eroonman

Again, I say Priority...

Railing against the Rest, without taking on the Best, is cowardly.

Complaining about everyone except Iran is like complaining about the neighbors who want to demolish your house, because everyone on the block agrees that it is surely an ugly house.

If you don't want people to demolish your ugly house. FIX UP YOUR HOUSE!

If you don't want the West to Bomb Iran, Change Iran! If you can't change Iran because you live outside of Iran, then deal with that, and get angry at Iran for not allowing you the right to change Iran. It is Iran that has taken your right to complain.

Anger, frustration, concern, patriotism, only work to achieve change, when it is directed at the problem. 

Our problem today, is our own Iran. Let's fix that first, before looking to fix any other problems. We cannot continue to have it both ways, to avoid the danger of criticizing Iran, yet demand to complain about others. That has and always will achieve nothing.

We are spinning our wheels if we continue.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

It's a wrong type of Argument

Didn't Netanyahu mention to President Obama that the issue of Palestine and Iran are not related, meaning let the peace process alone while we can focus on Iran?

As I mentioned in my most recent article, our struggles in Iran are twofold. Once we leave one important factor in the Iranian equation, we are no longer in line with realities. 

It's a question of agency

Please explain to me, can you do anything about Iran's government from London, Washington or Los Angeles other than help a foreign power to achieve it's own agenda? What are you going to do, or say that hasn't been done and said in 30 years? What "priority" are you talking about?

You can't affect Iran's government from here. You can only affect Western governments. For those who dont' care about anything other than overthrowing the regime, you should book a trip to Iran and start organizing there, in other words doing the real work that has to happen for a true people-powered movement to succeed. Don't make BS excuses, there are plenty of people taking real risks doing this inside Iran now.

If you're not there, you are powerless to overthrow anything accept perhaps by helping foreign countries. Anybody who says otherwise is fooling himself (and there is plenty of that). Constantly shouting for 'regime change' from the west is just as stupid as yelling "marg bar Amrika" from Tehran. Correction, it's actually more stupid because unlike Iran, the country you live in has the prower to actually destroy Iran.

You do have power to affect the western governments however. In fact, if you are a citizen of the west, you have a duty to keep it from killing and hurting Iranians.

Isn't it bad enough that your tax money went to kill hundreds of thousands of Iranians in the 80s by supplying Saddam Hussein with western weapons, intelligence and chemical ingredients? Isn't it bad enough you are paying for American/Israeli backed terrorist activity going on inside now? Isn't it bad enough that you are working so your earnings can help arm neighboring countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia who would rather weaken or destroy Iran if they could?

Signing an f-ing petition against an insane policy is the least of what you should do.

It's easy to say I'm against X and Y but I will sit on my ass while these things happen with my own money. You have a duty to actually stop the aggression against Iran because millions of potential victims don't have the opportunity that you have at this point in time.

These are two seperate issues. The fact that you may want to fight for democracy does not give other governments a right to attack/sanction/embargo/strip rights or destabilize Iran. If you can't understand this you really have no business doing anything "for" Iran or Iranians.

Petition to end petitions

Once again, the disease of "Let's ignore the problem, and point out everyone elses" rears it's ugly head. I guess you are right, we shouldn't fix Iran. It's not like we broke it right? By all means it is far better to continue to rant and rave against the "man", yes yes yes, of course azizam, hagh ba shomast, it's everyone else's fault. It's not our fault, azizam. Ghorboonet beram elahi.

CLICK HERE  to sign the petition to end all petitions.

Except that you're/we're wrong. (and I think you/we know it)

Of course the discussion without any Iranian representative presence is abhorrent. My question, is this. If they were to ask us, whom would we agree we ought to send to the AIPAC meeting, to correctly represent our position and stand in front of Harman and her kooky ideas?

CLICK HERE  to sign the petition to end all petitions.

Exactly. Not one Iranian alive today, actually has the democratically bestowed authority to represent Iranians. Certainly not the folks creating the petition. Which is why it is so damaging.

