angali

I agree with her

   Lying has become an inherent part of our culture . In fact ,Lying has become our second nature .  We lie to protect ourselves . This is the only way to get through life in an oppressive society where the rule of law is non-existant and the consequencec of your choices , are dire and unpredictable .

    For instance , imagine People in Iran , those who work in offices and govrnment jobs . When the mid day comes and bosses line up to pray a lot of employees have to fake praying . They all stand in union for ( Namaz Jamaat) . I have heard this over and over from different people that they join the prayer because of the boss . They do not want to be pointed out as "Kafer" . Some are scared of retribution ,some are in search of popularity ........

    Lying is part of  our every day mundane tasks . ( More for those inside than those outside ) .   I could give you so many examples that would be tired to read .

      In all fairness , luckily ,  We go through some reformation after years of living in democratic countries .

Ignore this "rabbi"

Ignore this "rabbi" character. He's a fake.

I'm more tempted to ignore the blogger. 

That's a smart person: argebam

Exactly. You took the words right out of my mouth. Muslims are backward, terrorist, and follow 1400 years of killings tradition. we are smart and know this but she said it, that's brave. without any prejudice, she stands tall and tell the world that Iranians live in lies because of their backward culture. the hell with backward culture, that's what I say. I love her and have already sent this video to my contact list.

She is correct

When a woman is born in a Muslim society like Iran afetr age of 5 or so, will live in two different world with double personalities (where she has to pretened of being some one else). She has to be one way outside the house and another inside her home. This is typical of a Muslim society and if you are some what a modern society like Iran (where modernity is in a constant conradiction with religion and backwardness) you will see the differnce even more. I am not a female but please for one minute put yourselves in shoes of Iranian women and see how they have lived in last 1400 years specially in last 30 years.

She means democratic nations all of the western countries where you can be yourself and do not have to pretend being some one else.

She is a national hero and good luck to her and I admire her boldness.

Ignore this "rabbi" character

He's a fake.  It's probably one of our resident IRI clowns masquerading himself as a "Rabbi" and insulting Iranians so that he can prove his point that "Zionists" are out to get us on all fronts.  

Abarmard jaan Iranians lie today because they have no choice

Here's what I mean by focusing on negative and asking for change.

We're tired of lying about our families because if we don't lie they'll be arrested for irrelevant things.  We're tired of lying to police because of our satellite dishes.  We're tired of the TV programmings.  We're tired of inequalities.  We're tired of this system that does not allow people to live in peace. We don't want another 4 years of picking fights with the international community and hang out with bad company, like Russia.  We don't want to pretend that we have rule of law where vigilante justice gets no punishment.  We're tired of unjust laws and want change.

Everything is sacred.

rabbi: Who do you think you

rabbi: Who do you think you are??? Why are you on this site??

Vildemose

I don't believe a word you say. lol

Rabbi: How many Palestinians

Rabbi: How many Palestinians your congregation  have  made homeless today??

To Rabbi Likudnick

Rabbi:  Are you a likudnick?? Shame on you. You are no different than those Ayatollahas in Iran. Bigotted and racist.

 We have Rabbis like Michael Lerner and then we have Likudnik Rabbis like the one on this thread.

rabbi

For more information on rabbi, visit Britannica.com.

Well if it was directed at Islam would be more understandable

You could justify that a part of a culture is Islam, but she is referring to countries such as China as liars also. Here is what I would say if I wanted to say the exact same thing, without focusing on positives:

-Iranians have always found a way to be who they like to be. They go against the authoritarianism and although forced to live their lives in a closed up cage, they find ways to adjust and make it livable. In this way, they show their discontent and fight against the unjust rulers.

Now compare that with: Iranians are liars, or live in lies.

First flag of America? What year?

Everything is sacred.

It's the great flag of freedom

This is the flag of Mexico, oops sorry, that would be an Iranian lying to you. lol

It's the first flag of America.

I don't agree that Islam is only to blame for Iranians lying

Because of crimes of IRI, now we attribute every evil in society to Islam.  That is not going to do us any good. Even though IRI has made culture of lying worse, Iranians lying was there when there was no IRI.  Many Iranians lie for reasons that have nothing to do with religion.  Also I am not sure Iranians are worse liars than people from other countries. 

What is the Capital of Freedom? And which continent?

Everything is sacred.

It's the flag of freedom

You will never understand

vildemose

When you read something, try to understand it. Khod daani.

Rabbit what country's flag is that?

Everything is sacred.

Iranians are deceitful

Down with Iran
Down with terrorists
Down with Iranian culture of deceit. That's why even the Arab world don't trust Persians.
some pro terrorists try to justify liars.

Abarmard: This is not Iran

Abarmard: This is not Iran and you cannot act like a basij. I will read your comments and will take you task for your bigotted and reactionary comments. Enough Promotion of heghart parvari and Geda Parvari.

I will continue to call your BS. as long as you choose this public forum to propagate your self-serving, sectarian, covertly bigotted agenda.

Justifying evil?

Please stop reading my comments. It's not for you.

Abarmard jaan change = focus on negatives (not positives)= Obama

Everything is sacred.

She has guts and she is

She has guts and she is courageous for speaking the truth.

Abarmard, You need to stop your tribal view of things. We belong to one tribe and it's a human tribe. Stop justifying evil. Your reactionary thoughts will not heal the world or the human condition they will only lead to more division and war among humanity.

For change, one must look for positives

Any culture or country can be generalized in regard to any cultural or social behavior, or be presented by experiences gathered by some unique individuals. To bring forth negative comments won't do anything but to create an unconstructive image of one’s culture and country.

To effectively promote change, one must focus on positives and transmit that positive as what is admired, so people take notice! The positive side of the culture that for instance is truthful.
For example, when you go to a Bruce Lee movie (my generation, now let's say action pack) you come out feeling tough. The impact of what you saw creates a pleasurable sense that one might like to imitate.

Rarely one puts oneself in a negative character copy, unless the individual is suffering from some sort of depression.
The negative issue is considered as "them" and not "I". This form of communication is ineffective and beside creating doubts and lack of trust to others won't do any good.

A medium that communicates the same thought in an opposite manner, instead, creates a form of unity, and socially will be welcomed.

Generally many countries’ film makers have used the first part of communication against their enemies to correctly disassociate their audience from the enemy, "them" not "you". Here we are doing it ourselves.

Now she is being honest, no doubt about that, but as the saying goes, the wise enemy is better than a foolish friend. People will not take note from her interview and change ****SPECIALLY WHEN IT”S FOR ENGLISH SPEAKING AUDIENCE!!!**** Those who want to make Iran look evil will use her, and those Iranians who should learn her concerns will spit on her.

That's the reality.

She means lying out of fear

I agree with acopier101.

I agree with acopier101. She is talking about the system that created this culture. It's very hard for us old generation to communicate especially with new generation. But, you can not generalize this to one nation. Forget about Iranian for a while. I remember Gobelz minister of advertising for Hitler said one time that the bigger your lies are the more believeable they would be! There is no doubt that some people are liers. Why this is more popular in Iranian these days, we should dig it. It's a whole system that was created especially after revolution. Islam in fact gives you a pass to lie -Doroughe Maslahati- remember? whenever we want to lie, we can use this Islamic rule!!!

We deal with different cultures when we live in America, Chinese, Indian, South American, African, Middle Eastern..... I can't believe how people lie to  survive.

I personally had the most troubles with Iranian around me, because I deal mostly with Iranian. It's my community and there is not that much choice.  But I can't generalize the troubles to all Iranian. We have good people too..

Golshifteh is 100% right

Although the goverment of Islamic Republic of Iran has created a culture that necessitates lies, Iranians lied way before that.

Why?  Shia' Islam.  Concept of "Taghiyeh".  I invite you to read about it.  Then you'll know why.

blah, blah, blah

Iranians lie for the littelest thing to save face, to scare children, to get ahead, and on and on....This and other cultural shortcoming has brought us to where we are today...

Angali

I think that first of all you are taking what she said out of context. You know full well she doesn't mean 'plain liars'. She is refering to people having to live a lie and tell lies as a result of the political system and the resulting lack of freedom.

The real problem is with those of us Iranians (which sadly is the great majority) who can not tolerate any truth that is remotely unpleasant - those who lie to themselves about who and what we are and what our weaknesses are. Those who blame Golshifteh and the likes of her for speaking the ugly truths. I think those are the 'plain liars' amongst us.

I agree with her

I watched the video and sadly to say, she is correct. A very complex culture. I think Dr. Holakouee can analyze the Iranian society better than anybody else.