IDOLS

خود پرستی‌ هزار مرتبه بدتر ز بت پرستی‌

کسی کو ندارد ز یزدان سپاس

ز دیوان شمر مشمر از آدمی

(فردوسی)

Bot Shekan

Serenading me with poetry only gives me a bigger head ;)

Based on your name this article should be right up your ally except you seem more stuck on me than any aspects of my article!

DK Brand Sangeh Paa (TM)

Mr. Kadivar, whatever you lack in substance you compensate with "roo daashtan" as "sangeh paa" throws its towel competing ;)

Your hopefulness in restoring the old monarchy is cute almost like kids who think unicorns exist and you can't argue them and who am I to crush such dreams, enjoy them for what it's worth as I have no reasons to dislike your kind since we have a common enemy and that fact alone makes us friends!

خود شکن

Shah Abdicate?

By that argument we might as well say the real king is Yazdgird III. Which is what I have been saying for years. If we want to do something we might as well go all the way. 

Deev Jaan You Sure Have ;0))

Abba - Waterloo

LOL

But No Hard Feelings We Shall Dance to Victory:

GOOGOOSH- BANOOYE MAA

But Even then You Party Pooper's are Welcome to Join Your Sovereign in a common battle against Tyranny:

REZA's CALL: An Iranian Solidarnosc... by DK

RESPONDING TO REZA's CALL: An Iranian Solidarnosc in the Making ... by DK 

Hee Hee

Mr. Kadivar I've lost hope in you

Mr. Kadivar
I've lost interest in reading your ever increasing irrelevant links however in response to your "Shah never abdicated, a King remains a King unless beheaded" all I have to say is that a king without a realm is "all hat and no cattle" as they say in Texas, pretty much the same way Shahbanu's title "Her Imperial Majesty" is laughable as her imperial realm is her living room. Sure it's romantic thinking these titles are eternal but reality is unfortunately a buzz kill and a king without a throne is at the very most Elvis ;)

6 years Old at the time of the Revolution ? ;0))

Oh OK ... Now I understand Why ? ...

baby laugh

 Hee Hee ... 

Oh and I thought Iran was a dictatorship since 1953 ? 

THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY: How Would You Evaluate Iran's Democracy Index in 1953 ?

So what difference does it make if the Shah created the Rastakhiz in the mid Seventies ?

Should we conclude that between 1953 and the year the Rastakhiz Party was Created that Iran was actually a Parliamentary democracy ?

pictory: Political Pluralism and Freedom of Press in Pahlavi Iran (1961)

CONSTITUTIONALIST FORUM: Daryoush Homayoun Political and Journalistic life Honored in Germany

Best,

DK

PS: For your information The Shah never abdicated ...  A King remains a King unless beheaded ( See Comments in David Frost's interview). 

Dear AB

I will respond just to a few things:

• Regarding readiness: I think Iranians are as ready as we need. Your  minimum  was reached years ag.o. Therefore it is time.
• Regarding personal attacks. They happen all the time in America. Republicans; Democrats; and even Greens are always making personal attacks. Now maybe you don't call them "credible". But they run America and that is they way.
• Regarding topic. Don't worry about it. People always go off the topic.
• Regarding Iranians: We are no nastier than Americans in politics. I know; I have lived in America and watched many elections. Iranian arguments are no worse at all. For God's sake Sarah Palin practically called for shooting of opposition!

Now to your questions this is our difference with the IR monsters:

• IR is a guaranteed monster. The other side is at least the possibility of hope.
• The IR is killing Iran in a slow death. Better take chances with something else than take the guaranteed death.
• The opposition has not raped; murdered innocents or done any of the IR things. I do not think they will. The Mollahs are a specially evil breed only matched by MKO. People know enough to avoid MKO.

If we take your advise then tere is no hope. We may as well die. No future; no reason to have children; no reason to live. Condemned to a lifetime of Islamist horror. With my approach there is at least the possibility of hope.

Your argument is to take a bit of security over freedom. I disagree. Here is a quote by Ben Franklin:

• He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.
• He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.