Let me remind us that we are living in the 21st century and representative Iranians with the authority to speak on our behalf, has still not happened. So, this now begs the embarrassing question, that if having the authority to speak on a country's behalf is a critical element in "existing". Do "we" even "exist" today?

I say, we don't. And I say, that until we do exist, we ought to keep our focus on addressing our own problems first, then pretend we know about what the rest of the world ought to do. The petition folks aren't willing to do the harder job requiring far more courage than standing up to AIPAC.

Look at it this way. Don't you think that if we as Iranians spent the time and fixed Iran, there would be no need for Israel to fear us bombing them, and Harman would not need to say what she said.  If so, fixing Iran fixes both problems.

Funny how not one (not one!) of these petitions, has ever been directed at the many more grievous actions by the IRI.

Not one.

Are the actions and suggestions of IRI any less insulting to you and me?

Is the IRI any less damaging to our good name and reputation?

Hasn't the IRI in fact, already balkanized us from the rest of the world with this intimidatory tactic foisting Shiism on all of us without our approval? Without our authorization?

CLICK HERE  to sign the petition to end all petitions.

In the end, I'm not against the petition, I signed it. But I am suggesting that we must get our priorities straight. Fix our own broken motor before entering the race.

By the way, I also found out the reason that Harman said what she said, and I am now even more angry at the petitioners, as this was conveniently left out in the petition. I found that Harman (unlike us) actually has the right and authority to express her opinion on Iran.

Because here is her title: "Chair of the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment"

This and her freely elected position as a US senator, gives her the right and authority to say what she said. It doesn't make her right. But it does make our lack of existence painfully apparent.

Maybe I'll start a petition to stop petitions. Oh! Wait, I don't have the authority. Oh Wait! You don't need it!

CLICK HERE  to sign the petition to end all petitions.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

What Protocol?

Let me get this right.  You are suggesting that ‘we cannot seem to grasp the relatively simple and clearly mapped out rules of protocol’. What rule of protocol are you talking about.  We live in the United States of America represented by our congressman or senators.  The rule of protocol is when we have something to say, we will call, email, write, or sign a petition and send it to them and let them know how we feel.  Just because we have not put our-own house in order yet, does not mean we should sit idle and let someone suggest that our homeland be divided.  I wonder what AIPAC and their supporters do if the same congresswoman was speaking say at ‘American Muslim Association’  suggesting the same thing for Israel?  I bet you her office will be flooded with email and phone calls.

In sum  we might have our differences, but when it comes to integrity of Iran and its’ people, we stand firm and there is nothing wrong with that.  We may be new in the civic participation arena, but we will learn it someday. Until then we will continue to clean up the ‘collective mess’ left behind for us by us, Iranian traitors and their bosses in the western world. 

Gosh, could you have missed it by any longer shot

The fact that vast majority, and that was by far the most united that I have seen Iranians in a long time, reacted to this ignorant and hawkish attitude by a US congresswoman ought to show where we draw the line. It ought to show that if one statement makes us so united, what would happen if they are foolish enough to put their stupid idea into action.

All Iranians, the operative word is Iranians and not Zionist, were united to confront this monster and rightfully so.

Mehrdad

P.S. If there is a house to be cleaned, they ought to start by the most dangerous house... the Zionist house

This elephant exists only in your head - not real

Lies:

"The IRI is far too smart and far too strong, and kills anyone in their way, philosophically, metaphorically, literally, and quickly."

There is NO proof of that. At best this is an extreme exaggeration beyond any extremes. Iranians living abroad have been REGULARLY traveling back and forth to Iran for many years and they do not see those rivers of blood that you see in your head! But they do see Israeli right wing criminals pushing heavily for the annihilation of their people. It is serious business. Iraq and Afghanistan tells us that these people are in fact very insane, and they are very real, unlike the elephant that exists only in your head.

Israel and the West are currently making it impossible for Iranians to handle their own affairs. Due to such real foreign threat, the IRI has a very valid excuse to shut everyone up. So Israel and the West are KEEPING and enhancing the evil parts of the IRI.

I think you are the one who has his priorities way off!