Questions

Sheytune mige inam delete

Sheytune mige inam delete konam hesabi asabesh khurd she!

yes majid case closed as JJ doesn't want to participate anymore. he had enough...perhaps someone some where will pick it up again. Thanks to all

Gonaah nashod , doost-e man

As long as it's fun and all that , more power to you!

Life is too short to be bitter all the time, let's enjoy it " ALL" together!

Regards, 

Majid khan shoma zan darin

Majid khan shoma zan darin baghieh ke nadaran. Be ma resid gonah shod? Hala in Rosie bad akhlaghe. So what? shayad ye heykali dashte baashe ke , muah, adam haz kone. Albate az un zabunesho tahghigho deghatesh ehtemalan khikkieh.

Majid khan shoma zan darin

Majid khan shoma zan darin baghieh ke nadaran. Be ma resid gonah shod? Hala in Rosie bad akhlaghe. So what? shayad ye heykali dashte baashe ke , muah, adam haz kone. Albate az un zabunesho tahghigho deghatesh ehtemalan khikkieh.

Khodemun ! case closed ?

I think with the last comment of yours you summed it up!!  LOL

I hope she responds to you and your problem is solved !

GEE LEE LEE LEE LEE LEE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why didn't you say it earlier, BOLD! like our cartoonist does it all the times ?

Please no bad mouthing whether you like my comment or not.

Thanks.

Ok Rosie jan sorry ke man

Ok Rosie jan sorry ke man noveleh shoma ro delete kardam. Knowing now that you put a lot of effort and research into your work, I will approach you with a dictionary.
I still think it would be great if this was a persian only site. How do I define persian? Well, if you grew up on fesenjoon and tahdig macaroni, you are in. If you know what bastani leesee is, you are in. You remember Pesare shoja? khanevadaeyeh doctor ernest?...you catch my drift?

Hala bebinam. Khodemunim. JJ ke nemiad soal javab bede. Dust pesari mesari dari? Mam ke koshte mordeye un zabune negh neghut shodam...dige chi dari? Heykal? ;)

Take it easy until our next blog....

Thanks/mersi...

Khodemun, Mersi baraayeh paasokh. I wish you had just left the old blog onsite and stated your intentions on it to start a new one on the same topic. Can you understand that, having put considerable care into my post, your sudden deletion of the entire blog just a couple of hours later seemed like censorship? Also it was a legitimate mistake for me to think that "Khodemun" referred to the site being "yours" only, i.e. Iranians', instead of everyone's, including "Kharejis", given the context. That is a clear example of what I mean by the power of words. For better or for worse. Let us save further discussion of this issue for your new blog, as you choose to frame it. Unless of course you have something more to say to me here.
Cheers,
Rosie PS Yonjeh sounds pretty cool. Hopefully somebody else will pick it up as a monicker. :D

Adjust your attitude dude.

I am a registered reader but I'm playing your game with your "going back and forth between khodemun and khodemun1, not verified" !!
With this mentality of yours, dude ,soon that "khodemun" will consist of "YOU" and your "DOODOOL" !
Have fun with your "TOY"!

To Rosie

Khodet:

====>Khodet khodeti. My nickname is khodemun. Khube ke man hazrate aali ro Banafsheh ya Yonjeh seda konam? My ID here is Khodemun.

But the topics here are responsibility, censorship and what is sacred.

====>No. The topic was JJ and these issues.

Re responsibility: you did not wish to be held responsible for things you said

====>I answered every comment. When a conclusion was not being reached, I decided that a more lengthy blog was needed.

back-pedalling and frivolously changing your tune whenever questioned by others.

====>I kept to my main point. Which was about a place for Iranians to get together with other Iranians.

I know, I know, you don't care.\
====>pass maraz dari vaght talaf mikoni?

====>Topics relate to each other. However, specific subjects can be discussed without mingling things up. FOCUS!

Jahanshah mersi.

Jahanshah mersi.

But it IS the same topic...