I do not know if you are a Muslim or not. It does not matter. You support IR and that is our issue. Jimmy Carter is not a Muslim either but he also supports Islamism. There are plenty of non Muslim Islamist sympathizers. 

Rastaakhiz Dictatorship

Mr. Kadivar, since you're hell bent on blaming everything that went wrong with our country on me allow me to inform you that during the toppling of YOUR beloved dictator king I was only 6 years old and had nothing to do with it, neither I nor anyone in my immediate family voted for the islamic regime or even attend a rally!

Also allow me to remind you that it was YOUR dictator king that imposed a one party system (like Saddam and Hitler) and suppressed the freedom of the press so no one in Iran had the opportunity to read any of Khomeini's books to know what kind of a bastard he really is, and it was YOUR king who abdicated the throne and fled TWICE while the captain of Titanic went down with his ship in pride. Chew on that like french fries ;)

You First Mentioned Q's Relevance Not me ...

Montcuq - Prevost

Besides Don't blame me for YOUR OWN Poor Choice:

Khomeiny’s Hichi

It's Not my Fault if YOUR Revolution went Wrong ...

I didn't Highjack YOUR Vote:

Best,

DK 

Dear VPK

All I am saying is that to achieve any goal you need a MINIMUM set of conditions

Not a whole not a total, no one is asked to be perfect but a minimum set of requirements.

The minimum condition for democracy is accepting personal responsibility for ones actions and more importantly to respect the opposition. Not to agree with them. Not to stop questioning and scrutinizing their point of view but to be fair respectful and stick to the subject in hand, instead of personal attacks and baseless accusations and so far I do not see this condition in Iranian community, especially the political elite

However as far as our debate is concerned, I like a tough customer who challenges my opinions and questions my motives, as it only helps me to improve myself.

But please keep in mind that this blog belongs to someone else and it is on another subject. Hence it is not fair to Deev to occupy his space for our debate which might even be irrelevant to his subject

So, please wait for the second edition of my article and I promise in that space I will break with my normal routine and engage in a discussion with you, as log as you stick to the subject

PS, for your information I am NOT a muslim.

Keep it relevant please

Mr. Kadivar, reading your (yet again irrelevant) comment:
"I made a PUBLIC request ... my PUBLIC request not to have him comment on my blogs"

Just because you PUBLICLY asked to silence someone doesn't make it democratic, a bunch of clowns in the islamic regime's congress PUBLICLY demanded Mousavi and Karoubi to be silenceed, so your PUBLIC request is no different in nature, it's easy to claim you support freedom of speech, practicing it with tolerance towards other people's views is harder.

As for calling the islamic regime "YOUR Republic" please allow me to remind you that the velaayateh-faghih system where the unelected supreme leader is above the president is not a republic, it's another form of monarchy where the crown is replaced with an amaame and the prime-minister is called president!

Lastly I PUBLICLY ask you to maintain some kind of relevancy between your comments and the topic of this article which is meritocracy and false idol worship in the Iranian society, no one cares about any sob stories on why you dislike Q or how he flagged you and how you're not afraid of ghosts, etc.

Areyo

You put impossible conditions for Democracy in Iran. Some that no nation has ever achieved. Then you say we are not ready. What is your agenda. Please get to the point and no round about replies. No riddlesI want to hear that. 

Dear VPK

I know who I am and what I Believe in and certainly I do not have to explain myself to you.

Now! If it is more comfortable for you to think of me as a paid IRI agent, then by all means knock yourself out. At the end of the day people believe what they want to believe and noting can change that.

However I tell you one think. It is very easy to stay in one’s own comfort zone and stick to what is popular by not asking the difficult questions. I on the other hand prefer to ask controversial questions rattle some cages and make people to face their inner monsters by pulling them out of their comfort zone.

In my humble opinion a real debate starts with an unset mind ready to explore all the avenues and face all the questions even the uncomfortable and controversial ones. But if you have already made up your mind before the debate even started then I am afraid whole affair becomes a bit pointless

P.S with regards to the comments you have left on my article, please wait for the second editiont to have you answer

Oops Areyo & my posts

must have xrossed. I will post an updated response.

