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Thursday * Scapegoats Iran has existed in precarious balance for thousands of years. Somehow it has managed to accommodate its neighbors. Your article ["Just wondering"] was informative and updates these timeless issues. Needless to say everyone in this region needs another set of eyes behind their head! Scapegoats are forever in this environment. There are so many clever and talented people in this part of the world, so much wealth in the ground, that if they somehow learned to put their differences aside, they could create a paradise. * Not nuclear physics Hello, Farhad ["Let's be realistic"]: Qatar is a peninsula but it might as well be an island; or maybe Iran is the songster's island, all on its own, isolated, surrounded by despair. For my money, I think a country whose soccer coach has to be an import from a fourth world country does not deserve any better either. What does it take, rhetorically of course, to chase after a ball? This is not nuclear physics, but then if we import foreign talent to help on matters as elementary as soccer, what chance is there for self-sufficiency at other things. A ll the best, * Go Iran! Regarding the article "Let's be realistic": I remember World Cup 1998 when Iran was playing at the same group of USA, Germany and Yugoslavia. The Swedish TV showed two of these three games if I remember right and for these two games they had invited two Iranian football coaches in Sweden to the studio. What I feared was that these two would be too demanding of Iran, wanting the team to go beyond their real ability. But I was wrong. Before the match, the Iranian commentators said Iranian players lack this and that, and make a lot of excuses. You almost felt embarrassed and thought why did they allow Iran into the World Cup at all. After the game (the one against Yugoslavia especially) they would gain a little in confidence, and start defending the Iranian team and saying that they played really good, and that we have a lot of good players.. I believe that we Iranians have a hard time to be objective. We tend to sometimes think too highly of ourselves, which is the case of many football supporters, or too little, which is the case of the writer of "LLet's be realistic". I believe if Iran plays its own game, and do not think about the opposition, it would beat the entire group, since they all lack the talent of Iranians. I don't just say that because I am Iranian. I say that because we are 70 million people and if you put the amount of people in the rest of the group together they don't come up even to half of us (I may be bragging, but hey, I am Iranian after all). So we should have more talented players. We also have an older football culture and history than the rest too. So go Iran, do your best, we believe in you... Choghok * 1979 generation It is always so truely fascinating to read Najmeh Fakhraie's writings ["Parvaneh's memories"]. She comes from a post-1979 generation, untainted by the so-called revolutionary ferver of the late 70's and early 80's and at the same time been exposed to the socio-political and educational pressures of the islamic republic for the last 18 years. She is, in a sense, supposed to be a true child of the revolution. Yet, she has not allowed to be indoctrinated by the deluge of the islamic republic's propaganda which has claimed hundreds of thoudands of viticms in the last two decades. Her latest narrative on the concert of Khatereh Parvaneh is an evidence of her sensitive nature as well as a yearning for the bygone days. It was an enjoyable reading. In it, she asked one question and made one observation that require some further attention. The question was that why the name of the Talar-e Roudaki was changed to Talar-e Vahdat. Of all the masters of the Persian classical poetry, Roudaki's name is more closely associated with music and dance. Hence an obvious choice for the name of the venue which was to be the official seat of Iran's first symphonic orchestra as well as the national ballet company. Obviously none of these was in line with the islamic republic's way of thinking. So they chose a name that has never been an Iranian characteristic: Vahdat! The observation made at the end of Najmeh's article is also worthy of some thought. She suggested:"We survived Alexander, the Arab, the Mongol, the Qajar and a whole lot more. The molla too, I hope, we can overcome....". The trouble is, Najmeh, that apart from Alexander, who didn't seriously rule Iran, we have not survived any of the remaining contenders, at least yet. If you think that we have survived the Arab conquest, then what the hell is the islamic republic doing in our country some fourteen hundred years later? Arabs, Mongols and Qajars, are in a messy way linked to each other. Qajars claim to have descended (obliquely) from the Mongol. Mollas claim to have