Khodet: You claim my long (and admittedly somewhat tedious) post here was off-topic. But the topics here are responsibility, censorship and what is sacred. Regarding censorship" your last blog proposed censoring an entire group of people from this site and you deleted that blog shortly after I posted my carefully considered response to it, thus censoring me individually as well. Re responsibility: you did not wish to be held responsible for things you said, back-pedalling and frivolously changing your tune whenever questioned by others. I fully got it that you intend to revisit the specific QUESTION on the last blog ("Kharejihaa" tuye website-e-"khodetoon",) but the TOPICS are the same.
There is nothing I hate more than to be boring, but I posted my summary of your deleted (censored) blog and my reply in order to have an extant document for when you revisit the "khareji" question, BECAUSE you announced you plan to re-frame it. Now you say you will re-frame it in a more general way. Why general? You said SPECIFIC damaging things about a specific group and your rebuttals to criticism showed SPECIFIC serious inconsistencies and contradictions. Again, why general? You said these things.
Now, regarding what is sacred: JJ believes "freedom of speech" is sacred. I believe WORDS themselves are sacred. They have the power to create, the power to destroy, the power to inform, the power to delude. That is why the three Abrahamic religions are based on the creation of the world by the WORD. But the Mazdaists got it much better. Good thoughts good WORDS good deeds. Thought leads to speech and speech leads to action. The quality of our actions stems from how we preserve the sanctity of our speech. You cannot simply push a button and delete the damage you do with your words.
I am sorry you could care less for my opinion. You and I concur about many things as is revealed in this current blog. More will be revealed in time. I know, I know, you don't care.
Thanks again for interviewing JJ. It was a brilliant idea.
Rosie

Done

khodemun1,

The questions are endless. I've said enough for now. We can pick this up later. There's plenty to chew on for now.

Thanks for the debate.

j

Jahanshah Jan, I thought

Jahanshah Jan, I thought about it. Here are my questions.

Please don't put that site for a vote. The topic can be voted on but let's not post the name of the site.

Let's talk about sex:

- You mentioned people's discouragement "fom participating in society in an honest and meaningful way without fear of death or severe punishment"

Can people explore sexuality if they fear exposure?

- Where does reporting end and morality begin? For example, as a journalist, how did you distinguish between your profession and the need to inform the public from protecting the public?

- Women's rights? Are you aware of the dangers a released sex tape poses to a young woman in Tehran or Shiraz?

- Do you see a difference between a taboo and a morally questionable action.

- You said "My job is not to protect or endanger lives". How come? Aren't we all responsible for each other?

It depends on what our definition of the word "is" is?!

JJ here is what you said on that blog which was spun after your berim faza blog that I refer to as you "liking" porn.  Not that there is anything wrong with it!

"I don't want to pretend that my intentions are entirely "pure" or that I'm simply reporting something as a journalistic duty. I would be the first to admit that I'm fascinated with sex and don't hide it. And yes, testosterone did indeed play a major role in my decision to blog about that site."

Sex is "pure".  What is "not" pure in your definition?  is "porn" not pure? is adultry "not" pure?  I don't want to put word in your mouth, you answer it yourself.

About that big breasted woman comment, the point I was trying to make is that she posts her nude pictures for money.  She makes her living this way and was forced to take down her fully clothed junior high pictures.  What makes you think that providing a link to a questionable outfit is ok and legal?

What's the point if you provide 1% questionable items?  Are you using the same rationale as posting it on a weekend?  This is not about being "scared" about freedom.  It is also not about posting "sex stuff".

A while back, about a year or so ago, Army's National Guard Reserve wanted to post an ad on your website and you put it up for vote.  Mostly voted no and you said ok no.  Did you get "scared" about posting the "words"? just "words" of National Guard?  That is a legitimate legal outfit, wanting to pay you for exposure and you said no.  Now here you are busting our chops because many of your loyal readers are saying that was poor judgment. Why not put that berim faza posting for a vote? You haven't made any mistakes since you started iranian.com?  You never take down a posting saying it was a mistake?

