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Let there be light
13-May-2008
The Dark Ages have just begun in Iran.
In European historiography, the period from the fall of the Western Roman Empire (AD 476), until approximately the middle of the 11th century, is often known as the Dark Ages.
The fatalistic tendency of political theorists in the Dark Ages was to view all political power as granted by God and rulers as unaccountable to any human being (although they were accountable to God). Rulers were above the law, and everyone else was obliged to obey them.
The king was sacred, and most political theorists in the Dark Ages believed in unlimited submission to government.
Kings were considered Christ on earth.
With the fall of Rome also came a growing importance in the role of the pope. Leo the Great (Leo I) stands out in bringing the papacy into a leadership force of the Western world. The pope was expected to wear many hats, including not only spiritual leader, but also statesman, administrator, and scholar. During Leo I´s papacy is the first time the title Pontifex Maximus (Supreme Pontiff) was used. In Latin this is translated to “highest bridge maker” and Roman emperors had previously used this title to signify their role as high priests in the Roman religion.
Similarly with the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the idea of “absolute guardianship of the Islamic Jurists” (Velayat-e Faqih) gained influence and was advanced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's leadership of the Iranian Revolution.
This doctrine, which now forms the basis of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, maintains that Guardianship should include all issues for which Prophet of Islam and Shi'a Imam have responsibility, including governance of the country.
The constitution of Iran calls for a faqih, or Vali-ye faqih (guardian jurist), to serve as the “Supreme Leader” of the government. The title “Supreme” Leader (Rahbare Moazzam), is often used as a sign of respect; however, this terminology does not exist in the constitution.
The Supreme Leader is the ultimate head of the Iranian political and governmental establishment, above that of Iran's president. According to the constitution, he has absolute authority over all individuals and in all public matters including internal and foreign policies, control of the army Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and control of state broadcast.
He has the power to overrule the decisions made by publicly elected politicians.
In this doctrine, it is believed that the Vali-ye faqih is the representative of the Hidden Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi (the 12th and last Shi'a Imam). So he has a divine right to ruling.
While the “spiritual virtues” and “status” of the Prophet and the Imams are greater than those of contemporary faqih, their power is not, because this virtue “does not confer increased governmental powers”. (Hokumat-e Islami or Islamic Government by Khomeini, p.62)
As it is evident, the Vali-ye faqih assumes the roles of not only spiritual leader, but also administrator, and scholar at the same time. And most importantly, he is also the king with the turban for the crown.
Iran has become the first nation-state in history to apply absolute Velayat-e Faqih in the government. “Guardianship” of the faqih in the Islamic Republic of Iran is represented not only in the Supreme Leader, who must be a cleric, but in other leading bodies, particularly the Assembly of Experts whose members must be clerics, the Council of Guardians, half of whom must be clerics, and the courts. Friday prayer leaders are appointed by the Supreme Leader as well.
The dominant political theories of the European Dark Ages and the premises of Iran’s present ruling establishment are more or less the same.
As the so-called divine rulers helped to destroy the Roman Empire and plunge the Western world into the Dark Ages, Iranian so-called divine rulers are doing the same with the Iranian nation.
During the Dark Ages in Europe, there was complete rule by the church and warrior elite, no human rights to speak of, and degenerate, and inhuman behavior. For human liberty, the period was indeed dark.
In Iran’s mullahcracy there is complete rule by clergymen and the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards Corps. Women are arrested for showing their hair or wearing make-up or colorful clothes and men are arrested for wearing their hair long. Young people are jailed or flogged for dancing together at house parties. People are fined for using satellite dishes.
People are stoned to death for having sex. An ayatollah issues a fatwa calling for the assassination of an author without any trial. It is only the organized hypocrisy that allows people to hold governmental posts. All pro-reform newspapers have been closed down. And there is no freedom of speech and press.
EVERY THING is just a show.
In the Western Dark Ages, the church bureaucracy, with the active cooperation of the imperial court, had seized complete control over education with a near-monopoly on literacy, and had formed the backbone of local government in much of the West; so the church could control people’s mind in terms of what to think and what not to think.
Intellectual development suffered from the loss of a unified cultural and educational milieu of far-ranging connections.
