We started talking and he asked if I ever thought what things would be like had the 1979 Islamic take over had not happened? I replied not really, what’s the point? He smiled and started listing some of the things we are faced with today which would not have been the case had the country not gone rogue. At the end, howver, he had a great message….
What if……
What if there had been no 1979 Islamic “revolution” in Iran?
– By now, solar power would have been harnessed in the desert with considerable output.
– The Busheher Nuclear Power Plant would have celebrated its 30 year anniversary and there would have been other nuke plants elsewhere in the country.
– Whatever the government, it would not have felt the need to acquire nukes in order to seal its fate and hold on to power.
– Iranians would have been able to travel to 150 countries without a need for visa!
– Iran Air would have celebrated 40 years of safe air travel without incidents or fatalities.
– Cyrus the Great International Airport south of Tehran would have been operational since 1982 as the largest airport with highest passenger throughput in Asia.
– It would have been a woman’s choice to wear, or not wear, the hejab (Islamic dress code).
– The World Cup Soccer games would have been held in Iran.
– The 1988 Olympic Games would have been held in Iran instead of South Korea.
– The Iranian National Team would have been present in all World Cup games.
– Women athletes would have been able to compete in all sports.
– High speed Internet would have been the norm.
– You would have been able to fly Tehran to New York non-stop without having to go through a cornea scan at the airport, be finger-printed and treated like you are contagious.
– Publications such as the Time Magazine, Life, etc would have been printed in Iran.
– You would have not feared being seen with your friend of opposite-sex in the park.
– Coed education starting from kindergarten and elementary school would have been the norm thereby lessening the sexual tension in Iran which is present in every Islamic society.
– Copying pirated material would be illegal and punishable by law.
– There would have been no prohibition on alcohol which would have helped promote tourism.
– Foreigners would have wanted to visit Iran as tourists by plane loads.
– Northern Iran would have been the premier tourist spot in the Middle East with tourists from all over Europe and Asia.
– People would not have longed to go abroad. There would have been little or NO brain drain.
– All Iranian females would have been able to go see sporting events freely.
– Foreign students would have come to Iran for education.
– You could have ordered stuff through the Internet, pay with your credit card and have them delivered to your door step.
– You would have never wanted to leave Iran.
– Instead of 75 million, the population would have been 50 million, max and people’s average income would have been $25,000 NOT $5,000.
– There would have been be no “Meydaane Enghelab”
BUT…..
If there was no Islamic “revolution”,
– Our kids would have listened, with enthusiasm, to the words of a bunch of illiterate and backward clerics longing for the glory of an Islamic regime, martyrdom and jihad!
– We would have wanted to enjoy the perceived independence and divine feeling that would come with having an Islamic country…..
– No one would have appreciated the backwardness, the ugliness and oppressive nature of Islamic laws.
– We would have been unhappy with the status quo and would have longed for recreating the glory days (yeah, glory days) of Islam in our non-Arab land.
Therefore
– It is best that it did happen, for although the Iranian people both inside and outside the country have been burned for the past 31 years, from their ashes would rise a free and prosperous Iran without the Islamic antinationalist, anti-Iranian thugs.
