Letter from Iran

Recently JJ has been discussing changes to Iranian.com and many have responded to his new ideas. Below I'd like to share some of mine, which may or not be doable, or very expensive, or just a useless pipedream. Anyway, here goes.

First thing that I think needs to be asked is, "What is Iranian.com?"

I think Iranian.com is a meeting place; one of the very few venues that Iranians can express themselves freely and without fear. Those living in Iran do not have this luxury. So for Iranians in Iran access to Iranian.com, the meeting place, is important … even though the videos don't function when you have to go through a proxy … and a download feature is lacking.

So if this is a place to meet then it could also be a place to organize, which I think is what Iranians all over the world need, and need desperately.

I think the time has finally come for Iranians to participate in creating a new Iran. Most of us know what the new Iran should have as essential features; democracy, rule of law, freedom of belief, expression, and assembly … and hopefully the rest of new Iran will naturally evolve once given these features.

So if we have a meeting place and have roughly the same objectives then to get there we need to organize as it is impossible to do this without forming into groups, communities, parties, coalitions, and finally a government. Therefore, I think the most important function that Iranian.com can play is to allow us to organize.

So, how can this happen? How do you replicate a virtual round table that a dozen people can sit around to discuss, argue, analyze, and plan?

I don't know if any of you have played poker on pokerstars.com but one very interesting feature that it has is that the players (from all over the world) sitting around the "table" are able to chat with each other.

Now imagine this could take place via a video chat feature that captured images and sounds, and also allowed sharing of links, photographs, and any other type of commonly used file. In a way each seat would turn into a mini-broadcasting station.

Now imagine if Iranian.com had such a feature. Of course most of the exchanges will be similar to what we have now; nasty comments, defensive responses so as to protect our "royalist" position, or any other position, while showing off how clever and well informed we are… and how stupid the previous comments are. And just like the current comments there will also be civil exchanges, intelligent debates, and a display of our cultural maturity and potential.

However, the difference would be that if we did "sit around a virtual round table" and mastered basic democratic procedures, the seeds of democracy would be planted.

Being able to talk with twelve other people without having a shouting match, about any subject, be it religion, revolution, or economics, would be a major cultural step forward. And we would be doing this across time zones, across belief systems, across social classes.

Scientists say our greatest evolutionary step took place when we discovered how to make and use tools.

Maybe if we did create this "tool"…"a virtual round table"…we would be making an important contribution towards our own cultural evolution.

And cultural evolution is certainly something we Iranians could use given that we have been forced to go back in time so as to experience the supposedly utopian wonders of Islamic culture … which by the day is proving to be a dystopia instead.

So there you have it JJ one of those easier said than done kind of ideas.

Let the cultural evolution begin!