Ammianus Marcellinus, Rome's last great historian lamented that, “Those few buildings which were once celebrated for the serious cultivation of liberal studies, now are filled with ridiculous amusements of torpid indolence. . . The libraries, like tombs, are closed forever.”
Iran’s education system has become one of the most backward education systems in the world, which is busy killing the students’ talents. The people in power have established an education system that does not really educate the people and do not provide them the skills needed to find employment in the Information Age. It corrupts their mind so skillfully that the average time that Iranians spend for book reading is less than five minutes in 24 hours.
The most talented students who survive this system and go to university end up escaping to Western countries.
A year ago, the International Monetary Fund said Iran had the highest rate of brain drain of 90 countries it measured. According to the IMF more than a 150,000 of the best young minds in Iran are leaving every year. And the cost to Iran of not stemming this brain drain - one government estimate put it at nearly $40bn a year.
Mass purges at Iran universities happen in the name of Cultural Revolution to get rid of secular and liberal professors.
In Europe, Christendom lost the art of brick and tile making, of bridge building and public sanitation. A despotic theocracy did not want people to think or to examine the world about them.
Iran’s mass media especially the state television are strictly monitored to control people’s minds and fashion a not-think-at-all mentality. To tell the truth it has been very successful in doing so.
Intellectual life and critical thinking, like tombs, are closed.
Like the Dark Ages in Europe, the patchwork of petty rulers are incapable of supporting the depth of civic infrastructure required to maintain libraries, public baths, arenas, and major educational institutions.
The social effects of the fracture of the Roman state were manifold. Cities and merchants lost the economic benefits of safe conditions for trade and manufacture.
Many Shia Iranians have also left the country. While the revolution has made Iran stricter Islamically, an estimated “two to four million entrepreneurs, professionals, technicians, and skilled craftspeople (and their capital)” have emigrated to other countries. Partly as a result, the economy has not prospered in terms of inflation, unemployment, and living standards. Absolute poverty rose by nearly 45 percent during the first 6 years of the Islamic revolution and on several occasions the mustazafin have rioted, protesting the demolition of their shantytowns and rising food prices. Disabled war veterans have demonstrated against mismanagement of the Foundation of the Disinherited.
Other symptoms of the Dark Ages which can be found in present Iran include:
Abandonment of rule by codified law, disappearance of monumental architecture.
Reduced literacy, loss of knowledge, a rigid and hierarchical society with an immense and widening gulf between rich and poor, Simplification of representational art, Abandonment of earlier religious forms, Increase in intra-group violence, and reduced inter-regional trade.
Like the European dark ages, over the past 28 years in Iran there have been little advancement in science, math, or even art, a complete subsistence based economy, a suspension of progress, and a period of intellectual and cultural retrogression, and social decline.
Some call the dark Ages in Europe a “time of ignorance”, the blame for which is to be laid on the Christian Church for “placing the word of religious authorities over personal experience and rational activity”. Exactly the same is going on in Iran.
An annual poll commissioned by the British Broadcasting Corp. ranked Iran as the country with the most negative influence on the world.
However, all these cannot and must not be blamed on Christianity or Islam. They should be blamed on the people who used Christianity and are using Islam to legitimize and make “divine” their own rule.
We should remember that while these Dark Ages were traumatic and destructive, they were, as the English Catholic historian, Christopher Dawson, had earlier noted in The Making of Europe, the very foundation of European and Western culture and paved the way for the Renaissance.
It should not be forgotten that Iran had never experienced a theocracy and the ruling of religious people before 1979 as it is now. So the Iranians needed these years to get rid of the divine-right-for-ruling mentality once and for all.
It took Europe almost 600 years to pass the Dark Ages. In the view of the fact that Iranians are living in the information age and a time of easy communication, if they are going to pass their Dark Ages five times sooner than the Europeans did, they need at least a hundred years to see their Reformation and Renaissance.
Italian scholar Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) who created the concept of a Dark Age in the 1330s said:
“My fate is to live among varied and confusing storms. But for you perhaps, if as I hope and wish you will live long after me, there will follow a better age. When the darkness has been dispersed, our descendants can come again in the former pure radiance.”
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Anonymous90
by Fred on Wed May 14, 2008 02:22 PM PDTWhat is with this “I am exhausted” talk? You are doing what needs to be done. The “infestation “of this site and many other public venues by the “mushrooming” regime apologists/lobbies only goes to show their desperation. If the regime was as they paint it to be there would have been no need for all this misinformation on their part. Keep your eyes on the prize, the emancipation of our land from their Dark Age tyranny is an eventuality, it is not if rather how soon.
re to anonymous90
by Ranapanah on Wed May 14, 2008 02:13 PM PDTAlthough the author was killed a year after the article was published no one has claimed that it was because of the article.
//www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2006/0605/038a.html
and his death doesn't make the article credible.
re anonymous90
by Ranapanah on Wed May 14, 2008 02:02 PM PDTthe website provided was merely an intro about the foundation. did I attach claims to it? actually if the author of your article had used it it would have proved that it does own various businesses. I did claim that i don't know much about this foundation. so i'm not sure what you read .
I'm not telling you anything, I didn't claim that the regime was corrupted or it wasn't corrupted. all i have said is that if you make a claim you've got to back it up. it doesn't matter what I believe or don't believe , belliefs don't have a place in a logical argument, nor do personal attacks.
Using personal attacks in a logical argument is a fallacy called ad hominem.
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
The author of the forbe' s
by Anonymous90 (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 01:40 PM PDTThe author of the forbe' s "millionare mullash" was assassinated after writing that article.
//www.forbes.com/2004/07/12/cz_sf_0712stevefo...
Children, I have to go now...I've lost precious time which I could've spend volunteering, doing yoga, or finish my project...
rahpanha: 30 years of
by Anonymous90 (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 01:21 PM PDTrahpanha: 30 years of sanctions?? All other countries have been able to trade with Iran. The EU is the largest trade partner and Russian and China practically have turned Iran into their client state by milking the mullahs in astronomical projects that they never finish and only enrich the IRGC et al or other agahazadeh's family. Perhaps you're one of them.
It is noteworthy that you intone "Imamreza.net" as a credible website. Ironically , it is only reflective of how biased and highly vested in the ruling elite you must be.
The regime routinely fabricates data and is highly secretive in record keeping , which is designed to deceive the sheeple. Are you honestly telling me that the regime is not corrupted and has not been raping and plundering national wealth and resources to enrich itself and its cronies??? It is a waste of time to argue with ideologues or those whose livelihood depends on the survival of the regime...I'm just wasting my breath...
hanna jan: I'm exhausted and
by Anonymous90 (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 01:05 PM PDThanna jan: I'm exhausted and from your polemic I can surmise that you already have a well-established agenda and you are not really interested in a well-reasoned argument.
What is your definition of top echelon?? The rich and wealthy monarchists in Los Angeles??? That is not my definition of top echelon.
I know of very religious people who went back to IRan after graduating from some of the best schools paid for by the Shah or because the Shah allowed their "peasant" family to socially move upward and provide their children with the best high schools. Some of these people are pioneers in contributing to the field of computer science in Iran and around the world, and it weren't for the education they got during during the Shah's era, without any exaggeration, there wouldn't be a computer science field in that university.
NOTE: Any fair and balanced analysis of the previous regime with mullahs regime has to take into account the level of progress before (Quajar) and after Pahlavi (the mullahs). Otherwise, your comparative analysis has no validity or internal consistency.
anonymous90
by Ranapanah on Wed May 14, 2008 12:57 PM PDTyou are kidding right?
as a proof you link to an article that uses words like : it is believed that, it seems like, the gossip on the street is that,...
an article that uses names and figures yet fails to mention where those numbers come from. apparently is the word on the street, i forgot.
"Meanwhile the clerical elite has mismanaged the nation into senseless poverty."
you know i don't know much about the economy but i think 30 years of sanctions should put a dent in it. when banks don't open an LC for you , you kinda have a hard time trading.
For those who read this article and are left puzzled about what is the Razavi Foundation, or Astan Quds Rasavi, I don't have much accurate data on this but I guess you could look at their own website
//www.imamreza.net/eng/list.php?id=0307
parthian jan: Thank you for
by Anonymous90 (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 12:47 PM PDTparthian jan: Thank you for the compliment. If I were Vezarate Etelat, I would fire all of this surrogates on this site. They couldn't be more incompetent or transparent. The sick part is that no matter how many times they are decimated, they keep soldiering on to peddle their canned disinformation. I'm exhausted and need a break.
To: Aryamehrnotsharif - lopsided analysis
by hanna (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 12:31 PM PDTWhat kind of an analysis is this; that Iran's achievements and quality of education should be attributed to the Shah? Are we going back in looking at political systems once again in order to make our assessment of Iran's progress? I am baffled that any intelligent individual would make such a statement.
You really think that credit should be givent to the late Shah for all of those students who went abroad and studied hard and came back to Iran to live and teach at these universities and our schools? Why? Did he invent a super intelligent computer brain for them? The scholarships my friend where not given to those who needed it but the other way around, to those who could afford it?
You are confusing the time of Reza Shah with the Shah. By the time the Shah came, things were not as rosy as you like to make them out to be.
Again, with all due respect, I have to say that the majority of those who were in the top (wealthy) echelon of Iran's society did not go back and are right here in the West. Furthermore, many of those teaching in Iran have nothing to do with what the Shah did. They were starved for education, it was the only way for them to have a dignified life. They came to the West with whatever little savings they had, worked their buts off, working at restaurants, washing dishes, doing whatever they could to pay for their education. They were the ones' who went back and are willing to work for the benefit of Iran. Obviously they had the same choice that the rest of us had to stay here in the comfort of life in the West and make alot more money!
I can tell you from experience, I went to college with those "who's who" whose fathers or family members were somebody during the reign of the late Shah, they neither studied, nor worried about studying, because they believed it was their God given right to be given a high position in the government upon their return to Iran, either as a minister, an ambassador, or something in that caliber. The last thing those people were thinking about is going back to teach at a university and obtaining the low paid wages.
Most of these people couldn't give a damn about higher education or receiving good grades, they just wanted a degree. Furthermore, when some of them couldn't make it in this country after the Revolution, they went back and are sitting at home living off of the wealth left behind for them.
UN's human development index
by Anonymous90 (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 12:25 PM PDTUN's human development index is not a measure of economic or socio-political progress. Cherry-picking stats to fit your agenda only discredits your other arguments. "HUMAN DEVELOPMENT" is an abstract concept, which you can quantify in any which way you desire to fit your agenda.
Iran has regressed at least 100 years in terms of 'opportunity cost (look up the definition), developing non-oil economy (i.e. diversifying the economy), increase dependency on Russia and China, Productivity, opportunity cost in industrialization, brain-drain, mismangment of oil industry, massive corruption and embezelment by the criminal authorities, waste of human potential and precious mind. For God sake, Iran stones people to death. What could be more symbolic of Iran's immersion into a cesspool of dark ages.
I'm tired of debunking immoral and highly vested people who try to legitimize the illigitimate; those who defend the indefensible. You are not fooling anyone. I'm astounded by the mushrooming of demagouge and propagandist on this "non-partisan" website.
Love Anonymous90
by Parthian on Wed May 14, 2008 12:20 PM PDTLove his unique way of using the English language, and his efficient way of putting the IR apologists in their place. I totally agree, Sadigh's tone of writing is one of arrogance, and he seems to believe he has it all figured out.
As for the HDI data, it proves our view that Iran has moved backward. In 1975, while not the best of situation, Iran was ahead of the Arab States, and East Asian countries, while far behind Europe, and South America. Today, Iran has fallen behind Arab states, as well as East Asian country. In the next 10 years, that gap will widen tremendously as Arab States, and Asian countries on the right economic path. Good stats, and a good set of hard data to prove our point. But somethings can not be measured in just numbers. It is not as if Iran is more independent, or free, or self-suffcient as part of the cost of moving backward. Iranian life has deteriorated on all levels. This includes Human Rights, executions, women's rights, and yes, even education.
As a whole, I agree with the original article, except for one part, we did not need the revolution to understand theocracy. This would be like saying human history is irrelevant, and knowledge is not cumulative, which we know is untrue.
Unfortunately, Iranians in general are too fanatical about religion, superstitious, and the metaphysical world. Mullahs have been excellent, arguably the best at taking advantage of these detrimental weaknesses.
I understand your resentment
by sadegh on Wed May 14, 2008 11:58 AM PDTI understand your resentment and frustration, save your mommy, daddy and spousal issues for another day please, and go on your way...You have nothing valuable to say so I appreciate your self-imposed silence, you've done us all a gigantic favor. Thanks...
Objective Stats from UNDP on Iran vs. other countries!
by hanna (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 11:55 AM PDTUnfortunatey, we Iranians seem to look at our country's advancement and progress depending on our political views as opposed to real progress and advancement that Iranians/Persians have achieved throughout it long history; whether that be, during the pre-Islamic period, post Islamic and since the 1979 Revolution. By belittling our peoples' contribution we are doing nothing but belittling ourselves in the eyes of the world. The world will see us as we see ourselves.
I am sure my compatriots who are far more in tune with Iran's advancement and progress post the 1979 Revolution will provide readers with ample information.
However, just for those who believe that Iran has been pushed back to the stone age, the following are some un-biased information from international sources which may shed some light in our faulty view of Iran today.
I would recommend that you look across the board on all tables and stats of Iran historical pre 1979 Revolution to current. And compare Iran's development and progress in various areas. These are merely statistics and contributions cannot be quantified by numbers only; they require indepth understanding of the challenges that have faced our country and how she has been able to ride the waves during these most tumultuous times.
I for one am pretty proud of all they she has achieved and will continue to achieve.
I am sure you are all far too intelligent to need my assistance regardless I would be happy to to provide you with the summary if requested.
General table:
//hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr_20072008_tables.p...
Sample of some stats on Iran:
//hdrstats.undp.org/countries/country_fact_sh...
The following are also some basic statistics from UNICEF
//www.unicef.org/infobycountry/iran_statistic...
I am not advocating blind patriotism or nationalism, however, what I am hoping is that we can look at our country and the contributions of our people not by what political system is in place but from a just, fair, and balanced perspective and give credit where it is rightfully due! They sure have earned it without our help.
Regards
Sharif university is
by Aryamehrnot Sharif (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 11:37 AM PDTSharif university is Aryamehr university established by the Pahlavi. Who are the professors in that university? Those who came abroad and studied in the best universities of the West because the Shah had created the largest middle class in the history of Iran. If Aryamehr University is thriving today it is not because of the Islamic Repbulic, it is despite of it. Science and Academic excellence were highly valued and promoted during the Shah's reign. The credit goes to him. Though, he was a bastard for leaving Iran in the hands of these criminal thugs.
the new cold war
by Anonymousaq (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 11:00 AM PDTthe new cold war
ranapanah: I don't know what
by Anonymous90 (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 10:42 AM PDTranapanah: I don't know what planet you've been living in; but here is a start on oligarchal mullahracy. You should also do your own independent research by reading diverse sources of info, not just IRNA and ISNA or other mouthpieces of the US. SEEK FOR THE TRUTH AND YOU SHALL FIND IT! PROVIDED THAT YOU're truly interested in the truth.
//www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/0721/056.html
While you're at it, check out the GDP and Income Per CApita of IRan versus other non-oil producing nations such as Turkey, Malaysia.
I can't be spending more time than this on this site. Use your own time to find out the truth.
Sadegh: I highly recommend
by Anonymous90 (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 10:25 AM PDTSadegh: I highly recommend you seek extensive professional help to correct your malignant narcissim. Your tirades speak volume to your upbringing and your unstructured emotionallity. Your writing is parroting clich-ridden talking points of the useful idiots in the West. May you recover from your immense egocentrism and pompous attitude. Consider yourself ignored. I don't have time to respond to every pseudo-intellectual punk on this site. I have already wasted too much time as it is.
re to anonymous90
by Ranapanah on Wed May 14, 2008 10:18 AM PDT1. I didn't say i support the constitution of Iran. The constitution was used because the author saw it credible enough to quote it , hence it is also credible to use it to disprove his points.
2. I didn't comment about the economy excluding the first six years after the revolution. so your comments about the current years in response to my comments do not apply.
3. I didn't comment on who goes to school , only said the ones that go are educated. Therefore, your comment about that doesn't nullify my argument there.
4. unless I missed something in the article , there was no mention of Reza shah or his kingship so MAYBE that's why I didn't talk about him?and now that we are on the subject what was the real difference between his roosari tosari rule compared to the one employed at the moment?
