My recent visit to Iran

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.