Thanks to my American friend who helped me proofread my writing.
I believe that if you spend 5-10 minutes reading this essay, you will be better informed than if you listen to a lifetime's worth of Major Media news. Please don't assume that I'm a very old person. I'm just 18, and a university student studying English who just cannot sit back and let the lies fly unchallenged.
This article has two parts:
1. Cultural and general info
2. Political info.
If you wanna know the rest of of the story, read it from top to bottom.
Note:.I've explained all the things that you ALWAYS talk about, so read it all plz! Specially the political part! Any answers before reading the whole thing will prove to be wrong.
****
Hi. I'm an Iranian who has spent his life in Iran.When I chat with people from other countries, I am shocked to see how totally wrong their ideas are about Iran. I wrote this article in an attempt to help correct those ideas.
The first thing America, and the West in general, accuses our government of is that we don't allow personal freedoms. Actually, Iranians disobey laws they don't like as much as anyone. Many strict rules in other countries don't even exist in Iran. Also, you should understand that what may seem so normal to you, may be a nightmare for us and vise versa. That's why you don't understand a few of Iran's laws.In Iran every single house has a sattelite dish. Sattelite television has a serious influence on our people, and Iranians wear very fashionable clothing. Maybe it is a kind of imitation, but we still have our own unique Iranian style. A visitor might wonder if this is a country or a fantasy pageant of beauty queens! Almost half of women wear their hair out, and make-up and fashionable clothing are everywhere. Iran is one of the super-consumers of cosmetics. You would be surprised to see the difference between what you imagine and what Iran really is!
In my view, everything is great, if you ignore unemployment, inflation and air pollution. But I guess these are common problems around the world today, aren't they? Also, you can't compare Iran today with the Iran you remember. The Shah and the Iatollah Khomini are both some 30 years in the past!Nearly 65-70% of Iran's population is a new generation without the biases of the past (The youth), and we've transformed everything.
Some people think women don't have any rights in Iran. But in my view, women are overrunning the place. But that's not a bad thing. They're very respectful, and they've been the winners in so many cases: They get into the best universities because they're very smart. And they get the best jobs because they can do so many of them better than men. They've got Islamic rights, and that has in some cases made it difficult for men to marry them, because husbands are supposed to buy them expensive things and treat them very well, otherwise women have the right to ask a great amount of money (called Mehr) according to the law, which most husbands cannot afford, so they (men) will be imprisoned.The only thing that women are not allowed to do in Iran is getting into public football stadiums and that's because such places are full of cheeky guys. They do anything from taking part in rallies to singing pop songs.Anything! I've put a sample here. I feel foolish for sitting here explaining ordinary things to you.
Another funny thing: Your footage about stoning the women who have committed adultery. Have you ever asked yourselves how many years ago that footage related to? Are they balck and white or colourful? lol And for your information, those are from Afghanistan which was ruled by freaks (Taliban). When you think of such things, try to think of the racism in your country too. lol
I find it difficult to make you understand that Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan are --------- SEPERATE COUNTRIES! --------- Even within Iran, 60% of us are Persian and 30% are Turkish! I find it even more difficult to make you understand that Iran is a normal country like any other in the world. The point is, there's nothing mysterious about us! The Media are very good at creating really scary stuff: "IRAN BEHIND THE CLOSED DOORS!!!" "IRAN UNDERCOVER!!!" Some of that garbage would be enough to scare ME away! But in truth, Iranians are far more open-minded than you have been led to believe.
There are lots of Iranians today who are geniuses and scientists, and are all under age 25. You don't hear about their discoveries and inventions on TV. For instance a 17 year old boy has invented 72 amazing inventions and there are many KIDS like that. Iranian students and sportsmen win gold and silver medals in different competitions in the world all the time, in robotics, biology, maths, physics, sports, anything! Why don't the Media talk about them? Please don't summarize our nation and culture with the single word "nuclear". Although we're proud of this achievement because we believe that having nuclear energy means that a country is developed.Did you know that the countries having the highest number of scientists in the world are in this order? 1-India 2-Korea 3-Iran
A few months ago Iran uncovered the most effective anti-H.I.V medicine and it was signing treaties with other countries to export it. I searched for news of that on the internet, but there was no single sign of it. What did I find instead? "President Bush CLAIMS that bomb parts are imported from Iran into Iraq!" (The same old story!) The Media are unjust. They put CLAIMS on the headlines, but they never talk about facts!
Some interesting facts:
Iran is a pioneer in medicine and genetics, and Iranian surgeons have found lots of new methods for treating spinal defects, and many diseases (mainly the treatment for different types of cancer) and the best brain and heart surgeons are Iranian. The head of the Mars Mission in NASA is Iranian. One of the best designers of sports cars working in Germany is Iranian. Some of the best 3D animators are Iranian. Iran is one of the best countries in counter-engineering. Holds the second place in building dams and in loads of other things! It's one of the top countries in bio-technology and nano-technology. The 4th highest tower in the world (Milad tower) is in Tehran (visit it at this link from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Milad... ). 51 of the top 100 universities in the Mid-East are in Iran, and they're among the top universities of the world as well. The champion weight-lifter, a woman, and a song by one of the pop singers who/which won the nobel peace prize are Iranians. Lots of Iranians win nobel prizes specially in the field of medicine. Iranian girls are famous for being terrific. We have Persian rugs and Persian literature, many Persian poets and scientists that are very famous. Iranian culture is now westernized and only a little of the ancient culture has survived. According to statistics Tehran is the cheapest capital city in the world (for foriegners of course, not for us! Our rate is different: one Dollar =about 950 Tomans!) There are many other things. How many pages would you need to describe a country? Iran is an independant country unlike its neighbours. It has nearly all the industries and technologies found in 'developed' countries. The list is endless.
News: "Iranian scientists managed to make human teeth grow after you've lost them using basic cells" I'm gonna introduce Iran's international news website to you (Press TV) which was established recently. It's fully in English. You'll find what they're hiding from you! In the "Sic / Tech" section you'll always see Iran's discoveries. The address is: http://www.presstv.ir/news.aspx... Press TV news: Iranian scientists have registered more than 4800 inventions during the last Iranian calendar year of 1385 (April 21 2006-April 20, 2007). 4800 inventions in just one year!
Some charactristics of Iranians would be: intelligent, ambitious, a bit idealistic, well-dressed, formal, well-educated, warm and friendly, hospitable, and not so religious, (the majority of the young generation, that is, which leaves us unfortunately vulnerable to pseudoIslamic lies). We are also proud, greedy, hard-working (for ourselves), not punctual, impatient, and lazy at doing our duty well.
Some people think Iran is a desert! Well, it is, if you consider California, New Mexico, Utah, Arkansas, and Alabama a desert. We share the same latitude. Iran is a modern country with breathtakingly beautiful nature and lots of historic places to visit. Please take a look at the following links to see if Iran looks like what you think or not! This is a photo of Tehran (Awesome, Isn't it?): http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehran
If you like you can visit these too, hundreds of pretty photos from the
cities, nature and historic places:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hills...
http://www.pbase.com/k_amj/throughout_ir...
http://www.pbase.com/k_amj/throughout_ir...
http://www.pbase.com/k_amj/throughout_ir...
http://www.bigsoccer.com:80/forum/showth...
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthrea...
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthrea...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran
Some people think music is forbidden in Iran. Did you know that Iranian music was chosen as the best pop in France in 2005? I guess not. All Iranian songs are current pop /Club-Dance/Trance/ DJ music. I send them to my American and Canadian chat friends and they all say they're some of the
best songs they've ever heard.
Here's a sample of the latest hits. (So catchy, Right?) I believe in "Express yourself through music and that music is a universal language". You can just right click on the links below and choose "Save Target As" to download them. The translation of the songs is here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
1.(You know this: 2007) http://download.bia2music.com/Music/Iran...
2.(Hold my hand: 2007) http://www.sarzaminmp3.com/Sarzaminmusic...
3.(The wetness of your eyes: 2006) http://download.bia2music.com/Music/Iran...
4.(I just want you: 2003) http://download.bia2music.com/Music/Iran...
5.(The rain: 2007) http://download.bia2music.com/Music/Iran...
6.(The window: 2005) http://www.sarzamin.org/Sarzaminmusic/Pe...
7.(Keep me in your memory: 2005) http://www.sarzamin.org/Sarzaminmusic/Pe...
8.(Farangis "A female name" 2007) http://download.bia2music.com/Music/Iran...
9.(The distance: 2007) http://www.sarzaminsong.com/Sarzaminmusi...
10.(Sunrise: 2007) http://www.sarzaminsong.com/Sarzaminmusi...