descended (directly) from the Arab. Mollas and Qajars have been the intimate bedfellows in conceiving the nowadays grown-up monster, known as, Velayate-faghih. So as you can see we are still right in the middle of it! I am afraid we've got a lot of working to do before we can get ourselves rid of all those demons, particularly the last two, Qajars and Mollas. Let me finish with the eternal words of another great poet of our recent history who, like Roudaki, was closely associated with songs and music, i.e. Aref Qazvini. While in exile in Turkey, away from the wrath of the Qajar ruler and his molla allies, he wrote: "taa keh aakhoond-o ghajar zendeh dar Iraanand een, nang raa keshvar-e Daaraa beh kojaa khaahad bord?" (how can the land of Darius cope with such ignominy, for as long as the molla and the Qajar exist in Iran?). * This is a sin What is this man doing, exploring the issue of sex and marriage for Iranian women? ["Cheraa ezdevaaj nakardeham (2)"] He sounds misogenistic and extremely inappropiate for a publication like this. I had some respect for your paper, but in this day and age, I feel such clear patriarchical self-amusement of this obviously frustrated man really devalues this publication. It devalues women! How many women do you see putting a microscopic look at men's sex lives inside traditional Iranian society. There is enough misogeny in our culture, as it is. The feminine is so not valued by both men and women, and is considered shameful and weak. I know I am a woman, an Iranian woman. Mr. Nasser, I would love to hear what your own values, longings, and fantasies are about these things. I suspect you share much with your interviewees and by locating them you project your own stuff onto them. Making fun of women like this is a sin, a real ghonaah. So I would suggest you come to terms with your feminine side, and then you may actually meet a woman who may want to be with you, and your own dreams of marriage and matrimony which you project on the poor old torshideh Iranian girl, may come true. Roshanak * More gay freedom in Iran Ocean Sky! I liked your letter ["More important than gays"] related to the article, "Khaaneh takaaniye fekri ". That's true. Most homosexauls try to show off. The things that they'd like to express is not a matter of their rights. And unfotunately, they cannot change Iranian perspective about homosexaullity, but they make it worse. I think they have much more freedom in Iran than so many other countries. They can find a friend easily, walk in the streets without any fear, keep in touch with them, have a party, sleep in a room even in their family's place, travel with each other, rent or own a place and live together. Is it possible to communicate with your girlfriend and do the same things in Iran? If the problem is adopting a child, I think they cannot do that anywhere in the world, exept in Iran. If they don't show off and scream in public about being proud of their sexuallity, I think they can do any anything in Iran. Where's the proof? The number of homosexauls who travel to Iran recently who have found each other via internet (which is almost new in Iran). What might happent if access to the internet gets a lot more in Iran? My gay dears, I think you are the most logical and understanding Iranians but please if you go to Iran or live there don't make too much of what you do. Is there any Iranian man (or woman) who hasn't had experience in homosexaullity? * More blessings Dear Ms. Setareh Sabety, I do not agree with everything you write but I always enjoy reading your excellent articles. Your recent work, "No walls", was absolutely great. In my opinion one of the best problems you bring up in your article is where you write: "Here in America you can live a whole life on a street and not know the person who lives across from you"; "this indeed is a blessing if you give it a chance." I want to add this blessing is not limited to the U.S. but most Western countries and unlike what is said in Iran (that they aren't helpful in the West!) once you need help in America, the police department is very helpful and always ready to assist. In Iranian.com's letter section Mr. Abbas Safari Fard writes ["In fairyland"]: In Iran "Majority of neighbors would form a support group and chip in to help if one needed help in a time of despair, or on a jubilant occasion." With all respects for his opinion, I am not sure which decade he is speaking of! In recent years with so much financial problems, people can not afford to be kind or gentle to one another! And to Mr. Ali-Reza Kasra ["America is no paradise"], the racial problems you mention in your letter are what we as first and second generation Iranians will face in our life time. And dear Setareh Sabety, I look forward to reading more of your capable writings. With Kind Regards, Sheema Kalbasi
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