Letters April 2006 I apologizeOn Mina Hakim-Bastanian's "Sad & shameful": Dear Mina khanoom, I apologize again and strongly believe that the majority in Iran owes the minorities a long delayed apology for these cruel behaviors and lack of understanding. I wish you and other minorities could forgive those who had done wrong by you for there are many more Iranians who would love you just for being Iranian, no matter what your ethnicity or religious background may be. Tell AhmadinjeadOn Golbarg Bashi's "Nuke those t-shirts": How come it's o.k. for your president AhamdiNejad to make barbaric nuke threats against the civilized world? Why don't you start with sending a message to Ahmadinejad and tell him to shut the fvck off. Once he and his supporters keep their fvcking mouths shut, then all the nuke T-shirts will go away.... Grow up, single-digits.... One of our ownOn Golbarg Bashi's "Nuke those t-shirts": Perhaps this would be of interest to your readers and Ms. Golbarg Bashi (whom I completely agree with, incidently): as I prepared to fire off a highly critical email to what I thought would be a bunch of red-neck,uneducated, misinformed, non-Iranians and educate them about the plight of our people and the horrific consequences of a nuclear attack on any country, etc... I was dumbstruck to find out this company (Cafepress.com) is not only run by some highly educated, Ivy-league type overacheivers, but one of their TOP executives is one of our own !!! Mr. Mehdi Maghsoodnia: Who's profile includes, enjoys weekends with his wife and family, playing soccer, blogging and apparently advocating and profiting from a nuclear attack on his country of origin. I was so disgusted, I am at a loss for words, what do you say to someone like this?? Never felt as uncomfortableOn Azam Nemati's "Your little psychological misfortunes": i know you don't censor (and i am all with you on that) but i just wanted to say i have never felt as uncomfortable as when reading her dribble today... it's so disgusting, i have no words for it. sorry... had to get it out of me. Tahmineh S. Bigotted rantingsOn Azam Nemati's "Unworthy Iranians" and "Your little psychological misfortunes": I have to respond to this bigot's "articles". Azam considers herself to be a liberal, but then again, Bush considers himself to be compassionate. You wrote:
Oh, please. My very Muslim grandmother would not talk to my parents for over a month after naming me Sarah because is was a Jewish name. Even after starting to talk to my parents again, she was afraid that with a last name like Javaheri, people would think I was Jewish and didn't come from a Muslim family (conviniently forgetting the fact that my mother is a Christian American). I'm half Iranian (my mother is American of European ancestry), and most Muslim Iranians don't consider me Iranian at all because my mother is American. Aremenians have crosses in their homes? Oh NO, the world is going to end! So what if they have a cross in their home? Most Iranian Muslim homes have some kind of religious paraphenalia in them, even those that aren't religious! Never heard an Armenian talk about Iran as their homeland? Then you probably don't know very many, because that's all my father and his best friend (who died ten years ago) talked about! And the Iranian holidays? Most of them are from old Zoroastrian holidays! And how you have conviniently forgotten that Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity all pre-date both the advent of Islam itself and the Arab invasion of old Persia that forced Islam on the Iranian population.
Excuse me, but the vast majority of money donated to help victims of the Bam earthquake came from fellow Christians, both Iranian and American ones. Who donates the most humanitarian aid in the world? Oh yes, again that's from Christians.
Oh, no, someone sells alcohol! What, you'd rather brew your own in your bathtub? It doesn't taste as good, does it? Give me a break! So what if someone sells booze? That's just as honest a way of making money as selling anything else is! Insulting my own intelligence by believing this? HAH! More like you're trying to push your very conservative values on people who have no problem with the sell of alchol. Guess what, honey-joon, we tried prohibition in the US and it failed miserably. As far as us religious minorities not acting "Iranian", just because we don't act Muslim doesn't mean that we don't act Iranian. We drink wine (which was invented in old Persia and makes us MORE Iranian than you), didn't give in to the religion of the Arab invaders (ie: Islam, and again, makes us MORE Iranian than you), and celebrate No Ruz like everyone else (again, making us MORE Iranian than the Muslim mullahs who tried to do away with it). And, last time I checked, most Iranians in the US still celebrate Christmas, that most Christian of holidays. Look into a mirror, and you will see exactly the discrimination the religious minorities face. You haven't seen this discrimination because people like you are the ones discriminating against us! As for some Najes stink, have you smelled the armpits of my very Iranian and "Muslim" father? Have you forgotten the fact that a lot of Iranian men, mainly Muslim men, believe that deodorant and anti-perspirants cause cancer and so won't wear it. Instead, they douse themselves in cologne and expect that to cover up their stench. As if this works at all. Don't get me started on Iranian women who seem to think similaraly, and wear heavy perfume in an unsuccessful attempt to cover up BO. And you hypocritical little witch, if you consider yourself so very Iranian that you will only give your business to Iranians (but being a cheapskate, will only give it to those who give you a deal), what are you doing outside of Iran? Go back there and stop giving the rest of us a bad name in the West! Little psychological misfortunes? Hm, having your own family hate you for your religion isn't a little psychological