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خرد عشق ورزيدن

يکی از نام های شناخته شده در فرهنگ ما «مجنون» است؛ هم به عنوان نام ديگر «ابن قيس» ی که عاشق زنی به نام «ليلی» می شود و قصه ی عاشقی اش بر سر زبان ها می افتد، و هم به عنوان صفتی برای آن ها که عقل درستی ندارند. اين کلمه از عربی به فرهنگ ما آمده و در آن فرهنگ به معناي «جن زده» بکار می رود و به کسی نسبت داده می شود که حرکات عجيب و غريبی انجام دهد که با رفتارهای عادی مردمان زمانه اش همخوانی نداشته باشد. >>>

Battle with the dead

I know not what it is that has overcome this land and nation. With the passing of each day, one notices more and more manifestations of weakness and desperation amongst those who reign powerful. It is as though a wellspring of the uttermost degrees of anger and hatred is gushing out of the depths of their beings. They are lost in a frenzy of bewilderment as to the manner in which to employ all that rage and fury. Their animosity towards the Bahais goes back a long, long, way: they captured the Bahais; killed them; looted their homes and belongings; and fancied that they could extinguish the Divine Light of Truth. But, they did not succeed! >>>

How much for a kidney?

Recently I read an interesting article about Iranian security forces discovering a tunnel that apparently lead to the British Embassy in Iran. I found the whole affair extremely interesting, not so much because of the cloak and dagger stuff, but because the Iranian authorities among other things, accused the Brits of using the tunnel to bring in prostitutes into the embassy. I was naturally flabbergasted by this insolence of the British embassy staff. How dare they doing this in the Islamic Republic? Don't they know that prostitution is illegal in Iran? Don't they know that the wise rulers of the Islamic Republic allow temporary marriages (from a few hours to many weeks or months, depending on one's stamina)? But what can you expect of these foreigners? They don't know much about the country. So I have taken it upon myself to educate them on how the Islamic Republic functions. >>>

Xerxes

Interestingly Hollywood may well discover a new and interesting version of the legendary tale of Xerxes and Esther thanks to a script written by a beautiful American actor/writer of Iraqi heritage: Ren A. Hakim. All the more interesting is that Hakim's script is titled Xerxes and tries to take a look at this story from the perspective of the King whose reign saw the expansion of the Persian Empire to its pinnacle and during which the Palace of Persepolis was to be completed as an architectural Imperial legacy for future generations before its fatal destruction and burning centuries later by Alexander the Great. >>>

Somebody is calling my name

I don’t know the meaning of my name. But I know one thing: my name is entirely what I am. Already, I’ve forgotten the name that’s given to me. Maybe if I think harder, I’ll remember it. Yet I feel no urge to look for it: it was like all those things that must have been lost, those that must have been gone and set free in formlessness. I shaped my new name on my own, though. First, it was simply an insignificant speck of pollen among thousands of other specks, drifting around in the air, searching for the pistil. I waved at that very spec and it floated toward me. “Just don’t forget to water me everyday,” it whispered.>>>

The first mammal

In moments of statistical introspection, I wonder if LA Dodgers fans are generally Pahlavi supporters. The occasional Shah picture posted on huge Westwood billboards, and the handful of TV stations time capsuling pre-revolution Tehran are tempting bits of data. San Francisco Giants fans, on the other hand, are likely pro-Mossadegh, though I lack the evidence of billboards. Needless to say, Giants rule and Dodgers suck, but it is nice occasionally to brawl with facts and reason. Two meticulously researched books by Oxford scholar Homa Katouzian hit the ball right out of the ballpark for the Giants.>>>

فرمودید کودتا یا قیام؟

از روزی که آخوندها در ایران به فکر تکیه زدن بر مسند قدرت افتادند من هم و غمم را متوجه مبارزه با آنها کردم و نیازی هم ندیدم که هر بار ابراز مخالفت با رژیم اسلامی را با زدن گریزی به گذشته همراه کنم و هر بار انتقاداتی که همیشه به دستگاه آریامهری – در زمان بیا برو اش – داشته ام مکرر نمایم. هرگز تصور نکردم که وقتی از روشنفکران ایراد می گیرم باید توضیح بدهم که این ایراد متوجه مخالفت آنها با حکومت استبدادی نیست که من با آن همصدا و یکدلم بلکه از این روست که آنها به وظیفه روشنفکری خود عمل نکرده اند ...>>>

What's gone wrong?