11.(Stop world:2006) http://www.sarzaminmusic.com/Sarzaminmus...
12.(You can't: 2007) http://www.sarzaminmp3.com/Sarzaminmusic...
13.(The wind's kiss: 2005) http://www.sarzamin.org/Sarzaminmusic/Pe...
14.(Reveal your visage: 2004) http://www.sarzamin.org/Sarzaminmusic/Pe...
15.(What would have happened if : 2007) http://www.sarzaminmp3.com/Sarzaminmusic...
And so on and on!
It's now 2007 and people still think we are uneducated people living in deserts, riding camels and carrying around guns! See how the media are fooling people?
Let's clarify some political issues as well: Some of the Americans I chatted with said in the U.S it's said that president Ahmadinejad hates the U.S and Israel and wants to nuke them!! The Media are good at putting lying comments out there. It's easy to show a video or an image of our president or leader on the TV screen or on the internet and say he says this, he says that.....I really don't get the point why our politicians defame themselves by talking about things that have got nothing to do with us. For example does verbal defence of Palestinians cause them to have a better life? The thing is that they occasionally make some statements that the media would misuse it against Iran. For example they pick up some specific phrases of a long speech (without refering to the main points and reasons for that speech) and put so many bad comments on that. No sane person would take such nonsense at face value.
First of all, Iranians don't hate anyone. If our government complains about some injustice going on in the world, it's not bad, is it? (Although what we want from them is to shut up and not get us into trouble by talking about things that are none of our concern) We hate neither Jews nor Americans. I love Americans, otherwise why would I talk to them?! How would our guys dream of America, want to be like them as much as possible, and hate them at the same time?! I've got to say that for Iran, Israel is not equal with Jews! Israel is a gov't. Jews are faithful people! A few of them live here in our neighbourhood and they live just like the rest of Iranians. No difference. And two of Iran's parliment members are Jews. Who says we want to force others to convert to Islam? Have you ever found a Muslim knocking at your door asking you to do so? It's so funny the way you imagine things and make yourselves believe in your own immaginations!
Christians and Jews are both God-believers and respectful to us. I wonder why the media like putting words in our mouth and raising hatred. In Iran, religion is one of the least important factors. Where you come from and what your religion is are not important to us at all. On the contrary, meeting different people would be very interesting for us!
I wonder who Iran is really a threat to. Is it logical to say someone's guilty because we THINK / PREDICT that he's going to do something wrong? And they repeat the same "nuclear weapons" tosh over and over and brainwash people! News headlines: "We won't allow Iran to gain nuclear weapons"!!! Correction! It's "nuclear energy". Besides, how many "nuclear weapons" do they have themselves? Hundreds of thousands? Has Iran ever attacked any countries? No. Has it developed any nukes? No! That's what nuclear agency says. Only Iran's opponents are pulling Iran's leg and what they say is of no credit. It's just based on political conflicts. What we're doing is legal. What they ask us to do (ignoring our international rights) is illegal. Iran is a peaceful country. Why? It's the regional super-power and if she wanted, she could easily invade the countries in our neibourhood just like what Saddam did to our country, but as you see Iran has peaceful relations with all of them. It can set an example to some countries that just follow their interests (oil!). Interesting! the countries accusing Iran of different things have been, and are still accused of the same things!!! How logical!
Some people say he said: Israel should be wiped off the map! But have they told you the rest of his speech and that why he's said this at all? You know that it's a passive sentence. He's never said that IRAN wants to wipe Israel off the map! He wasn't talking about destroying Israel. He was talking about relocating Israel, so that they could live seperate from Palestinians and they could both live in peace. They've only told you this phrase not the whole thing and it's mistranslated intentionally. Iran has always defended itself, but it's not an offensive country.
Some say he's said: "The Holocaust is a myth!" Again, this is a single phrase taken from a long speech and there are totally logical reasons for saying so. If 6,000,000 Jews were killed, that's terrible, but 300,000 Shiite Moslems killed by Saddam aren't important at all? Over 650,000 Iraqi people are killed and that's not important?! When Fox News simply says that America and Israel are capable of destroying and killing Iran's population of 69,000,000 within two weeks, it's OK and no one says they're threatening other countries to nuke them (I saw this with my own eyes on the Fox News website) Millions of people killed in Afghanistan, Hiroshima %26amp; Nagasaki and the Vietnam war are not considered human beings at all! Now I think you'd get the point why he's IRONICALLY said it's a myth. Moreover, don't you believe in freedom of speech/mind? [I do, but there ARE P.C. morons who don't.] I'd judge people by their ACTIONS rather than by what they say / their religion / race / culture and the colour of their skin!
