bahmani

So the author is saying that

So the author is saying that there should be total freedom of speech? Everyone should be allowed to say anything they like because censoring is a “slippery slop”?

I used to think like that too... when I was back in highschool.

I wonder if the author has thought about a hypothetical scenario in which the current "evil" regime of Iran is overthrown and replaced a plural open-minded regime that allows total freedom of speech.

Then the next day, some dude in Kurdistan publishes an article addressed to young poorly educated Kurdish men saying that they have been enslaved by the Persians, providing pseudo proof, and that they should pick up their guns and fight to the death to free their land from the evil enslavers.

And then provides coordinated plans for how these young Kurds to go around and shoot people on the streets and blowing up buildings.

Then what? As Parviz Musharaf says, you have to choose between stability and freedom. Which do you choose? To prevent bloodshed (the effects of which are immediate), or preserve freedom of speech (the benefits of which are NOT immediate).

Choose the later and you will be considered unfit for command due to not being able to control the violence. This will cause even further collapse of stability as different groups realize that they can also exploit the situation to their own benefit. Choose the former and you will be labeled a dictator. This will result in corruption among mid rank officials and further restricting of freedom of speech.

Therefore, until the people of a country have not reached a certain level of education and tolerance, pushing for freedom of speech is not wise.

Well, let me see

Mr. Bahmani, this is becoming more and more interesting, not so much because what your detractors but because of your response and reactions. If you are a "public" contributor with real name and credentials behind your pieces, then you should expect to see certain individuals comment for and against you (including personal attacks). But displaying your absolute incapacity to handle personal attack, you're encouraging them and stimulating more attacks. They're getting somewhere after all, be it making you feel low for a while. This is a warning call for JJ to see what he might be able to do to rid the site of these anonymous detractors. Maybe there's a middle ground where we don't have to sacrifice the anonymity provided in the new setup of the website, but we could still be accountable. This is a serious issue and JJ should see into it. Otherwise, the site will lose its quality and fail to meet its basic goals as a healthy forum for those interested in Iran. I am sure we have enough computer/html experts to figure out a way to make people register with real names, addresses, even phone numbers, but only display their "user ID's" when they post. Or some other way if suited can be arranged.

Anonymity is a Right not a Privilege

While I am very sorry to see the right to anonymity being abused by some, anonymity is a right nonetheless. Those who wish to remain anonymous, for whatever reason, and publish a letter or an article are not doing anything illegal and are protected under the constitution. The ultimate responsibity lies with the publisher of the anonymously written articles or comments. If the said article proves to be libellous or defamatory, the person who is being defamed or libelled can demand the offending article to be removed. If the publisher refused to remove the offending material, then the libelled person can initiate legal proceedings against the publisher. But the punch line remains to be that "The right to be anonymous is a constitutionally protected right."

bahmani: how did this guy get information about your friends?

that's getting scary.

This is unbelievable

Anyone who knows these 3 friends (Jamie, Cameron and Bruce) knows that such manners have never occured between them, and
will never happen.
But I have seen strangest things in my life, you never know.
But I can assure you that Bruce is right, and there has never been a girl like they said, now leave him alone, please.

REALLY LOW!!!! (but a nice try!)

Now the harassment has gone to posing as my friends, Whoever is posing anonymously as Jamie and Cameron Douraghy (who never went to my high school), you need to be better at it. Comments made in the names of my personal friends pretending to disagree with me and to claim they are somehow even involved in this is really amateurish and shows your very slimy hand. For those of you who may not know what is happening now, let me explain. Apparently whoever hates me and this site, for opening this can of worms, has now resorted to cleverly posting comments using the names of my personal friends, and making it appear as if they are disappointed in me, or disagree with my response to writer attacks. They are also trying to reaffirm some sort of tryst failure I had while in highschool in Iranzamin, by mentioning it, and making it seem like I am somehow sensitive to the alleged rejection. Now, here's the hard part, (but since we're being honest) in fact, in highschool, I was very shy, so shy that if I had in fact been rejected by a girl that would have been a huge success! An honor actually. Unfortunately it never happened. There is no "snubbed by a girl" girl. I wish there was! So hopefully now you can see what kind of sick and twisted (and I'm sorry but no other word applies) ASSHOLES we are dealing with in this ongoing debate over how to keep the conversation civil, constructive, and above all FREE! But damet garm dude, that was a very creative try! Too bad your talents are being wasted by posting it on this piece. I invite you to join the ranks and divert yourself to something a bit more productive. Oh and by the way you messed up by letting Cameron call Jamie "Jamshid jan". That and the word "bro". Had you known these brothers, you'd know that Cameron's name for Jamie is... well you'd know!

Disclaimer

With the new format, the quality of this site has gone down. This site carries comments and accusations which can hurt the people who are using their real names. Do not be surprised if someone gets sued or this site gets shut down.

Thanks Bruce, David ET, Sasha, Ben, Rosie, Kimia and Qumars for being honest.

