First, read this (in Farsi,) if you already don’t know about this “Social Security Plan.”
I wonder when they are going to realize that what people wear is not really our problem. It’s not even their problem. By them, I mean those who are worried about their precious religion and lament the decline of “religiosity” among the youth. Even if those worries and lamentation are not really for their religion, but for their power and control (which is quite justified in their mind. It’s “for the greater good” after all.)
In short term, these tactics are somewhat effective. They do generate resentment, but these resentments are directed at wrong things (”Why they don’t let me wear what I want” instead of “why they don’t let me think what I want.”) And also it provides much opportunity for doing favors to the people and getting rid of the puppets and appearing as saviors. Who will remember that they were the ones who created the problem in the first place?
But in longer term, these kinds of pressure will add up and may lead to what no one wants: another revolution. Who wants another bloody mess that will destroy most of the government infrastructure and would halt or reverse any progress for years?
The only reason I can find is stupidity mixed with fear. Blind, all-consuming, world-class, shear stupidity of someone who is afraid and is panicking.
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mojtaba | 20-Dec-07 at 1:40 am | Permalink
Kamelan bahatoun movafegham, harfatoun kamelan bejast.
vali che khoub boud age in post be zabane farsi boud, mesl poste ghabli (vase in mesal zadam, choun be nazar miad inja poste farsi ham emkan pazire!). Moshkelate jame’ey ma be khodemoun marboote (be irani ha). Hich niazi nist ke toy donya jar bezanim moshkel darim! (gar che in moshkel ma iraniha kheyli badtar va mokharebtar az oonie ke shoma behesh eshare kardin)
yzt | 20-Dec-07 at 8:59 pm | Permalink
اول اينکه تصور نمي کنم که وبلاگ من تنها منبع اين خبرها به زبان انگليسي باشه، و اگر من اين موضوع رو ننويسم و بهش اعتراض نکنم، ديگه هيچ کس خارج از ايران موضوع رو نفهمه. نظر شما اين نيست؟
دوم اينکه به نظر نمياد اين مشکل حماقت دولتها مختص ايران باشه. البته من فقط در مورد جامعه خودم مي تونم اظهار نظر کنم، چون آشنايي نزديکي با جاي ديگه ندارم، ولي دلم مي خواد در مورد مشکلات اين چنيني در جوامع ديگه هم بدونم.
سوم اينکه من فکر نمي کنم مخفي نگه داشتن مشکل کمکي به حلش بکنه. شايد يکي که فقط به زبان انگليسي صحبت مي کنه راه حل مشکل ما رو بدونه!
چهارم اينکه اعتراف به وجود مشکل بخشي از پروسه رفع اونه (مثل معتادها و الکلي ها!)
پنجم اينکه اگر دنيا قبول کنه که بعضي مواضع دولت ما در اثر بي کفايتي و عدم آگاهي اتخاذ شدند بهتره تا اينکه خيال کنند که در اثر بدخواهي، خصومت و جنگ طلبي هستند.
ششم اينکه قلم هاي فارسي که در مرورگرها در دسترس همه هست و ميشه ازش استفاده کرد خيلي محدودتر و زشت تر از قلم هاي انگليسي هستند و من ميانه چنداني با اين رسم الخط پينگليش يا فينگليش ندارم و خواندنش برام سخته. تازه اين جعبه متني که من اين نوشته ها رو درون وارد مي کنم اصلاً پشتيباني خوبي از نوشتن راست به چپ نداره. به علاوه من فارسي رو خيلي کندتر از انگليسي مي نويسم.
البته همه دلايل من (به جز اين آخري) جاي بحث دارند!
Nayer | 21-Dec-07 at 3:28 am | Permalink
Dear Sir,Madam,
I’ve got to say your choosing English to communicate your thought is very much like those ladies choosing of “BOOTS” for communicating their thoughts; both are disastrously “lame and incompetent”. If I were you - For the sake of sparing our lack of knowledge of English to save the face of our people globally – I would at least practice more to correctly utilize a foreign language not to be almost a shame in the world of weblogs!
Secondly,I do disagree with your point ; in that the style of “clothing” in each community is happening out of nowhere , yet, It is along all other choices and styles the one which is designed , transferred and formed universally. I “wonder ” how you can hold such a frozen and isolated idea of “world’s affairs”!
As a woman in this very society I know and realize those who up until yesterday were putting on “SANDALS” in winter , now are putting “boots” just to foolishly react against ” authorities” policies.Is it your interpretation of thinking??
