I finally went to Iran after over a decade and thought I should share some of my major
observations with u guys with whom I have been associated for some time
now. I may extend my observations in more than one post depending on
your level of participation and engagement:
My first impression in the EK (Emam Khomeini) Airport, when I entered Iran "The passport check crew were quite friendly, educated, and
fun people". That was contrary to my prior expectation. Later on, the
Information desk in the airport however spoilt everything and my
subsequent observations confirmed that we are at least 30 years behind
the rest of say, SE Asian countries in our service industry (but still
better than Arabs). Subjectivity, prejudice, personal pride and lack of
professionalism and ethics were all present in the two girls who were
running the Information boost in the airport. Later on I realized that
this is the case in majority of the Iran's public sector; a backward
culture of dis-service that matches with the mentality of the current
guardians of the Cyrus' throne, the IR establishment. Comparing with
the previous era in particular I must say that there was no sign of
love of Iran, and respect to older people, in the work that people do
in offices. However, there is a lot of Islamic love and attention to
details, not just by authorities but also by ordinary people (half,
just pretending, and the other half, being brainwashed and socially
designed and engineered this way. I must say the Seda va Sima has been
very very successful in spreading a culture of "namaaz", "roozeh",
"doa", "Islamic apologism" you name it. These are the daily business
of a many of ordinary people as there is nothing more profitable than
this to do both spiritually and financially (power, political power,
and preservation of economic interests).
Those relatives of mine who happen to be pro-government, continuously try to
convince me that Iran is now the biggest power in the region, has the
highest level of health care is the first in education, etc etc. They go as far as
believing the Seda-Sima lies such as "UK is about to go under the sea
and is planning to take over Australia!" OR: US took the
opportunity and shortly after the Haiti earthquake they took over the
country and shocked the world. Yes this is how people in Iran are being
fed with news. Not many people know Internet, and those who have
satellite TV just watch the shows and pornography; not many people care
about IRAN anymore. It was a sad experience for me.
To those pro-government civilians, when I laugh at and try to reason, they think of me
as an in-informed poor thing who needs guidance. Can u see what is
happening there? The situation is very very bad.
My other part of relatives who are opposing the regime make strong
criticisms of the regime but they all seem to observe certain limits,
scaring for their lives, and they usually escape from a final
confrontation (they don't see any support whatsoever). This last point
also explains the 22 Bahman phenomena. The majority of oppositions do
not have ANY support whatsoever; no armed political party, no national
armies awaiting on the foreign borders to attack Iran, not many people
are ready to go into hardship and into long decisive strikes. The
massive opposition has absolutely NO SUPPORT whatsoever; and instead it
is all force and dictatorship.
The good news however is that this very very angry but quiet
opposition, when rise, will rise like no other time ever in our
history. People are extremely frustrated both with the regime and with
the people who support the regime. Iranians have NEVER been so divided.
Discussions are all about Islam, anti-Islam, west, anti-west, and
hejaab, anti-hejaab, all issues that do not directly touch Iran but
creates chaos and enmity among Iranians. Unfortunately Iran will have
to go through a massive turbulence before it can correct the current
situation mainly due to such division among people. Contrary to the
previous era, national pride of Iranians is gone and for some it is now
replaced by Islam. I was disgusted when one of my close young
relatives told me the story of how Emaam zaman appeared to him and gave
him a sandwich because he was busy praying and shops closed!! and when
I laughed and joked about it then he told me "oh BTW, Emam zaman also
had a mobile phone, and changed everything into a joke whereas he
initially was trying to sell the true story of Emaam zaman to me and impress me.
Again, a culture of lies and deceit to its bone, mixed with religion,
superstition and personal gains. I cannot explain how disgusted I am of
some of our people. They are below the intelligence of a dog to say the
least, and their ethics is lower than a prostitute.
|