Our country is in its present situation because MANY people stole from it, cheated it, and basically destroyed it anonymously. This is not freedom, this is act of being a coward.

Someone said …. Only those with massive balls can survive here!? If you had any balls, hehe, you would not use pseudo name.

Another person said . . .do not write adversarial articles or if you do, make sure you were chastity belt! What a stupid statement. This person really believes in freedom of speech.

Disclaimer: F. anonymous posters who reed and are reeding to Iran and other countries. All Rights are not reserved. "Get used to it."

The difference is, I am accountable

Apparently what is good for the goose, isn't good for the gander! How sad that when I give it back, I am chided, but as long as I capitulate and take it, it's all good fun. Again, I am not as cold as some may want or expect me to be. Insult me, it hurts. I did not start this. I am merely expressing my dissatisfaction with it. By the way that's free speech too. So is this one, ROBIN JAYNE GOLDSMITH, your uppercase screaming is giving me a headache! As to my use of profanity, that's what happens when people with free speech, no monitors, and no editorial policy do. Also please do not assume from the course of this important and I think constructive and focal conversation, that all my future pieces (Which there will be many I assure you!) will necessarily be similarly fohsh and curse-laden. I am pretty much over it and you can expect the usual from me, trash or treasure.

Dear ROBIN JAYNE GOLDSMITH T.

Pardon me! But, isn't NEW YORK CITY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY a school for intellectually substandard and mentally mongoloid!?

David Gooshti,
Manager @ McDonald's
2209 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20007
(202)965-4990

.

.

Too many Children

I am getting a headache from all the CHILDREN on this site, Mr. Javid, can we get a seperate site for people like me who sign on to read articles written by grownups?? BTW, Mr. Bahmani is one of my favorite writers, thanks for deciding to come back, personally now that I am up to speed on the infantile behaviour of these commentators... I will stick to reading the main article and skip the comments..more importantly... what is Mack Baniameri's opinion on all this, I'm sure he can put it in perspective:))Children, dont' worry we will set up daycare on this site, you can go there and stick your tongue out at each other, use capital letters , do some namecalling and make funny faces, since this is all you seem interested in.

To " Goldamayer", new BOUNCER of the site!

You wrote:

"YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE WE SHOULD GET RID OF."

It looks like this "iranian.com" should allways have a bouncer !

One idiot leaves, another "peshgel" fills in immediately!

And what is this " WE " business all about? You and the mouse in your pocket ?

And to "farrad 02", I don't think if he/she is smart enough to know the diff.

Looking forward to the day that JJ changes this "captcha" question from addition to division, that gets rid of your likes.

A second thought, you still keep using your calculator!

To: David ET

Sandniggers like you don't deserve "REAL" freedom! You need to be chomaghed on the head and in the ass until eternity!

Just a Thought

Censorship of IDIOTS does not eliminate them and their behavior from the society. However, there is a democratic solution to the problem.

If Jahanshah wishes to respect freedom of speech for all, inclusive of the few IDIOTs, it's only fair that he also respects freedom of expression for the majority by providing a "Reply Rating,RR". The purpose of RR would be for majority to indicate their dissatisfaction with anti-social replies and pushing their posts to bottom of reply list.

All anti-social posters are starved for attention. Once they are deprived of the attention, they are forced to modify their behaviour to recieve attention.

FARRAD02

GET USED TO IT. I AIN'T GONNA TURN MY CAPS OFF, THAT'S
THE WAY IT IS, YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT.
ALSO THANKS TO MY CLASS FROM NEW YORK CITY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY WHO IS READING THIS AT THIS VERY MOMENT. WE ARE GOING TO FREE IRAANRIKAAAAAAAA
WE LOVE YOU JJ, WAY TO GO SASHA PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP
VICTORY IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER FREE IRAANRIKAAAAAAAA.

OT, but for good measure!

Bomb the Mullahs! Yes, it is not directly related to your topic, however, let's please keep our collective eyes on the ball. Mullahs are gathering at a "Burning Man" type event in the Kavir looking up to the heavens for some guidance [LGB] :)!

Now, to make certain this post is offensive - kiram to dahaneh harche mullah va Islam parast!

I wish these Iranian [arabzadeh] muslims idiots knew what the arabs did to them for centuries.

To Goldsmith: Turn your Caps off, please!!!

For God's sake turn your Caps off! Did you know that writing in all Caps online is the same as shouting in face-to-face conversation?! Why do you feel the need to shout all the time?

.

.

TO SASHA

SO BASICALLY YOU ARE IMPLYING THAT YOU HAVE A LIFE AND OTHERS DON'T?
WITH ALL DUE RESPECT SISTER, WE ALL DO HAVE A LIFE, BUT THERE ARE MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE LIKE THIS SITE.
DO NOT GIVE UP SISTER.
BEN AND JJ I LOVE YOU ALL.