Obviously, some countries are using Iran as a scapegoat to put the blame (for their own faults) on. And what country is better than Iran to be a scapegoat? The whole world believes that Iran isn't a peaceful country. I know Americans don't like this either, but what can they do? They're not responsible for controlling what the Media says. This part is just for Americans who would still argue over unimportant things: Those of you who say why Iran says "Death to America":
1. 'America' to us means the U.S govt, not the people. How do you expect Iranians to mean "American people" when our media admires Americans for marching and holding up "no war" placards?!
2. The new generation don't say such things and if some of them occasionally march in the streets that's because some of the stupid guys enjoy making noise and they mainly go out there to meet their girlfriends/boyfriends! Strange. Isn't it?
3. Such mottos are not just said in Iran and as you know whatever you hear is a response to the U.S govt's terrible actions which has made life for many people hell (You wouldn't deny that attacking countries is a mistake. right?)
5. The U.S gov't helped Saddam attack Iran and I hope you know which country gave Iraq biological weapons which killed lots of Iranians.
6. America hit an Iranian airplane over the Persian Gulf and killed 200 passengers for no reason.
7. America places sanctions on Iran, promotes a false image of Iran and Iranians, scares tourists away, and harms our economy, development and credit. To what purpose?
8. America has always despised Iranians who travel to the U.S. at their arrival. (even ordinary ones, university students, sportsmen, scientists etc).
When you call Ahmadinejad a nutcase for what he's said, what do you call Bush for his actions? I mean it's a good idea to consider what Bush is doing to the world with his wrong decisoins and lies. Bush is powerful and influencial, but Ahmadinejad is nothing.I know it, you know it, everyone knows it.
To those who are upset with American hostages taken for 444 days:
1. Firstly, It's related to so many years ago and it's almost a part of history, and don't forget that when there's a revolution, there'd be chaos and people may do things that they should not, moreover they're all alive and healthy. Aren't they?
2.The U.S has arrested Iranian diplomats in Iraq and had tortured the one who was freed. Poor British sailors were detained by the English gov't just for saying that they were treated well in Iran and that Iranians were logical people (They said these when they were on England's soil!) They were PREVENTED from releasing their memoirs by England! Now you decide who has the right to be upset with whom. How do you believe in their lies about politics when they hide both the most and the least important things from you considering the fact that politics is the world of lies in its nature?!!! Considering all this, you'd probably be able to GUESS what percentage of what they tell you about the Mid-East, Islam, Moslems and other things is true!!! lol
Isn't it better for both countries to forget past conflicts and to have peaceful relations? Our two gov'ts are like 10 year old children playing a stupid, harsh, rhetorical game. They don't care about hurting people's feelings. They just try to make our two peoples enemies to achieve their own goals. We, as the people of these countries, MUST NOT allow these conflics into our hearts. You know something? All govt's are hateful. I just said the above things because it sounds unfair when some Americans talk about the taking of the 444 hostages while I keep silence. I hope you agree on this one! Now, what do you think? I can't wait to see both nations in peace. It'd be marvelous!
Thanks for your time
It's taken me almost a year to complete this.What do you think of it?
Thank you. I now see a Iran from a different point of view, an unbiased by the media view. Thank you for taking the time to explain to the rest of us what the media is unable to show. Now if the rest of the world could be shown your Iran from your eyes we would all be better off.
Reply:well obviously you are a very smart man. :D
good job.
Reply:This is a well written and well reference article/essay. I would encourage you to continue to express yourself this way. The world is in desperate need to this type of leadership. I commend you for taking the time to put this work together...I hope many people get to read it!
Reply:There is a lot of censorship in the US media. Every story presented only shows one side and no one reall knows the causes and the extremities. People in the US, are very patriotic and very passionate, however if they had only knew the truth about the other side of the story, they would have different outlook towards its policies, how the government has been trying to break up other countries to their own benefits. Look at Iraq, for instance they only count the US casualties, what about all those hundreds of thousand of civilians who lost their lives and most of them where women and children. There should be an International policies to protect the innocent from the bullies. Turkey has been fighting terorisim for the past 35 something years. Do they need US permission to protect it's borders? I don't think so. Every Country has their own right to protect their soil, land and most of all it's people. Thank you for the informative story and hoping that there would be more people who would express their feelings.