misfortune. Having your own ethnic group turn their collective back on you for being an "unworthy Iranian" and having no one to turn to to celebrate your heritage isn't a little psychological misfortune. And I for one don't like seeing the precious pages of iranian.com littered with bigotted rantings from the likes of you. And by the way, we don't hold all Iranians responsible for our "little misfortunes", just the arrogant, bigoted, assholes and bitches like yourself. I'm a Jew and a Turk and I LOVE IRANOn Azam Nemati's "Your little psychological misfortunes": Again my response to this woman, I looked up her picture when Zubin made the observation she must be ugly, she has plenty of her pictures on Iranian.com... and you think Jews are ugly? Hala begzarim. AZAM, I dislike fat people its embarrassing to Iranians to have FAT PEOPLE I think all FAT HAIRY DARK IRANIANS SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES AND if they want to call themselves Iranian they should think about waxing their moustaches and going to Weight Watchers and please try very hard not to look ARAB. Hala Begzarim Pleasure witnessing discrimination of MuslimsOn Azam Nemati's "Unworthy Iranians": I wanted Azam to know that as an Assyrian, born, very unfortunately, in Iran, I am ashamed to be an Iranian and wish I had nothing to do with that filthy backward country. I feel very fortunate to be out of that hell hole and gladly leave it to its backward Muslim citizens. You are an embarrassmentOn Azam Nemati's "Unworthy Iranians": I don't know who the fuck you are, but after reading your diatribe it is obvious how fucked up you are. You need IMMEDIATE psychiatric help. And please do us all a big favor.... DO NOT WRITE ANYMORE. You are an embarrassment to pen and paper. .. Don't show so much prideOn Azam Nemati's "Your little psychological misfortunes": I have read all of the emails that were posted on Iranian.com to Ms. Nemati as well as the articles that have provoked this. I need only say, do you really think that Iran is the only place where minorities are discriminated against? Do you really think that in the end when we all have got past it that it really matters to anyone else? I am not trying to agree with anyone but I mean really there are worse things to worry about then this. I agree minorities do suffer but in a way we all are minorities. Especially when you grow up in a place like I did. I may not be as old as some of my distinguished authors on here but I can remember during the hostage taking in '79 my father being shot at because of the areas he had to go though to do his business. Did that stop him from living? NO! I can remember being pushed down in the mud, getting into fights because of my family being cussed, being stared anytime I went out with my father because of my fair complexion and my father's dark complexion, the whispers about my mom and my dad when we would all go out, or the fact my brother was told that he could not be considered white because of my father's nationality and his dark complexion, and comments made behind my back because I was always proud of both of my heritages. Did it stop me? NO! I moved on. I could go on to tell you about more things that happened to me but I will not. I will not because it is not important. I never allowed it to be the most important thing in my life. You are who you are. If you are proud of what you are then be proud. Let everyone know who and what you are. Don't back down from your beliefs whatever they may be. I am just saying don't expect everyone to run to your side and cry every time someone discriminates against you. Religion is only as important as you make it. I do not mean to say that you should give up believing your belief. Just don't think everyone should believe the way you do. Don't think they should feel sorry for you if someone discriminates against you because most will not. There are other things worse than being discriminated against. If you tout the fact that you are Christian, Muslim, Bahai, or Jew you will have someone discriminate you wherever you go. If you don't want to be discriminated against that then stop showing how much pride you have, if you can. We are all discriminated against for something. Whether it is the way we look, the way talk, what country we come from, what religion we are, what color we are, what sex we are... it is always something. We are so concerned what other people are then being concerned with what we are. Why can't everyone wake up and realize that we are all different and move on. We are all intelligent people who have a lot more in our lives. I am sure everyone that will read this will have some sort of comment about this. I am not trying to raise any hackles or provoke any kind of negative response. I just wish people would stop worrying about what happened in the past and move on to their bright futures as I am sure most of those that read this have already achieved or on their way to achieving. Don't ever forget about what has happened but don't let it control you. Don't go around preaching all your woes and anguish because the majority of people really don't care. They have their own problems that they have to deal with, and believe me most of them probably think their problems are worse than yours. I am not saying that your problems are not bad but as my grandmother once told me 'Never forget there will always be someone stronger, smarter, or worse off than you.' Keep that in mind and I bet you will find out you're in pretty good shape. They are superb!On Shohreh Sheibani's paintings "Animal Farm": Dear Ms. Shohreh Sheibani, Thank you so very much for sharing your work with us. They are superb! I have not seen such wonderful work in a long time. Looking forward to more. One of our ownOn Golbarg Bashi's "Nuke those t-shirts": I dont know how to thank you... I have received over 100 e-mails about my music... thank you soo much man.....
>>> More in April 2006: April 13 -- April 26 |