Kaveh "While I think you

Kaveh

"While I think you pose interesting questions, what is it exactly that you are driving at?"

I think that without understanding freedom amd defining it, it's hard to know what it is dige che berese be in ke bekhaym behesh dast biarim. I think there is a difference between freedom and khar tu khari. Freedom comes with rights and responsibilities. Constitutions. Charters of human rights. History. Goals of a people. We need to know if freedom has limits, if so, what is that limit.

Some disturbing material is on this site. With the questions I've asked and those still in my mind, I want to see if we are really sticking to "freedom" "nothing is sacred" or if we are moving towards intellectualizing khar tu khari and using freedom to fuck freedom.

I believe we can explore and discuss and even get off on subjects without posting images that violate the sanctity of human life.

Jahanshah jan, OK thanks,

Jahanshah jan, OK thanks, now I will have to think some more.

Rosie T.: That is not the topic here. I already said I would address that topic more clearly and in a broader sense. I will however say this, I am standing by my position on that subject and couldn't care less if MR x or anyone else agrees or disagrees. I especially could care less if you agree or disagree.

Khodemun.....

While I think you pose interesting questions, what is it exactly that you are driving at? It seems to me that you feel that there are questionable motives behind this website. Of course, this is JJ's site, his baby, his "toy" if you will, that he and only he has the right to do with as he pleases. We're just his humble guests, and I, for one, am grateful for his hospitality. :o)

For example, I personally think Hossein Hajiagha is a certifiable mental midget with deep-seated issues including a anti-social personality and an addiction to pornography. In my opinion, his work is not artistic whatsoever, and is highly offensive in every way. I think he has nothing positive to offer society. And as much as I loathe the jerk, and have even begged JJ to banish him, JJ was right in reminding me that banishing him would make us just as rotten and low as those sons of bitches in Tehran who are running our homeland into the ground. The same opinion I have of "Artist from Canada" Hajiagha applies to people I find to be equally deficient in character, like Dariush Abadi and Anonymous343434 (whoever that psycho is) and several others who I think were dropped skull first on a concrete floor more than once as children. But, let them stay, and let the "khareji" have a say as well.

Your other blog wasn't going anywhere!!??

So that's why you deleted it! Funny, Khodetun, I thought your previous blog travelled very well...
For the record, you wrote saying you were tired of 'foreigners' who were 'raping your eyes' with their stupid comments and this site should be only for Iranians. In the ensuing discussion everyone, Iranian and non-Iranian, differed with you except for one Mr. X, who agreed, and one poster who was ambivalent. Another poster said what if it is a non-Iranian who is part of an Iranian family. You told that poster it was because of comments like his wife's who insulted you that you wanted no foreigners here. Still posters disagreed with you . So then you claimed you were being misunderstood and you liked "foreigners" and had never said anything offensive about them--you just felt like your "favorite toy" was being taken away from you, and you wanted to be able to argue and insult Iranian style without scrutiny from 'foreigners'.

In the course of my reply to you I pointed out several contradictions. In summary they were: 1) that you say you want no 'foreigners' here because you don't want them (the wife in question) to insult you, while also saying you don't want 'foreigners' because you want to be free to argue and insult Iranian style without the scrutiny of 'foreigners'; 2) that while you see this as a toy, foreigners often come here who are concerned about a possible war with Iran and yet you think you have more right to be here than they; 3) that Iranians often complain their culture is unappreciated in America yet when Americans come here you want them to leave; 4) that you call Americans 'foreigners' on a mainly English-language website based in California; and most importantly 5)that no amount of back-pedaling can ever change the fact that saying 'foreigners' are "raping your eyes with stupid comments" is as offensive as any comment I have ever seen on this site (and needless to say, I've seen MANY...). I asked you if this was the type of scrutiny you wished to avoid from 'foreigners'.

I told you that if more Americans knew more about Iran, they would never dream of raping her for her oil again. That the non-Iranians of good will who come here are not the rapists but the antidote to rape. And I ended by saying that I found it eerily disturbing that you spoke about "raping your eyes" when the home page had for days featured the ravaged eyes of the young anti-stoning activist Asieh who had witnessed many executions (and whose imminent blindness her doctors assure her is stress-related). I said her eyes had been truly raped and you should stop worrying about your own. I signed myself "Qurat-al-Ain (comfort of your eyes".

Very shortly thereafter, you deleted the blog. You say it is because it wasn't going anywhere. Again I thought it travelled very well.
When/if you reframe that issue as you say you plan to, please account for the OBSCENITY of accusing the non-Iranians here as a group of "raping your eyes with stupid comments", as well as the other contradictions. If you have relented, then you can't possibly say your blog didn't go anywhere. If you have not...well...what more can be said?
Rosie PS I enjoyed the interview with Jahanshah.

Culture of death

Khodemun asked:

- "the culture of death, the killing of human beings under any circumstances is wrong." What is this culture? Can you define with examples?

JJ: The culture of death? Physical elimination of "enemies" and opponents has been a fact of life in iran forever. Every person in Iran knows that there are numerous red lines you cannot cross. If you happen to be a writer or love politics, you know you should not mess with the government, Islam, ayatollahs and other powerful people. Specifically, you should not express your criticism in a way that fundamentally questions the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic or Islam's core principles. I haven't counted, but I would not be surprised if there are more than two dozen laws that allow judges to take your life. When the legal system and the ruling establishment do not value human life, and do not tolerate true opponents, then you have a society, a country, that's living a lie. You will have a country that will not welcome fresh ideas that would breath new life into old ways of thinking and doing things. You will have the Islamic Republic of Iran where bloggers, writers, journalists, students, equality activists, and intellectuals who promote democracy and the separation of mosque and state get thrown into jail simply because they raised questions about "sensitive" issues. All these discourages people from participating in society in an honest and meaningful way without fear of death or severe punishment. Only yes-men and blind followers will thrive, as they do today.

- "For iranian.com it is a constant reminder that everything should be heard and explored." What is exploration?

JJ: Man cheh meedoonam what is "exploration"? :o) Please remember that I am obviously no philospher or intellectual. I do not claim to have all the answers. I am only speaking as a person with 27 years of experience in journalism. I was an OK journalist at my peak, but nothing special (my colleagues will attest to that). Nevertheless years of experience has led me to some conclusions about freedom and free speech. These are my conclusions; not "truths". YOU have to make up your own mind whether I am making any sense or not. But in order for you to do that, you must have a forum, an outlet, a place to think freely and speak without fear. As for what falls under "exploration" in iranian.com, well anything that has not been explored, especially political criticism, questioning religion and religious extremism, women's rights, and literary expression of taboo subjects such as sex. As a people, we Iranians have not had the opportunity to "explore" these subjects in a free and open environment. Now we do, thanks to the Internet.

- If life is sacred, should it not be protected? If yes, how would you protect it on this site.

JJ: My job is not to protect or endanger lives. iranian.com is a forum for free expression in a dangerous world. Speak and express yourself all you want (and I think it is the right thing to do), but do it knowing that you are exposing yourself to the world, including hostile forces.

Porn or tasteful sexuality?

I agree with the distinction that JJ made. There is porn and then there is tastfeful display of human sexuality. The line between them can get blured but there is a distinction and JJ to best of his judgement has tried to separate them

A good example was speed bandits:

//iranian.com/Anyway/2006/November/speed....
That is not porn. That is news. That is fresh and also NICE! Ofcourse not quite traditional or family value. But this is a site for adults.

So JJ you got my vote. "Hajagha" cartoons I am not sure! It's just not that smart anyway!

I hpe JJ would continue the tradition of good taste like speed bandits despite the pressure that I can see from some corners!

No child porn. Happy?

Anonymouse: "Is child porn sacred?"
Good question, because everybody asks about it. "Nothing is sacred? What about child porn?" I don't know anyone who believes child porn is an acceptable form of speech. I certainly don't. And where and when did I say I like porn? What is porn? Is anything that is related to sex considered porn? And how often have you seen porn on this site? I guarantee you out of the thousands of features on this site, the "sex" stuff would not amount to more than one percent. So what are you worried about? Those who are scared of free speech always talk about exceptions. If I published the photo of a teenager with big breasts A) It was because she requested to be published and B) It was not because she had big breasts! It was because she was a person who happened to have big breats along with hands and feet. And maybe a brain! Having big breasts is not a sin. Stop worrying about exceptions and stick to the main issue which is the free exchange of ideas.

Let’s consider this –

Let’s consider this – freedom is a relative term. If I happen to be in Rio and in a nude beach I am totally OK and I am free as I wish (being nude - if that is what I want to do of course and if not I do not have any business visiting a nude beach). But if I am at a city called Ocean city (and God knows almost every state has one of those city), I will get arrested if I go to the beach nude. And if I do it in darya khenar, we all know what will happen then. So, freedom is relative to where we are physically and emotionally. I will not have a sense of humor if I was just dumped by my boy friend and you “better” do not make fun of my situation just becasue you are free and can say what you want (if you are my friend) but I bit you few months later we both can laugh about it.
So, we have “social” freedom and “personal” freedom and I do not think the discussion about freedom is all that simple or black/white

Hair-splitting sophistry

khodemun,

You sound like you have a lot time on your hand,

and have an obsessive compulsive disorder focused

on hair-splitting sophistry such as the proverbial

medieval fixation on counting the number of angels

that can stand on the end of a pin.

What's "sacred"?

Albert Schweitzer summed it up in the famous phrase:

"Reverence for life". This is the summum bonum, or

the supreme good from which all others are derived.

Don't get it? OK!

Remember the three items specified in the Declaration? "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness."

Still don't get it? Go back to your psychiatrist!

There're sacred things

-Human Life

-Family(the one you creat and build)

-Human 'Rights'

Khodemun !

This is EXACTLY where the problem is:

"JJ Ghorbanet ostad, give me priority this is my blog. Answer my questions first."  !!

You can start a blog, but when you do it in a public place then you can NOT close the door on people.

It WAS yours when it was in your MIND ! now it's "  HERE  " on INTERNET !

In your previous blog you said "leave my F ing site alone" !!

Doost-e aziz, It's NOT yours ! you are another visitor, just like the rest of us.

You can e-mail JJ@iranian.com if you don't want to hear from the rest of us and you expecte it to be a Q.A. between you and JJ !

Regards, 

JJ Ghorbanet ostad, give me

JJ Ghorbanet ostad, give me priority this is my blog. Answer my questions first.

JJ, while you're at it

Would you please  explain this "flag as offensive" thing and it's definition?  and offensive to whom?

And before you answer that, take a look at most of the comments "specially Farsi ones" by your favorite "cartoonist"?

Voltaire said it best.

Voltaire said it best when he said:

 "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

This is what I think when I see "Nothing is sacred."

I do agree that "Nothing is sacred" is not literally true, but I'm glad that JJ knows that and isn't allowed truly sacred and glaringly unethical items find their way to the front pages of this site.

 Its tough to be fair, especially when we have so many Iranians here that are filled with hate. Every sentence they spew out comes from a dark place in their minds. Allowing them a venue to speak can be cathartic and will hopefully cure them of their disease and get them back with the rest of us who look forward to a bright future for all Iranians.

~E

new site for all of us

This is a new website for all of us.  Iranians and non-Iranians alike.  We're all trying to get acclimated with it.  Sometimes we're subjected to shock therapy by JJ and other posters and we make our own comments and suggestions.  This is not to say that everything should be changed.  Just some tweaking.

Anonymouse, Be Tonya chi kar

Anonymouse,

Be Tonya chi kar dari mesle bache khub gerefte nesheste chera alaki tashveeghesh mikoni.

Hala be ishunam miresim. Motmaenam agheedeh dare. Hamishe agheedeh dare.