From: cheragh@alborz.mips.com (Mash Cheragh_Ali)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian
Subject: Re: Az Div o Dad Maloolam
Date: 10 Apr 92 21:57:49 GMT
Reply-To: cheragh@alborz.mips.com (Mash Cheragh-Ali)
Organization: The Light House
NNTP-Posting-Host: alborz.mips.com

In article <1992Apr10.023023.28735@athena.mit.edu>,
nsohrabi@athena.mit.edu (Naghmeh Sohrabi) writes:
>...
>
> MCA jAn jAn keh still not kachal you,
> 
> 
> Ever thought that the problem is not necessarily Islam?  The problem is maybe
> what you're doing even right now, always wishing for something else, always
> looking for something else to blame this "horrible state we are in" [whatever
> that means].
> 
> Ever thought maybe there really wasn't a "black veil" over the
country, rather
> you and me, and others  have been wearing black sunglasses all this time?
> I don't know.  Who am I to express my opinion in such matters of grave
importanc
> e
> to fellow men, and women, of SCI?  I just find it ironic (what does
one use as
> the farsi equivalent in this case?) that no matter what shit people go
through,they never stop wishing for some unreasonable thing to happen.
> 
> Naghmeh
> 
> 

Dear Naghmeh,

I'm really surprised at you.  Islam has penetrated our culture and
it's being wrongfully applied in every affair of the people in Iran
(from going to the bathroom to wearing clothes, from .. ).  Then you
tell me that we are blaming something else for our problems!  Isn't
that IRONIC?  On the other hand, may be it's not.  Most Iranians, not
excluding myself, are very religious about what they believe in, even
if they don't believe in religion! That's probably a lot more IRONIC :-).

I am against religion, but I don't care to fight with it unless I see
it's harming the society.  In this case, Islam has done and continues
to do serious damage to Iran.  It is true that it's our fault that
Islam has gained so much.  However, please don't forget that Islam as
an ideology has to be fought with.  You cannot simply ignore it and
hope that it will go away by itself!  Our government is called Islamic
Republic.  Mojahedin want to bring us another type of Islamic Republic,
and there are tons of Islamic parties and organizations in 	Iran,
and Islamic law has become the rule of the land.  Yet you expect me to
think that Islam is not at fault, but the people are!  In all honestly,
I believe that people are not monsters by nature.  Most human being,
even Babak :-), don't intend harm to others.  It's their religion,
their beliefs, or their ideology, that makes a beast out of them (even
though they themselves create these). It's the environment that they
grow in that forms them as they grow up, just as a sculpturist carves a 
statue.  

Maybe you should take a non-religious look at your religion and see
what it has done to you and other people.  Actually it may be better if
you first take a look at communism and what it brought to this world. 
Communism was a man-made ideology just like Islam, and many good people
devoted their lives to fighting, dying and killing for it.  However,
after it failed to deliver all the prosperity that it had promised the
people, communism finally came to an end.  Yet there are still people
out there who think, very religiously I should say, that  communism was
great and the people were at fault.  How IRONIC :-).  It's like blaming
the bad design of a building on the workers who build it rather than on
the architect who designed it!  

And let me assure you that I and others, who have been fortunate enough
to recognize this bankrupt way of life, are not just wishing that Iran
would be free of this black veil (or evil - whichever you like).  We
have been doing what we can to rid ourselves of the fanaticism, the
superstitions, the closed-mindedness, and the backwardness that we have
inherited from our culture, and in particular from Islam.  And I assure
you that we'll do what we can to educate ourselves and our people so we
can build the bright future that we WISH for them!  And in doing so, we
sincerely believe that:

 "kheshte' avval rA keh benhAdi kaj    tA sorayyA miravad divAr kaj"
 (if the first brick is tilted (not straight), the wall would go up tilted
  forever.)

And I see Islam written on the first brick of that wall that represents
our thoughts!  So let's remove it and start over again :-).

Regards,
MCA


P.S.  I'll be out for about 10 days.  If would like to continue this
      discussion, I'll respond to you after I return.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

	 | |
	 | |
	( ! )
	 \ /
	 ___
	|   |--0
	|___|
	 ! !	(c) Copyright 1991
	 ! !	 
	 / \	cheragh@alborz.mips.com (Mash Cheragh-Ali)
	~~~~~
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian