Iran Heritage, Persian Gulf, Iran Alliance, VAFA and Mehr Animal Shelters

Iraj Khan

Iranians like screwing over other Iranians.

Helping Social Ills

J. C. Vaughan

I know social ills, like street children, are in every society. But I think, Allah is merciful and compassionate, so what else should I be? I have already tried to help out the Iranian LGBT cause (for Makwan Moloudzadeh; for Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni; for Mokhtar N. and Ali A.; for Ebrahim Hamidi; etc.), thru IRQR. But I must and I will make the attempt to help out the street children of Iran. Social ills must be addressed and not ignored. If the Shah had done more that way, he (or his son) would still be Shah, and Iran would be much better today (American elites might be frustrated, but that is their problem).

Iraj Khan

Iranians like other Iranians.

You are joking: the posters  on IC prove otherwise!

one more,

Iranians like other Iranians.

Astrology disagrees with all

Astrology disagrees with all this. ....

How can you say "Iran" anyrhing. Everyone is different.

Ali Mostofi

//twitter.com/alimostofi

Raoul

My kids are young and in school; their accomplishments are limited. Getting good grades; making good friends; never get in trouble. My daughter is a talented painter and sculptor. Kids go to her for advise.

What do those historical characters and events have to do with you, or your daughter, other than minimizing your low self-esteem! 

The above made no sense at all, My self esteem is quite high. I have degrees from top universities; several patents and fine kids. I am very happy with it.  I was not big on money but got a bit. My one regret is to see Iran in hand of Islam. 

VPK

About your daughter: It is nice that [in your mind] she can take pride in all those historical events and characters! 
Now: What have been her own accomplishments so far?
When people lack self-esteem, or find success out of their reach, they try to project a better image of themselves by expressing their associations with successful folks. 
What do those historical characters and events have to do with you, or your daughter, other than minimizing your low self-esteem! 

being truly impartial and fair

I was actually much more fair and balanced than this blog is.

I did a "positive things of Iran" blog once. But I did it for BOTH sides. Not one:

//iranian.com/main/blog/fesenjoon/20-positive-things-about-iran-us

Positive generalisations

Are Iranians humorous? Well a lot of them are yes I'll give them that (all though quite a few have the sense of humour of an ashtray).

Hard working? Some are and many aren't, compared to the Turks or even Indians many newer arrival lower middle class Iranians can be quite lazy. Go to an Iranian restaurant or grocery store and compare the level of work ethic to that of the Turks or Indians and you'll see what I mean. Turks make good money because they bust their ass doing the donkey work. Iranians want to be cute and cut corners sell over priced goods thinking they'll be millionaires over night. Usually when they go into the professional sphere they tend to be harder working, but not necessarily harder working than say the Chinese or Europeans.

Successful Immigrants? Historically absolutely yes they have been successful, although again with these new generation of post revolution new millennium immigrants loads of them try to cut corners and cheat and thus end up unsuccessful.

Are Iranians romantic? lol thats a very contentious sentiment. I'll say this the often deemed inferior 'A'rabs are certainly more romantic than Iranians, males or females when it comes to expressing their feelings displaying affection being creative with compliments etc. Iranians are too proud and like to play games when it come to their emotions where as Arabs to tend to be a bit more simple in that regard and thus more expressive (although your fair share of Arabs also love to play games)

Iranians are polite? A case of positive generalisations, some are some aren't depending on class, family, personality etc although lower class and even more upper class Iranians can be extremely tactless. Taarof a lot of the time gets passed off as being genuinely polite.

 Iranians love their culture (literature, philosophy, etc.)? Again some do, some don't and some think they do by romanticising and over glorifying something they haven't thoroughly bothered to learn about and understand.

Iranians are well educated? Again another positive generalisation. Some are some are not, and some just go for titles i.e. studying engineering or medicine or I.T becuase it sounds good becuase you can make big money from it, rather than studying these fields out of a genuine passion for them.

Iranians are nationalistic? I'm not even entirely sure nationalism is always a positive characteristic. Patriotism is a positive characteristic but it can have a tendency to manifest it self in nationalism and from there to chauvinism. Are Iranians nationalistic in that they can say f*** the I.R.I or our nation is better than your nation, yes. However when the day finally if ever comes that Iranian people united together build a semi decent nation to live in (rather than this abhorrent mess) then it can be said that a.) nationalism is a good thing, and b.) Iranians are genuinely nationalistic.