Abuse of Iranian identity

Thank you Darius for pointing out the abuse of our Royal Emblem. The Islamists and other IR supporters will stop at nothing. Their favorite passtime is to demean our national symbolz from fake "Norooz" to fake "Aryo". I will call it as I see it. Folks; if your devotion is to IR and Islam be honest. Khomeini already got us wise to "Tagiyyeh"; it won't work again. 

Now be honest and admit which side you are on.

Dear VPK

I am afraid my fellow countryman, you have got this one very wrong.

I am more familiar with different democracies in the world and their history than you can imagine, as I have been an activist for over 35 years and have studied more political theories than you ever know.

Please note that I am not against questioning criticising and scrutinising the opposition’s point of view and even their vision

However when it comes to the stumpy level of name calling, baseless allegations and insults, it is then that I am afraid democratic process will be the first victim and what takes its place is endless squabbles and kayos

There is a delicate balance between political debate and questioning ones vision and strategy on one hand and trying to get everyone to submit into one vision by having a bully attitude and making insulting baseless allegation against people you do not even know the first thing about just because you do not like what they say and in many cases have not even listened to their argument, on the other.

Unlike what you think since coming out of Iran I am not only living in a democratic society but also I am constantly participating in their democratic processes in order to be able to learn the tricks of trade first hand.

To my experience, no where and I mean no where I have seen a credible, serious and respected political opposition to resort into personal attack, insults and baseless allegations of their political opponents and that is the heart of the matter. I n fact in almost all cases when these people leave the debating chamber, they are respectful friends. Furthermore even in that debating chamber they have no problem over uniting around their shared values for the bigger good

Today however, our opposition groups to the IRI can not even bring themselves to put aside their differences and come together for the sake of Iran and instead of putting a united front against the IRI they are still engaged in their little proxy wars against each other. They are not even brave enough to respect each other’s point of view and set aside their differences for the time being and concentrate on getting rid of the IRI. They do not even trust Iranian people to leave the final decision for the type of regime they want, to the Iranian  people and a free fair election after the IRI is got rid of. Instead they have the attitude of you are either with us or against us.

So you tell me sir, what is the difference between this so called opposition and the monsters regime they oppose. Given half a chance won’t they become another dictator.

I'm afraid of No Ghost ! ...

Regarding your comments on Q's democratic nature as opposed to mine ... 

Get Your Facts right before speaking rubbish ...  

I made a PUBLIC request and will do so each and every time I see him comment on my blogs for the simple reason that I was banned for two weeks for simply responding to his repeated Ad hominem attacks including a defamation blog. Hence my PUBLIC request not to have him comment on my blogs ( in the same way that I suggested not to do so in what I deemed being a gentlemen's agreement - which clearly he is not- on his blogs or articles as to avoid further exchanges) because he himself cannot handle an intellectual discourse.

I do not resort like Him to Flag people's comments simply because I don't share their opinion. Nor have I EVER demanded to see Q, Jahelo, capt_ahyab, Sargord Pirooz or other Anonymous bloggers or commentators who have repeatedly attacked me in the past or present to be banned or blocked on the website. I have merely demanded to have the right to respond be it creatively, particularly when I had no other choice, to their jealous rants or often unfair and ill intended attacks, or repeated provocations when they resorted on provocative comments on every single post or blog I posted with no other intention but to make noise and distract attention, including in non political blogs.

For indeed like one of my favorite French Enlightment philosophers Voltaire who happened to be a Constitutional Monarchist:

HISTORY OF IDEAS: Ian Davidson on Voltaire's "English Exile"

I believe in Freedom of Expression and would rather defend if not die for your right to express them than otherwise.

But I will Definitively NOT APOLOGIZE for Being a Monarchist be it in the memory of all those who continue to be killed like flies by YOUR Republic:

Tehran's Revolutionary Court condemn to death Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, and ArashRahmanipour for Monarchist activities after televised confession (Press TV)

In any case Q to my knowledge was never banned nor moderated for that matter either. 

As for the rest of your comments I leave it to the judgment of IC readers to see if it is relevant or not to your own repeated Anti Royalist stance.