5. can you prove this for me "After 30 years of all the petrodollars that have gone into the regime's coffers, ." where are the facts? I'm not refuting this but any real proof of that? I don't have time to actually calculate this myself but maybe someone could, (petrodollars - (yearly budget + cost of extraction+ foreign investor's share ) )that might give us an idea of how much is pocketed.
Talk about a straw man...
by sadegh on Wed May 14, 2008 10:14 AM PDTAnonymous90, you're obviously too old and senile to see that you've created a straw man...what arguments, what refutations, I said that Iran will be unable to get beyond the current political impasse until the bastions of the theocracy have been dispensed with, wake up please and stop drooling all over yourself with your stupid and nonsensical pontifications. I never initiate rudeness, I respond in kind to rude thugs, ignoramuses and bullies on this site who think that 'he who shouts loudest and insults the most is right'. Learn how to read and then perhaps respond to my posts - please cease and desist from ascribing phantom positions to me...It's just pathetic...
What happened to Habb-e-angoor?
by Ranapanah on Wed May 14, 2008 09:37 AM PDTnow that we are talking about brothers and sons and thankfully have left boz boze ghandi alone in our analytical discussions I think i will quote Baha'uillah from the book of the covenant, or Kitab-i-ahd
covenant number 12 says :
O
ye chosen of God and His trusted ones! Kings are the
manifestors of God's power and the source of His majesty
and affluence. Pray ye on their behalf. The government
of the earth hath been vouchsafed unto them......
i mean talk about divine rule.
--------
and why would you be obsessed about hojatiyehs ? oooh i forgot you believe mahdi already came in form of Bab(1) , they say he is going to come. I understand it's personal but I expected a more logical argument there, i mean you had a great one going although i didn't think it fair that you left out the younger child , maybe habbe is somehow ahmadinejad or his son ?
1)//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_al-Mahdi
Ranapanah and Sadegh: Your
by Anonymous90 (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 09:29 AM PDTRanapanah and Sadegh: Your arguments have been refuted ad nauseam in the early months of introducing blogs to this website. It would be so easy to deconstruct all of your half truths; however, this site has become a zoo infested with apologists for the criminal authorties in IRan. It would take a full-time effort to respond to all of them.
There are thousands of refernces and matrix to refute all of their assertions about the current state of economy and education in Iran. We all know the poverty level in Iran according to the IR's own records is above 38%. CIA fact book puts it at above 40% in 2006 and 2007.
Before 1979, many religious families in Iran, nothing to do with working class many of the super religious families in Iran were Bazaaris, middlemen and street peddlers, would stop their daughters from going on to further education, because they thought they would become corrupt. Once the Islamic revolution came about and the "cultural revolution" Islamized the universities, these families felt more relaxed about letting their daughters to go to universities - Read Shirin Ebadi's book on this. Yet this in itself has become a thorn in the side of the clergy and now they are blaming the ills of the society on too many women in universities, so they are talking about "sahmiehbandi jensi" - "gender allocation" in higher education. Don't you follow the news on Iran?
Yet you dimwits and your treacherous pseudo-left string pullers like Edalat and Rostami, scraping the bottom of the barrel, use this to credit the regime with. Shame on you!
After 30 years of all the petro dollars that have gone into the regime's coffers, this bollocks is all you can come up with.
If you want to know when Iran really made fast progress, read about what happened during Reza Shah's reign and how much Iran advanced in 14 years of his rule. But the ideological barriers around your brain prevent you from saying that, don't they?
Sadegh, you might think you know everything and you've got it all figured out because you've read Nitezsche, Heideggar,Kierkegaar, and so on, but you're too young to have really grasped anything meaningful as it is clearly evident from your inability to see the forest for the trees. You are too rude and reactionary for me to waste time on and educate you.
And yes, I do wish the author had provided sources to some of his facts. HOwever, not doing so, does not necessarily mean he is lying, it just means he is lazy. I hope you're not offended Omid jan.
To make a point
by Abarmard on Wed May 14, 2008 09:01 AM PDTHere is the news I just read..