Iranians are successful entrepreneurs? The positive generalisations are getting a bit tedious at this stage but yes can find many a successful entrepreneur that so happen to be of Iranian decent and well done to them. You can also find many Iranians that unfortunately are unsuccessful entrepreneurs.                        

Social Stigma

All these IRI-hating Iranians here shun anyone who has something like that attached to them.

Some of the religious people I knew in Iran saw it as their duty to help people who needed help, regardless of such stigmas.

Of course, the asshole fanatics among them labeled people with their own brands of stigma, and thought that THEY were superior to those who had them. e.g. not being a great big Muslim, or godly person, etc.

Its funny how people who think they're superior are actually trash. 

Judging Social Ills

I remember telling upscale Iranians here in America about going hungry in Iran, and even eating out of a damned garbage can at my school, and the guy said "you must not come from a good family; my relative started Iran's first newspaper", etc.

I have no sympathy for such a corrupt and cruel culture, and I'm not going to be quiet to keep some spoiled rich Iranians happy, so that they can keep pretending and lying about their country to foreigners.

Hiding Social Ills

Mr. Ala, of course everywhere has such problems.

The way these problems are treated however, is different.

Iranians here in America pretend that they don't exist, because these problems make them look bad.

I remember I was telling some Americans about the food shortage in the early years of the war in the 1980s, and talked about going hungry, standing in food lines, etc.

... and this Iranian girl I know told me not to tell them about these things, and to lie and say that Iran has no poor people at all.

She was very matter-of-fact about it, as if she expected me to understand. 

Social ills

Street children can be seen in Tehran… They sing songs, play music, sell flowers, candies, gums, to give few examples.  Street children are operated by one older person who hides in a distance (usually a corner) and monitors two to three children.  He/she  collects their money every couple of hours.  Jafar Panahi made a movie about these children which was posted on IC.  Here is the link in case you missed it.https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#search/jafar+panahi/12e63125914e95e4

There is a place in Yakhchi-abad where these children are brought for rehabilitation.  The place's lady manager (modir) complains that they do not have enough funds/resources to take care of these children. The manager's estimate was lower than what AO mentioned. This is a social ill that we have and there is no pretending on this subject Jahan jan.

Iran is not alone in its share of children who make a living in the streets, every country in our region even Eastern European countries such as Serbia and Romania have them.  This topic deserves a thread of its own.

Iraj Khan

"Iranians outside of Iran have married members of just about any nationalities available to them."

And the families of those Iranians talk about the Iranians who have married non-Iranians, and usually in less than flattering terms.

Which brings us to another Iranian characteristic: Being two-faced.

Pretending

That's another thing Iranians are good at, Mr. Ala.

Let's add that to the list. 

Wow

I never knew the problem was that severe.

I never heard about it from Iranians (except one of them mentioning it, but I didn't quite pay attention).

... but that doesn't surprise me one bit. 

JK - here are some figures

//gvnet.com/streetchildren/Iran.htm

According to the government itself, there are about 60,000 street children. But the numbers are much higher according to other reports that I have read elsewhere. Just Google "Iran street children" and you will see. There are videos as well. Also, I don't know when was the last time you were in Iran, but I see them every single time I travel there.

Anonymous Observer

Iran has lots of street children?

Please elaborate further.

I know nothing about it. 

If its true, then of couse the Iranians here who love to shout "hurrah for us!" might be a little off the mark - I agree. 

amirkabear4u

"SINCE YOU ARE SO WELL INFORMED CAN YOU PLEASE TELL US DARKOOS WHAT RACE INVENTED ALL KIND OF THOSE KILLING WEAPONS???

Or probably you do not have an answer for this comment too?"

Whites invented all kinds of technology - including the ones you're using right now to criticize them with.

Others didn't do it because they couldn't - not because moral considerations stopped them. 

Stop using these technologies, if you object to them. Be man and live by your own word. 

Raoul

First of all I do not impose anything on my children. But I am not going to have them be ashamed. All people got cultural heritage. America has one and Iran has one. We must value an cherish our heritage.

For example my daughter is a "Daughter of the American Revolution" from her mothers side. That is a part of her American identity. If you need to google it. Another part of her American heritage is the "Constitution of the United States". Her Iranian heritage includes a 3000 year long history. Books as Shahnameh; Rubayyat and Canon of Medicine. The invention of Algebra by Khwarizmi. The legacy of Cyrus and Nader Shah. The list keeps going on ...

I do not have time to list all the cultural heritage of America and Iran here. If you really want to learn you have to do the work not me. Besides my kids also have a family heritage. Personal things I chose not to share on this forum.

VPK

I noticed you writing: "I tell my kids to be absolutely proud of their Iranian heritage."  Parents often impose their own fantasies upon their children…

Would you explain what you mean by 'Iranian heritage?'  Would help if you also listed the tangible aspects of the said heritage as well.

My understanding is that Iran has distinct regions, each with its own tradition, language, etc., but that would be for later discussion and for now your response to the above stated question would suffice.

Iranians embrace multi-culturalism

Fars marries Turk,

Tehrani marries Shirazi, etc.

Iranians outside of Iran have married members of just about any nationalities available to them. 

Iranians and whites,

Iranians and Asians,

Iranians and blacks,

Iranians and Pakestanis,

Iranians, and Latinos/Latinas, .. 

Iranians embrace multi-culturalism, over there and here. 

The danger in too much negative thinking is that

it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. It results in low self esteem and depression. It then results in not trying. If you do not try nothing happens. Which then reinforces the low opinion.

It is a proven fact that people with high self esteem do better. The societies that got trashed like Native Americans are yet to recover. That is why it is so important not to fall too much into despair.

This is all an individual choice. But if you want to raise your kids telling them they are *** you do them a disservice. I tell my kids to be absolutely proud of their Iranian heritage. None is to hide or shrink form it. The results speak for themselves.

Positive contributions and/or characteristics....

VPK jan; yes, what a mess.  I did not tell AO jan or anybody else not to participate or say what they wish.  I mentioned there are many threads about what we are not good at or how miserable IRI is... let us keep this thread to our positive contributions and/or characteristics….

LOL, it seems hard to mention our positive aspects without getting personal.  We are better than what several members have demonstrated in this thread.  There are many stories of caring Iranians and I am glad VPK shared one of those stories. 

For JahanKhalili attention

Please take a look at below. This is small portion of what you will get once you want to resist the therapy. You will  constantly have problems with million Iranians. I am sure you don't like to be insulted and degraded. Where is your dignity and pride?. On the bright side, you may want to find the solution. It is simple, pick up the phone and call therapist. All unresolved issues should be addressed in private sessions. Your past relationship with your father and your unfinished business with him.  I strongly recommand Gestalt therapy as the best way to go as I suggest crown Reza best way for Iranians to go for progress and prosperity.

BTW,

Make sure the therapist you choose has passed the state exam and is licensed.    

 "insisting that  they are Americans - no body believes them

JK- a couple of them even tried to prove the existence of God

through poetry.  Can you imagine?!!!!  Here:

//iranian.com/main/blog/soosan-khanoom/there-has-be-mind-behind-creationpage5

Dude, I have had that poem about scorpions read to me a million times too.  So, don't feel bad.

Dear Mohammad Ala

You know bit about half full of half empty right? Some people like to see things differently from others. Unless JJ puts in the "comment control" thing we have to accept people will brign in their own views. 

To be fair AO has very critical blogs but has been tolerant of my views. This is your blog so I don't want to tell you what to do. But from my point he has a right to his view. They often have a grain of validity. I  respond by bringing out the other side.

The other gentleman JK provides a lot of comic relief. On Friday nights I like to once in a while put aside by Khayyam and read JK. It goes well with red wine. My kids gather around me and we all get a good laugh or more :-)

What a mess

• All races have killed and tortured. You prove nothing by singling out one over the other. However Iranians; Greeks; Chines; Egyptians all  ancients were the least genocidal. Or maybe the records simply do not remain.
• Nothing about poetry goes against explorations. Many poets were astronomers or mathematicians. My uncle is a professor of science and has a keen interest in both wine and poetry.
• Caring happens in many ways. I know first hand how my family took care of a homeless Iranian family in the past. We hired the mother and took in her kids. She had normal house work the kids had no work except school. They got to eat the same as we ate. Lived in the same house although did not get individual rooms. When the mother retired we gave her the full cash to buy a house in Tehran. That was before Islamists took over Iran.

So before condemning people do some research. Maybe what one person sees is not the whole thing. People all have visions limited by their minds.

But the way arts are the inspiration for many explorers. 

Without arts including poetry we are nothing by robots without humanity. All human cultures show an appreciation for art. But no one has to like or appreciate any of it.

Dear Baldrick

You said;

"American Indians were also into torturing their captives"

SINCE YOU ARE SO WELL INFORMED CAN YOU PLEASE TELL US DARKOOS WHAT RACE INVENTED ALL KIND OF THOSE KILLING WEAPONS???

Or probably you do not have an answer for this comment too?

You can't even quote a poem Yadkin!!