I don't write for a Fan Club approval or the number of hits it can generate, but to express my opinion.

That is probably the difference between Fashion Victims who think Democracy is a Beauty Contest and those who believe it is first and foremost a forum of debate and intellectual discourse.

But if you wish me not to comment on your blogs anymore for similar reasons that opposed me to Q, I would be more than happy to comply.  

For I'm afraid of No Ghost ... : 

Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr. (HQ Audio)             be it a White Deev in disguise using as a misleading Avatar a Royal Emblem to identify himself . 

So Have a Nice Weekend Mon Ami Le Phantom !

A Persian Phantom Unmasked by DK

;0)

AB

 You see the problem of mistrust personal attacks and baseless accusation runs deep within the Iranian community and until we address this problem I am afraid there is no hope

With all respect this is neither a problem nor just Iranian. People do this all over the place. It happens in America; Europe and and India. People with opposing points of view do this all the time. I already said this in another thread. People who are new to democracy do not understand it. Disagreement and getting emotional is normal; Mistrust is normal specially among opposing groups. After all in America Liberals and Conservatives do not trust each other. Labor mistrusts big business and so on.

It is natural and perfectly good for democracy. No one but the most naive will just trust others without proof. We tried "trusting" Khomeini: see where it got us. As Reagen said "trust by verify".

deev

How is the first picture irrelevant? It showed a picture of RP  with his crown.

It also resembles DK with his bone or hat!

از مغلطه خودداری فرمایید

Mr. Kadivar, I'm afraid your links were all off tangent and irrelevant to the topic, we call this "maghlateh" and sorry if I don't know the French equivalent for it ;)

What does a photo of a woman getting punched, another woman asking a soldier a question, a guy getting chased by an angry mob or a book by a woman who lost her father have to do with meritocracy or false idol worshiping? Using unrelated fillers to cover a shortage of substance never works well, just watch old Sarah Palin interviews.

You pulled the same trick in the "low point" article where in response to my request for a valid proof of Reza/Alireza/Leila's involvement in charity you provided various unrelated links for the history of my griffin logo so allow me to use the trademarked Darius Kadivar method of responding just to demonstrate your technique:

Here's an irrelevant photo:
//www.flickr.com/photos/hilarious/252849242/

Another off tangent picture:
//www.flickr.com/photos/12943180@N00/29644970...

Some historical article to make me look intelligent:
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_plumbing

That first photo really defines your behavior best ;)
Cheers

PS: I liked how in the comments section for your last link about history of violence you were begging JJ to silence someone (named Q) who dared to disagree with your views, true testament to your democratic nature ;)

Dear Deev

Although I agree with all you said here, I still thing you are not being honest with yourself

From your past few posting I could only gather the sense that you are still looking up to Reza Pahlavi as a leader and that is why you keep criticizing him and asking him for more. That is why I do not see you asking for the same from Rajavis or the leaders Jebhe-ye Melli o evenr the communist leaders.

Of course that is a good thing that you have not making an idol from him but you should still be honest to yourself.

Also to be fair to RP there is only so much that he can do. As far as I know he was the only leader who called for a national reconciliation and extended a hand of friendship and cooperation towards other political opposition parties even the ones that participated in the overthrowing his father and he did this only for the sake of Iran and Iranians.

But if the other groups are still fighting the battle of 30 years ago with his father, there is not much that he could do.

 You see the problem of mistrust personal attacks and baseless accusation runs deep within the Iranian community and until we address this problem I am afraid there is no hope

معجون رفتارهای ایرانی و خارجی

سوری جان - کسی نگفت آمریکا فرهنگ غنی تری دارد یا در هر امری باید آنها دنبال کنیم اگر بخواهیم در هواپیما سازی ترقی کنیم آمریکا الگوی خوبی خواهد بود - اگر بخواهیم در دامپروری ترقی کنیم استرالیا الگوی خوبی خواهد بود - اگر بخواهیم در الکترونیک ترقی کنیم ژاپن الگو خوبی خواهد بود - من از آمریکا سخن گفتم چون در آنجا زندگی میکنم و شاهد استفاده گسترده از سیستم مریتاکراسی در این کشور هستم و اگر در سوئد زندگی میکردم شاید خصوصیاتی دیگری را ستایش میکردم و همانطور که دوست دیگر ما کاسپین فرمودند ما خارجنشینان در موقعیتی هستیم که خصوصیات خوب محل سکونتمان را گلچین کنیم و از بهترین رفتارهای ایرانی و خارجی معجون بینظیری بسازیم که باعث پیشرفت فراترمان باشد.