Reply:Please summarize this dissertation so that we may respond, if indeed there is a question there.
One might be interested in what the Muslims have to say. The religious ideology of the Palestinian Authority religious leaders can be summarized by eight essential principles:
Regarding the Jews:
Jews are the enemy of Allah.
Islam is fighting a continuous religious war against the Jews.
The killing of Jews is a religious obligation.
Palestinians are the vanguard in this war against the Jews, and all Islamic nations are obligated to assist in this war.
Regarding Israel:
- All of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea (which includes all of Israel) is a religious Waqf -- an Islamic religious trust. Any Muslim who relinquishes any part to Israel is damned to Hell.
- All agreements with Israel are inherently temporary in nature, and are signed only because of Israel's temporary balance of power advantage.
- Allah will replace Muslims who shirk their obligation to battle Israel.
- The ultimate destruction of Israel is a certainty.
The Palestinians repeatedly use Islamic sources to defend this religious hatred, even demanding the killing of Jews as a current obligation and the will of Allah. At least four times in recent months, Palestinian religious leaders have taught publicly that the following Hadith (Islamic traditions attributed to Mohammed) is an authoritative directive of Islam today, expressing Allah's will that obedient Moslems kill Jews. According to Sheikh Muhammed Abd al Hadi La'afi, quoted in the official P.A. newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (May 18, 2001), and Dr. Muhammed Ibrahim Madi, delivering the main Friday sermon on Palestinian TV (April 13, 2001), the Hadith itself states:
"The Day of Resurrection will not arrive until the Muslims make war against the Jews and kill them, and until a Jew hiding behind a rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!'"
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Reply:david your country is beautiful!!! i could not link on to iranian news ,so sorry wanted to watch it.I keep learning from you so you keep writting. looking forward to hearing from you again!!
lady d
Reply:ok i read it and i thought it was greaT!!! very thorough and informative!! good job!!! the pictures were also really beautiful. my dad was born in Iran, but i was born in the US and i've never had a desire to go see where my daddy grew up, but now you've changed my mind!!! baricallah!! lol
Reply:I admire you for writing this. It's great to hear someone's perspective from inside their own country. I believe that the Iranian people and American people have a lot of fondness and respect for each other. I live in a USA suburb and my neighborhood is about 5% Iranian and I've worked with and known Iranians throughout my life, so our respect is genuine. I've also heard that the Iranian people feel warmth for Americans too (sometimes I wonder if that's partly because smart Iranians are rebelling against the "death to America" garbage they've heard for 30 years). Your defense of your culture and people is quite eloquent. I'm sure Iran is "better than people think" (in America at least) as far as daily life. Thank you for pointing that out. I think your desire to have a good life and liberty and democracy will ultimately help your nation rise to become a true democracy some day.
But your defense of your government, especially Ahmadinejad, has lots of holes and incorrect assumptions. The Iranian Revolution is water under the bridge, but new travesties occur regularly. Iran is now arresting Iranians with American citizenship on trumped up charges of spying. It's obvious that those British sailors were pressured severely into incriminating themselves. The entire incident was orchestrated by Iran and the sailors were almost certainly grabbed under false pretenses. It reminds me so much of the old USSR, making ridiculous claims and arresting dissidents and the like, really making fools of themselves for doing so (albeit dangerous fools). To say that Iran only wants nuclear energy and not weapons is laughable. Clearly Ahmadinejad wants to have nuclear weapons and all the leverage they command. I'm not afraid he'll nuke Israel or anyone else – even he's not that crazy – just that he wants to be able to bully his neighbors (and America) with impunity, which would be harmful enough. As for Israel, he clearly wants Jews out of Palestine, or (worse) he's acting like he does to play to the crowds. You can't say his words about Israel aren't belligerent. While I don't think he'd ever attack Israel, his statement that the holocaust is a myth is a deep offense to Jews, Americans and many Germans, plus it's just so laughably wrong, that it doesn't matter what else he said in the same speech. Americans who say hateful things (think Mel Gibson) are judged pretty harshly too.
I won't defend George Bush and all his follies. I certainly won't defend American policies towards Iran before the Shah was deposed, which were horrible. But at least Bush's heart is in the right place. He honestly felt he could make Iraq a better place. Hopefully our next president won't be such a fool.
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