When my daughter’s friend told me a couple of weeks a go, that her socialist lesbian friend has a poster on her wall saying: “We are all Hezb’ Allah Now!” I said: “my God! (And I am an atheist) something has gone fundamentally wrong.” I asked myself, what are they trying to do, mocking socialists? Or, are they simply brainwashed? What is this world coming to? This young woman has all the necessary ingredients for fighting against political Islam and Hezb’ Allah. First of all she is a woman.>>>

Gastro-Geek

I spend a crazy amount of time watching cookery channels, reading food & culinary magazines, catching up on restaurant reviews and reading cookery books. And when I mean ‘Reading’ cookery books, I mean cover-to-cover… like normal people read novels. My friends and family know me so well that the safest bet for a Christmas/Birthday gift for me is a cookery book. Their only dilemma lies in how to find one that I don’t already own. I always tell them to look for the most random, weird & unique titles possible and avoid the more popular ‘Usual suspects’. As a result of this, I now own more than 220 carefully chosen food related books (or my bibles as I like to refer to them). >>>

iranian.com 12.0

You may have noticed changes in Iranian.com in recent days. Well now it's official: iranian.com 12.0 has gone live! The site has gone through many changes in its look and feel since its launch in 1995. This time, however, the transformation is more fundamental. For the first time visitors have the power to self-publish. You can leave comments immediately on the site, have your own blog and submit articles more efficiently. Basically, you are no longer at my mercy to have your voice heard around here (do I hear "thank god"?!) >>>

مذهب عليه دين

يکی از تضادهای عمدهء اجتماعی را می توان مابين دو پديدهء «دين» و «مذهب» يافت؛ دو پديده ای که ، بنا به تعريف، هر دو بر بنياد يک پديدهء سوم به نام «ايمان» شکل می گيرند. اما وجود اين تضاد آنچنان بديهی نيست که تصور کنيم همه از آن مطلعند. حتی بنظرم می رسد که اکثر ما به تفاوت ماهوی بسيار اساسی اين سه پديده، که اتفاقاً اکثر مشکلات ما از خلط ماهيت آنها ناشی می شود، توجه چندانی نداريم. لحظه ای پيش خودتان به اين سه مقولهء مفهومی بيانديشيد تا دريابيد که اغلب يا آنها را يکی می گيريم و يا نمی توانيم دقيقاً تفاوتشان با يکديگر را توضيح دهيم. >>>

ضد ولایت فقیه

راهی كه در این كتاب برای براندازی نظام اسلامی عرضه شده ساده و روشن است. اول به داو مبارزه پرداخته شده كه پایهٌ نظریه پردازی است، بعد به استراتژی كه تابع هدف است و در نهایت به سازماندهی كه تابع استراتژی است. این روش در جهت منطق تاریخ معاصر ایران كه نبرد بر سر تعیین نظام سیاسی است و در جهت خواست یك قرنهٌ مردم ایران كه دستیابی به دمكراسی است حركت میكند. نظام حكومتی امروز ایران با سلب حاكمیت از مردم، با تعریف خود به عنوان ضدلیبرال و مذهبی واروی خود را هم كه نظامی دمكراتیك و لیبرال و لائیك است، تعریف كرده است >>>

Azerbaijan in Iran

Iran was not supposed to be a country of the Persian, or the Aryan, nation, because the Persians are just about half of the population, or maybe less, and there is neither an Aryan nation or an Aryan race to build a country upon. But it could be just like any country, a union of peoples or nations, where there is no preferred one, and each nation within the country can decide about their own affairs in case they wish to. Breaking up countries is too costly and not worth any attempt, but discriminatory policies of authoritarian regimes are creating the right atmosphere that over time lead to social discontent that can overflow and cause serious problems at any moment.>>>

Can't keep my promise, mother

In 2006, for the first time in 29 years, more than 200 Bahai students could enter national universities. However, from the very beginning of the school year, gradually most of these students were expelled according to a previously planned strategy. This year (2007), however the government has employed a new tactic. Most Bahai students have not yet received their test report cards. Not receiving their results, they are now even unaware of their scores and the fact that whether they have passed the test or not.>>>

Disowned

(Mr. Amiri is getting the mail on a Saturday morning. He sees a letter from Farhad's school addressed to his parents. He opens the letter. It reads:  Dear Mr. and Mrs. Amiri: Congratulations! Your son, Farhad has been selected to receive a scholarship for a summer writing program at the prestigious Foster Academy for the Arts.)
Mrs. Amiri: Oh, that is wonderful!
Mr. Amiri: Pah! It is wonderful to you, not to me. My son has no interest in such things, he will be an engineer, and then the world's greatest surgeon. He will invent new instruments, he will win the Nobel Prize, he will have a family with a good Persian wife and children, he will be a great soccer player on the over 40 league, he will -- where is he -- (yelling) FARHAD! Come down right now! (Enter Farhad) >>>