VIEW

Don't Burn Quran, Repackage and Update it

If you reform Islam, it would become a whole lot more tolerable

by bahmani
08-Sep-2010 (45 comments)
The current view of Islam by very real god-fearing folks in Gainesville, Florida, is proof that Islam is the one who is intolerant. Intolerant of changing it's own very weirdness, as observed by Western culture and society who sees Islam as unwilling to meet it halfway. However, if you reform and re-interpret Islam and iron out these kinds of wrinkled areas in which Islam grates and grinds counter to the grain of Western society and culture, acceptance and tolerance of it by becomes a whole lot easier>>>

RACE

Prince of Persia Strikes Back

Revisionism in both nationalist and anti-nationalist camps

by Sara Mashayekh
08-Sep-2010 (8 comments)
Personally, I have experienced that for most Iranians interest in an Aryan heritage has nothing to do with historical reality. Instead, it is more about disliking the rest of the Middle Easterners, particularly the Arabs, and wanting to be like Europeans. Consequently, the issue is more about a sort of antagonism and inferiority complex than one actually concerned with any real understanding of historical mechanism. Thus I am as angered and frustrated as Mr. Zia-Ebrahimi with what can only be labeled as bigoted racism. However, in demonstrating the depth of this ignorance, one would do better in actually considering historical details than dismissing them wholesale or ignoring what they actually do depict>>>

IDEAS

The Evolution of God

Is God a figment of human imagination?

by varjavand
08-Sep-2010 (4 comments)
There once was a TV commercial which showed an elegant young lady, Sandy Duncan, in the middle of a corn field. She suddenly asked in an inquiring voice “What is a little girl like me doing in the middle of a big field like this?” She then answered her own question. To prove a point, likewise, you may ask what is an economist doing writing an article about the unbounded topic of God? The answer is to remind ourselves of a very important mission that we, especially those in academia, should embark upon particularly in this country in which freedom of expression is safeguarded and allows for genuine inquiry about crucial topics without apprehension and disconcertion>>>

POINT

Strange Allies

Ahmadinejad & supporters of military attack against Iran

by Omid Memarian
06-Sep-2010 (7 comments)
The summit meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Washington testifies to the serious attention the Barack Obama administration is devoting to this enduring middle-east conflict. But even these vital negotiations are overshadowed by an issue with a potentially greater destructive capacity: the future of Iran, and the calculations of the United States and the wider international community in relation to the country's nuclear programs and plans>>>

RIGHTS

It's Time

... for Obama to support a UN rights monitor on Iran

by Dokhi Fassihian
04-Sep-2010 (12 comments)
Over the past year, the Obama Administration has missed successive opportunities to bring real international pressure on the Iranian government to address the severe human rights crisis gripping the country. Instead, it has focused its political muscle on the singular objective of convincing Iran's leadership to stop nuclear enrichment. The result has been an almost cruel disregard for the plight of the Iranian people and their urgent need for international attention to their human rights situation>>>

NUTS

Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin & Clear Denial

It must be very hard for Beck's White America to sleep these nights!

by bahmani
02-Sep-2010 (139 comments)
The recent event put on by Glenn Beck this past weekend, showed me a lot about that portion of middle America that has been getting smaller and smaller and smaller. Yet the middle of these Americans seems to be getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Boy Oh Boy the world sure has changed for them! What used to be a porcelain complexioned rosy cheeked European immigrant, has shockingly morphed into a range of brown and yellow skinned slant and slit eyed, bushy and dark browed, beard and mustachioed horde of freaking heathens!>>>

INTOLERANCE

Islam's Kettle Calling Christianity's Teapot Black

Islam wants to change Americans and they kind of don't want to

by bahmani
31-Aug-2010 (100 comments)
I recently watched a vlog by Reza Aslan on the intolerance of the west towards Islam. I hear Reza's point but have to beg to differ with him on the real issue as I see it. Also I find it hard to take him seriously on any of his well put arguments, while he hangs a painting of a woman wearing the most inarguably oppressive symbol of Islam, the chador, on his condo wall. Dude, I'm sorry, you're never going to sell Islam if you don't ditch the chador>>>

VIEW

Be fair to Iran and Iranians

Countering anti-Iranian propaganda

by Tooraj
27-Aug-2010 (28 comments)
In 1970's, when I had just come to the US during Shah's time, American people were much friendlier towards Iranians. They sometimes confused us with Arabs and I had a hard time explaining to them that I had only seen camels in a zoo, but generally they liked Iranians. But in the US nowadays things are a little different due to so much propaganda against Iran. So I thought I should get these short facts out there at least to counter some of the negative propaganda, generally propagated by Israeli-influenced media>>>