You see how independently and clearly ladies are making their “choices”! I wish this new trend of putting “boots” could be what they wanted!
Afterwards, It’s not the “foolishness” of the government , as they take their policies neatly ,but the stupidity of those who are “trapped” in them. I do agree with your reader that our “problems” are more “fundamental”, as I see how socially immature we still are to shout “Hey , I’m here” , “look at me” or even “listen to me”.
I acknowledge your 2nd. Point as mostly governments and people under them are both “foolish”.
Your 3rd. point is a “loud insult” to your people in this society , no one is here to know how to eliminate such problems !
Your 4th. Point is a “cliche” which is a lot spoken by “ordinary” people everywhere, without knowing what the say or what may be the “roots” or “efficient” ways of “resolving ” them!
My advice for your 5th. Point is “don’t worry about the world”, they fully know what goes on here.Be better “concerned” with touching more deeply the true “recognition” of problems here!!
It’s so “unfortunate” that your “Persian and English” are so inefficient as a weblogger to communicate what you “may think to want” rather the one which is just”fashionable” and “hot”.
As a lady ,I am so “unlucky” to be backed by such “minds”.!!
yzt | 21-Dec-07 at 3:30 pm | Permalink
Thanks Nayer.
It was hilarious! Thank you for making my day!
yzt | 21-Dec-07 at 3:55 pm | Permalink
On a more serious note, tell me “Dear Sir,Madam,” had you lived in time of Reza Pahlavi, would you also be this adamant about objecting to someone crying for the loss of freedom and the loss of “chador?”
Please explain to me how this is different from that? How forcing women not to wear boots if different from forcing them not to wear the hejab?
(Before you ask, I would have been against that law (”کشف حجاب”) too. I am pro choice!)
You say that our women are donning boots solely because they want to oppose the system? Well that’s exactly my point! Why force people on some really trivial issue and suffer the consequences, like a rebellion or a revolution? Why not let the people wear what they want?
You say you are unlucky because you are supported by schools of thought like my own? I don’t know why you count yourself unlucky, because people like me also recognize your right to wear whatever you want (clothing is only an example, but let’s not muddy the water more than it already is,) be it the chador, toga or anorak.
But I also recognize the importance of tradition. When traditions are changed and broken by the people, you call it “fashionable” and “hot” and dismiss it as lowbrowism. But when they are changed by the governments, please allow me to call it an step towards and Orwellian nightmare! Which one of us is more in the wrong here, lady?
Among many things you insult my writing abilities, in English and in Farsi? Well, excuse me if I don’t measure up to your high standards, with all those quotation marks and those misplaced commas in it, but that’s the way I write. If there’s a mistake, I’ll be more than grateful if you’d let me know, but if it’s merely you not liking my style, well, I’m sorry for the hard time you’re having reading it.
MatGill | 21-Dec-07 at 4:46 pm | Permalink
Let’s see. First of all, cool down. No one is insulting anyone in here. You people are merely practicing what we all, at least in words, believe in: free speech. I’m not going to talk about the main point of this post, or anything even close to that. I’m just going to stress on the fact that Yaser is not as open to criticism in his philosophical, ethical and political views as he is in the case of, say, computer related matters. He certainly has good literal writing abilities, but it doesn’t mean he can get the message across. And in the case of this particular blog entry, I’d say he didn’t.
By the way, don’t take me too seriously, I’m just a homesick freak.
yzt | 21-Dec-07 at 5:02 pm | Permalink
Thank you MatGill. At least you were more specific!
Antigone | 23-Dec-07 at 11:23 am | Permalink
If you don’t know the truth, you are just stupid. If you know the truth and call it a lie, you are a criminal. (Bertolt Brecht)
In my opinion what yzt did is just reflecting the truth about a society which happened to be ours. Besides, I can hardly agree with the idea that “our problems are only relevant to ourselves” it’s like you say the problems people encounter in Africa, Iraq or any other part of the world is just relevant to themselves and nobody is responsible to them!
On the other hand, I do not agree with the 5th point yzt made too. Of course the world knows what goes on here, and it’s not like we fool them about our government by a post/posts in a weblog/weblogs. And even if it was, I don’t see stupidity of a government as an excuse for its uptightness (new word?!) or enmity.
Just Nayer as an Iranian lady, I want to ask you the same question (as yzt):
would you also be this adamant about objecting to someone crying for the loss of freedom and the loss of hijab? How forcing women to wear hijab is different from forcing them not to wear it?