Wednesday
September 13, 2000
Certainly not brainwashed
I am sorry that one of your readers felt like "throwing
up" after reading my article "Requiem
in Cairo". It surprised me to receive such a crude response from
someone who has never met me. I too can say that the events I witnessed
during the 1978-79 revolution and the tragic waste in human and economic
potential suffered by Iranians in the last 20 years also make me physically
ill.
Nevertheless, my father was a surgeon who saved many lives in Iran and
my French mother taught me to love my country and my beloved Shiraz. My
experience as a child and adolescent was a happy one and I certainly felt
that the late Shah and particularly Empress Farah played a positive role
in the development of our city and lives.
And if my parents abandoned Iran it was because they no longer felt
that a climate of revolutionary terror was the ideal place for their children
to grow up in - any parent would rather see their children happy than to
step on a minefield or join the Basijis. Having studied in the U.S. and
Europe I also learned to respect other people's views or to disagree with
them in a mature and rational manner.
Freedom of expression is a luxury of Western democracies and I exercised
it. I am certainly not brainwashed nor did any member of my family persuade
me to write my feelings about an event which in my view was both personal
and necessary.
I could take Mr Bardia Saeedi's comments as an insult but I leave it
to other readers to judge his words against mine. Personally, the least
I would expect is that he apologizes to me, without giving up his democratic
right to criticize me. In conclusion, I will say that qadr-shenasi was
once a virtue amongst our people as was manners and politeness - both alas
seem lacking in some people these days.
Cyrus Kadivar
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