inclusiveness, which is the point that you are trying to make now. Of course you are an Iranian, and our beef with you is that notwithstanding the fact that you are an Iranian, you try (or have tried in the past) to sow the seeds of separatism and ethno-racism, which are concepts that are foreign and dangerous to Iran’s survival as a nation. Iran is a country that is made up of many races, religions and ethnicities, and that is Iran’s strength-one can even argue, unfortunately- that it’s Iran ONLY strength at this time in its history. The negative points should also be discussed, but there is so much division in our society, both inside and outside of Iran, with everyone dancing to his / her tune without a unified leadership, that the prospects of us reaching our full potential is extremely bleak.


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