VIEW

2010 more like 1938

The question is not whether to appease Iran or not -- but whether Iran is appeasable

by Tony Blankley
27-Aug-2010 (47 comments)
Neoconservatives, Reaganites and other militarily assertive factions in the United States are sometimes accused of thinking it is always 1938 (Britain's appeasement of Hitler at Munich) -- that there is always a Hitler-like aggressor being appeased and about to drag the world into conflict. There is sometimes merit in that charge. Knowledge of history can be as much a snare as a guide -- if it is wrapped in a dogma that distorts the current facts to match the preferred historic lesson>>>

VIEW

The Weakness of the Islamic Republic

A history full of fear of awareness

by Roozbeh Mirebrahimi
25-Aug-2010 (2 comments)
From the most religious layers of the society to the most secular ones consider themselves part of the Green Movement despite their different perspectives. In other words, it is the Green Movement that has defined itself so widely. But it does have a significant difference with the 1979 revolution. While in the 1979 revolution to be anti-monarchy was the point of agreement of many different and even opposing groups, in the Green Movement to be against the Islamic Republic is not the point of convergence for all active forces>>>

RED

با تو آغاز نشد، سبز بی وجدان

با من بیا به دیدار نسل فراموش شده

by LalehGillani
23-Aug-2010 (59 comments)
در جواب به گزینش بد بر بدتر، در جواب به سینه زنی زیر پرچم پیروان خط امام، در جواب به تحسین جسارت میرحسین موسوی و زهرا رهنورد که دست در دست یکدیگر در ملأ عام بیش از یک سال گذشته، نسل سبز ایران را به ستایش خود بر انگیختند، با من بیا به روز جمعه، هفت مرداد شصت و هفت، دعوت به نگاه دزدانه ای در سلولهای تنگ زندان اوین و گوهر دشت، چپیده از یاران دبستانی>>>

IDEAS

Learning from India

Practical steps can Iran take to institute a more pluralistic society

by Alyssa Gabbay
23-Aug-2010 (6 comments)
Today, India’s secular government strives – albeit with mixed results -- to protect and nurture all religious and ethnic groups. Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic of Iran, while officially recognizing three religious minorities – Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians – sanctions discrimination against these groups. Bahais, who are not recognized, face systematic, state-sponsored persecution. What practical steps can Iran take to institute a more pluralistic society like that of its neighbor to the east? >>>

VIEW

Our National Interest

The Case for an Iranian Nuclear Weapon

by vatan_doost
16-Aug-2010 (143 comments)
For Iranians of every color and creed, this is no longer a case of Mullah against the people. Whether you are for or against the Arab Regime, its Bedouin religion or its barbaric ways, it is irrelevant. There is an Iran separate and distinct from the Mullah-Arab Regime same as there is an Iranian identity completely separate and distinct from the Islamic identity. Putting aside differences, all should prepare to fight for Iran and its unique Iranian culture. Those who love Iran and its people should unite around the Regime and prepare for the imminent outbreak of hostilities against the people>>>

VIEW

Dying for War

A campaign for war with Iran begins

by Trita Parsi
14-Aug-2010 (110 comments)
Obama administration officials, as well as U.S. lawmakers and European diplomats passionately made the argument this spring that tough sanctions on Iran were necessary to avoid war. But contrary to their predictions, the drumbeat for war -- particularly from Israel – has only increased since the UN Security Council adopted a new resolution against Tehran in June. The latest in this crescendo of voices is Jeffrey Goldberg’s article in The Atlantic, "Point of No Return. " As the title suggests, it essentially makes the case (though in an uncharacteristically subtle manner by neoconservative standards) that there are no choices left -- war is a fait accompli>>>

HAPPINESS

حق شادی

حق پیگیری آزادانه شادی در کنار حقوق اساسی دیگر

by Hamid Akbari
14-Aug-2010 (2 comments)
امروز جوانان ایرانی به طرز فزاینده ای پیگیر حق برخورداری آزاد از شادی و ابراز عمومی آن در عرصه های گوناگون زندگانی خود هستند. حق پیگیری شادی سرشت دموکراسی های متعارف در جهان است. جمله ی مشهور بیانیه ی استقلال آمریکا به قلم تامس جفرسون برای نخستین بار به فراگیری این حق موجودیت رسمی و تاریخی بخشید: ((همه ی انسان ها مساوی خلق شده اند و خالق آنها حقوقی مشخص و غیر قابل تصرف را در نهادشان به ودیعه گذارده است که سه مورد آن عبارت است از زندگانی، آزادی و پیگیری شادی)).>>>
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