Sir, in case it has escaped you; it appears that Iranians are speaking out ‘with enthusiasm’ against discrimination, but not on this website given that a great many of them charge that you are censoring them from objecting to the sources of discrimination, including the way this website is run. Please look at the link and a few of the excerpts quoted of critiques we have received. It would seem that proud members of any given ethnic group would address such serious criticisms from so many people. When you return to the U.S., let’s sit down for a interview together.
“It takes from between one week to sometimes three or more weeks for one to have an account approved and/or activated (on Iranian.com). Given this, it appears to me that the site is generally reluctant to take on new subscriptions; and when such new subscriptions are given the new subscriber appears to be placed under some kind of unspecified watch by the admin/webmaster – a watch which includes the collective participation by the regulars/entrenched clique — to ascertain their ideological disposition and leanings vis-a-vis the party-line favored by the site. In other words, there is an unspecified litmus test operating on the site regarding subscriptions and new subscribers.”
“Certain topics are verboten on (Irainan.com), and if a given poster broaches them and pushes against the (manufactured) consensus-reality of the site’s party-line too hard, their messages are either flagged and deleted, or the ‘offending’ poster will face the prospect of their account being blocked altogether shortly thereafter. These topics include but are not limited to: a. any nuance or ambiguity on the question of a US/Israeli preemptive military strike or war on Iran (meaning, anti-war positions are generally unwelcome there and relegated to verboten status byIranian.com although the site does also allow [objections to war] by certain token posters); b. criticism of Zionism/Israel and Israeli policies; c. defense of Palestinian rights; d. criticism of the Haifan Baha’i organization and Bahaism’s history, figures and doctrines; e. resistance to the Islamophobic hate-speech and Islamophobic misinformation and disinformation campaign pervasive on the site; f. criticism of the webmaster Jahanshah Javid and his politically sordid past as a propaganda journalist; g. criticisms of American foreign policy in the Middle East and the Islamic world, and especially American policy towards Iran. Any poster who trumps the party-line (on Iranian.com) on these questions immediately faces a barrage of red herrings, canards, abuse, psychological reversal games, bullying and accusations of being an agent of the regime in Iran and on their payroll.”
“Posters who criticize Baha’is conduct, or criticize Zionism too vigorously, will first be ignored and/or ostracized by other regulars and then, finally, will get their accounts blocked by the admin/webmaster. Attempts at self-defense or defensive responses by posters deemed persona non grata will always result in their messages being deleted or their accounts blocked. As such censorship and the culture of censorship is endemic to Iranian.com.”
[QUESTION ASKED: Do you believe the manner in which content is presented or participants favored on Iranian.com has the intent or effect of causing discrimination against Iranians?]
“Yes, without question this is true. The people that own and operate Iranian.com have shown a history of exploiting the Iranian community for donations and support, while Iranian.com consistently has worked hard to spread as much vitriol against Iranians and to generally engender as much discrimination against the Iranian community as possible. Ultimately the effects of this betrayal will be felt by Diaspora-Iranians much more so than the government of Iran. The illusion of support Iranian.com maintains on its website is by strict comment control and choosing who gets their viewpoints featured (If you have something bad to say about Iran or Iranians, you are championed by the Admin). Essentially, Iranian.com’s business model has been to try and create a culture to encourage Iranians to spread discrimination against other Iranians. I attended a large city-wide Noruz party in Berkeley, and at the end of evening the conversation turned to Jahanshah Javid and Said Amin and how they run Iranian.com. The overwhelming majority of Iranians expressed extreme dislike for the behavior of these individuals and called for boycotting Said Amin’s dating website Iranianpersonals.com which has been a source of revenue for Iranian.com. If you look carefully at Iranian.com, you will see that the bulk of its supporters are a hodge-podge of MEK members (a terror group), militant Zionist super PACs (AIPAC, The American Enterprise Institute, the David Horowitz Freedom Center, etc.), the Bahai lobby, and every sort of separatist group seeking an excuse to divide Iran into pieces. Iranian.com’s business model is based on the exploitation of the Iranian community without regard to the harm they are causing to ordinary Iranian families. The idea that the pompous individuals that run Iranian.com are supposedly ‘combating the Iranian government’ or its policies is a sham; they are very clearly combating the Iranian people to make money.”