Rosie T: Who is giving up? :o)

 No one is giving up. I just have a life. I will check back on you, Ben and the rest of the iranian.com family. Catch you later.

Natalia (real name)

BEN, SASHA, NYCCT, KEEP SEARCHING! JJ AND RJG LOVE U

DON'T GO! DON'T GIVE UP! I'LL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING LATER! DO YOUR HOMEWORK! YOU'RE DOING GREAT! HAVE FUN WITH IT BUT DON'T FORGET THE GOAL! :D SALAAM IRAANRICAAA UNITED WORLD!

...

Bruce, no matter what you write, this system has huge flaws... in reaction you have also harshened your language! Why? In my past "artilce" (it wasn't an article anyway) I used for the first time "bullshit"... it isn't much of a big deal anyway because I was addressing no specific person or ID, but the whole thing is reducing the quality of the pages, and that is a turn-off.

Bahmani, the problem remains

you may have been pacified, but others have not. Also, with all due respect, people have had much worst hecklers and multiple ones of them. I will personally be happy if JJ takes the offensive flags seriously, but for that to work, we need to say what kinds of comments are unacceptable first. It can't just be whatever an editor feels like.

Tolerance

kimia yar

Dear Jahnshah and Bruce,

What ist the point of letting some asshole make vulgar comments on this site...Where will it go?

JJ- You say practice tolerance. Look at history Iran has been tolerant to the Arabs, Moguls Mullahs Americans you name it.  Is this the right attitude : to practice tolerance

Point2-You guys dont' get it.. This is what Islamic Iran is doing to people(Live under a veil)ie:To be anonymus.  Is this what you want for the Iranian people.  Lets say you do become the President:)

Will you let this kind of attitude  go on because (nothing is sacred)

Point3-Why dont you have a real debate between our pundants.instead of Beyond persia art and literary show why dont we have a political round table and have an audience.  Then I would like to see what people say and how they say it( Now is it cultural that our people have 2,3,or more faces?

Kimia-Berkeley

Bahmani jan, goosh kon bebinam

First of all, I like your posts, and your logic.
However, you are taking the comment section way too seriously man.
You wrote something, then some fool(s) commented some nonsense stuff, done. why are you paying so much attention to it?
You are still alive and healthy, your job is still intact your loved ones are alright... so what's to worry about?
simply ignore them and move on, you can't please everyone.
and those GBR kind of people crave attention, they are trolls and you are feeding them. They are in every site, and they will be... and they don't deserve your time.

Bahmani: Welcome back............

 Welcome back and I am glad to see that you came back feisty. :o) I am currently taking a beating on my blog "Journey toward Islam" however I knew it would happen. So I was prepared for it. I decided to have a little fun with it actually.

Best wishes,

Natalia (real name)

Rosie:So that was your agenda?

 So that was your agenda? Drive JJ so crazy with your irrational behavior that he would either block you, delete you or email you. Some how there has to be a better strategy.

Natalia (real name)

WOW!

go asia go! wow

can someone please get jj to email me already
thanx
rosie khanoum

Fiery darts

Three quotes from Thomas Jefferson:

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."

"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."

"I have sworn upon the alter of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the
mind of man."

The anonymous abusers'insults and negative distractions and disruptions are a pernicious
form of tyranny over the rights and freedom of
expression and of civil communications between
the writers and readers of iranian.com.
Their meaningless, mindless gibberish and
nonsense discredit and condemn them as petty
tyrants infringing and imposing themselves upon the rights of others. They are the noisy statics of
this medium of transmissions.

We are with you! So fight the good fight, and
remain mindful of Ephesians 6:11/16:

"Put on the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil...
Above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench
all the fiery darts of the wicked."

Go Bruce!

Bruce,

I agree 100% with your sentiments on the subject. And I sympathize!  For a lot of us, apparently, this freedom of expression thing is a learning experience! A big learning curve apparently!

 Although I still think that SOME level of editing is necessary. Actually it is both the right and responsibility of Jahanshah. After all, this is his baby and he has every right to keep it clean! I also believe there is a concerted effort from an organized and well funded source to mess up the clean image of this great thing we have (Iranian.com) The same thing IRI did to the Persian 24-hour satellite TV world with by creating a phenomenon named Rangarang TV from Wachington, D.C. It is a way of bad mouthing and cheapening the whole tone and environment of a medium so that the good and clean will get tainted as well. 

Just my opinion, but Jahanshah probably disagrees with any controls still, which is fine; like I said, this is his baby!

Now, I'm going to try writing a few lines like this other nut who hasleft a few commenets here:

HEY BRUCIE. JAHANSHAH. SACRED. NO MESSY WITH NO SACRED. I'M A NUTCASE! I'VE BEEN SMOKING ALL NIGHT. NOW I'M TYPING UP A STORM. ME CRAZY. YOU FREEDOM LOVING! SASHIDAM. HEY MARG BAR. MARGH BAR. MORGH BIAR. AZHAL RAFTAM.....