امان از این بت آزارن آزارگر

خسته دل، سوخته جان، با دل باو ر شکنان 

دلم آشفته شد از غفلت گوهر شکنان

خود بخود بت نبود تا بود آزر شکنان

گر گذشتم به سلامت زبر پر شکنان

در دلم می‌شکند خنجر ساغر شکنان

که شکستند پر رفتنم این پر شکنان

خوش نسشتی به تنم در شب خنجرشکنان

تاج برداشته‌ایم از سر افسرشکنان

حمید پور حاجی زاده

Agreed, you are right of course

: But my commet there, was only about this part

سرچشمه این موارد را میتوان در این باور یافت که برای ایرانیان احترام برخی افراد واجب شمرده میشود و افراط ما در این امر چنان است که حتی همسر یک پزشک را هم خانم دکتر خطاب میکنیم و بسیاری هستند که از دیگران توقع احترام دارند و این در حالی است که در آمریکا افراد احترامشان را بر اساس رفتارشان کسب میکنند

I just mentioned that American are not our role model and America is not a good example. Neither is any other country a perfect example for this, as you rightfully mentioned yourself. Indeed, in France, people are more enlightened about politics than in America, where people do elect Bush and Arnold, for the sensitive  posts, just because they have earned  respect due to some completely non significant reasons, other than this point, I agree with all you have said......and thank you

Souri Jan, there are gray areas...

Every culture has problems.  What we do and what I've learned in my life is you take the best of whatever culture you're exposed to and try to live your life according to what is true and right.  Just because Americans elected a rancher as their president doesn't make them all bad and because some Iranians are bot parast doesn't make them all bad.  Self criticism is necessary if we are to evolve.  If we attack anyone and everyone when they criticize our behavior, how are we able to see beyond our actions and better ourselves?  Or on the other hand, how are we different than those who squash our efforts to better ourselves?

Because we are anti monarchy, we are not necessarily Republican.  Because we say Iranians are Bot-parast and Americans are not doesn't make Americans better than Iranians. Unfortunately many of us (humans, no creed or nationality attached here) view the world in a dichotomous way:  it's either black, or white.  I think we need to train our brains to see the gray areas, or we will never learn. There is a horizon there that we need to reach and treading water in one place won't get us anywhere.

و این در حالی است که در آمریکا ......

Goore pedare Amrika! khasteh kardin ma ro ba in moghayeseh ha toon!

Are you serious? Do you think that the American in general, have a better jughment and a richer culture than us? You are trying to tell us that we have to follow the Americans? The people who have elected a stupid gaav cheran for two presidential terms ?

And you expect us to read your views and take them seriously?

DK

No disrespect, but you remind me of an old expression. "Aalemeh bi amal mesleh olaghist ke ketab baresh kardand."

You with all your knowledge still are as dumb as it gets.

There is another expression that resembles you, "Tork agar loghman shavad, baz ham kelaseh avval ast."

No offence to Turks, I am Turk too.

Oh Yes I've Noticed that with other Anonymous Republicans too;0)

Not speaking French That is ...  

Les inconnus - La révolution

but eager to lecture others by Copy and Pasting the same baseless revolutionary cliches without firsthand experience of the pain those slogans inflicted on an entirely innocent and defenseless generation ... 

BOOK: EVEN AFTER ALL THIS TIME By Afschineh Latifi ( A Memoir )

THREE DECADES EARLIER: A Mother At Evin Doors (1980)

Pictory :Women Punched in Face by Revolutionaries

HISTORY OF VIOLENCE: Man Chased by Anti Shah Protestors During Shah's US Visit (1977)