Sharif University gains 13th place in Students International Programming Competition
//www.payvand.com/news/08/may/1137.html
Tahirih jan, all due
by sadegh on Wed May 14, 2008 08:33 AM PDTTahirih jan, all due respect, but I've written plenty of published analyses on a whole range of subjects, from Nietzsche and Hegelian philosophy to Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Tibet, all with the necessary footnotes and references. You can read them here: wwww.eterazonline.com. Where are your's I might ask? Furthermore, you accuse me of propagating chert o pert analyses, but where's your refutation with evidence of the previous posts who happen to disagree with the blasé invocation of 'facts' and aleatory assertions made in the above essay? Respectfully yours, Sadegh…
Persian Divines
by Mona 19 on Wed May 14, 2008 07:53 AM PDT....Verily, the Prophet of God, Muhammad, sheddeth tears at the sight of your cruelty. Ye have assuredly followed your evil and corrupt desires, and turned away your face from the light of guidance. Erelong will ye witness the result of your deeds; for the Lord, My God, lieth in wait and is watchful of your behavior.....The gates of Hell have opened wide to receive thee, O thou who hast turned away from thy Lord, the Unconstrained! Repair unto its fire, for it yearneth after thee. Hast thou forgotten, O rejected one, when thou wert the Nimrod of the age, how thy tyranny eclipsed the very cruelties of Pharaoh, the Lord of the Stakes?
~Bahaullah
Re:Ranapanah
O YE SEEMING FAIR YET INWARDLY FOUL! Ye are like clear but bitter water, which to outward seeming is crystal pure but of which, when tested by the divine Assayer, not a drop is accepted. Yea, the sun beam falls alike upon the dust and the mirror, yet differ they in reflection even as doth the star from the earth: nay, immeasurable is the difference! ~ Bahaullah
Mona
Very good
by Abarmard on Wed May 14, 2008 07:33 AM PDTVery simple and down to the point. Those who know history understand our past, can analyze our present and forecast the future. Although I would argue about our education system and arts. Also our medical and technological advances in the fields of computers and robotics is top 5 in the world. We do after all are considered one of the few countries capable of producing great scientific papers. Our pharmaceuticals are also well known. Other than above I agree with your points.
Very nice. Thank you.
The only problem is
by Realist (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 07:10 AM PDTThe only problem is we were not anything like the Roman emprire prior to the revolution. There were a few privileged ones brain-washed into thinking that northern Tehran was Iran.
I agree with Sadegh and Ranapanah where are the footnotes?
by hanna (not verified) on Wed May 14, 2008 06:58 AM PDTI am alwasy amazed that certain individuals write articles and throw in all sorts of information and stats without providing any sources. The qualified authors who post articles on this site, and aim at providing valid information with the aim of showing their objectivity always quote their sources; else the information is not credible.
It seems like many Iranians have learned from U.S. officials and media sources who quote information with anonymous assertion after onother, never letting us know if the information is created to fit their policies or their is actual proof.
It reminds me of all of the accusations against Iran providing arms to Iraqi militias, killing of American soldiers, and training insurgents and stating they have proof; only to find out there is absolutely no proof whatsoever.
Just to demonstrate that I am not bull shitting with my above statement here are the sources though it has nothing to do with this article:
According to a
//latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008...
report by the LA Times correspondent Tina Susman in Baghdad: "A plan to show
some alleged Iranian-supplied explosives to journalists last week in Karbala
and then destroy them was cancelled after the United States realized none of
them was from Iran. A U.S. military spokesman attributed the confusion to a
misunderstanding that emerged after an Iraqi Army general in Karbala
erroneously reported the items were of Iranian origin. When U.S. explosives
experts went to investigate, they discovered they were not Iranian after
all."
The US, which until two weeks ago had never provided any proof for its
allegations, finally handed over its "evidence" of the Iranian origin of
these weapons to the Iraqi government. Last week, an Iraqi delegation to
Iran presented the US "evidence" to Iranian officials. According to
Al-Abadi, a parliament member from the ruling United Iraqi Alliance who was
on the delegation, the Iranian officials totally refuted
//edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/03/iraq...
"training, financing and arming" militant groups in Iraq . Consequently the
Iraqi government announced that there is no hard evidence against Iran.
In another extraordinary event this week, the US spokesman in Iraq, Maj.
Gen. Kevin Bergner, for the first time did not blame Iran for the violence
in Iraq and in fact did not make any reference to Iran at all in his
introductory
//www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_conte...
remarks to the world media on Wednesday when he described the large
arsenal of weapons found by Iraqi forces in Karbala.
In contrast, the Pentagon in August 2007
//www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/p...
admitted that it had lost track of a third
of the weapons distributed to the Iraqi security forces in 2004/2005. The
190,000 assault rifles and pistols roam free in Iraqi streets today.
In the past year, the US leaders have been relentless in propagating their
charges of Iranian meddling and fomenting violence in Iraq and since the
release of the key judgments of the US National Intelligence Estimate in
December that Iran does not have a nuclear weaponisation programme, these
accusations have sharply intensified.
The US charges of Iranian interference in Iraq too have now collapsed. Any
threat of military strike against Iran is in violation of the UN charter and
the IAEA's continued supervision on Iran's uranium enrichment facilities
means there is no justification for sanctions.
I hope the above would provide the kind of example that we are looking for as credible source of providing information with backup sources.
To Tahrieh: With all due respect, for someone who preaches the kindness and love and good deeds of the Bah'ai faith, I am surprised at you for jumping on both Ranapanah and Sadegh.
I can understand your hatred toward the IRI, but I am prelexed at someone who preaches the goodness of the Bah'ai faith while making fun and slamming two commentators without herself providing any facts to the contrary.
Nothing is 100% bad or 100% good - but fairness must always prevail. Is this not one of teachings of the Bah'ai faith?
Ranapanah provided line item by line item of information about the Iranian Constitution. Furthermore there are significant stats to support her assertions.
If you want to refute it, then I would propose that you respond back as to why you disagree and provide your sources.
Best regards
Sadegh and Ranapanah, you guys just stick with ....
by Tahirih on Wed May 14, 2008 06:07 AM PDTInterpreting " shangol and mangol"!!! the art of talking and analyzing nothing!!!
Just like most Hojatiyeh sites which are long pages of "nothing" you think and write the same. Especially Ranapanah, come on quality is more important than quantity. But your Ideas worth more when they are heavier !! ha?
I bet one of you is the Ahmadinejad's younger son ,the one who is obsessed with Internet.
Tahirih
For Vatan:
by Mohammad Alireza on Wed May 14, 2008 02:49 AM PDT.
Our building supervisor’s son recently began his first grade at Razi school, which once was one of the best schools in Tehran.
.
Before he had learnt his Alef, Beh, etc. they had taught him to memorize parts of the Koran, which he proudly recited at home.
.
They had successfully turned a human being into a parrot.
.
Mohammad Alireza
Poor...
by sadegh on Wed May 14, 2008 02:39 AM PDTWell done Ranahpanah...where are this guy's footnotes?..It literally took a couple of seconds to find all of the glaring errors in this 'essay'. I really can't be bothered to refute the many falsehoods and simplifications in this essay, so I'll just make a few points, some of us have jobs after all, and Ranahpanah has done a pretty good job already.
The most obvious is that literacy amongst women has tripled since the revolution and that women students now outnumber men in universities, this is a fact. The degree to which it is attributable to the revolution is itself a highly contentious issue. The fact that literacy has massively gone up is nevertheless the reality.
You also completely ignore issues such as the embrace of science and technology in Iran, such as the pioneering research undertaken in stem cell research, something that Bush won't even sneeze at because of his own religious fundamentalism. Also why don't you examine the sanctions regime largely responsible for leaving Iran technologically retarded?
Intellectual and artistic life are closed??? I'm sure Ebadi, Ganji, Soroush, Kiarostami and many many others struggling inside Iran would be somewhat miffed by your rash generalization.
Velayat-e-Faqih is a modern creation by your own admission, since you acknowledge that Iran has never lived under a theocracy such as exists at present. Furthermore, in it's ideological demeanour it is absolutely modern - Khomeini notoriously borrowed heavily from the populist rhetoric of his Marxist rivals - it is however authoritarian, and Iran cannot proceed along the democratic path until it is dispensed with, the same holds for the Guardian Council. Religion and state must be separate, but that's not an original point by any stretch of the imagination.