The Iranian Psyche
The fourth session of the post-election trial took place today in Tehran, where like its precedents, the jailed members of reformists parties in Iran, such as the "Hezbe Mosharekat" Party and "Sazman Mojahedin-e Enghelab Eslami" Party and "Hezbe Kargozaran" Party, were put before the hearings. In addition, the top reformists in the Khatami's administration who were the ministers, aides, speaker of the government and even reformist parliament representatives were put on trial as well.
What it brings to my mind is what the government and the hardline masterminds behind it want is the demise of the reformists and their involvement in Iran's politics and unilateralism of their sect. The accusations of the prosecutors against these reformers in court are outrageously ridiculous; their consent with the international communities' supervision in the elections, provoking the emotions of candidate supporters into street protests and vandalization, maintaining contact with foreign cultural institutions, involvement in election campaigns and promises of safeguarding people's votes (!), deviation from the principles of Islam and criticizing the country's laws, communicating with professors outside of Iran, receiving certain writings from foreign universities and reading some books.... these were their "crimes"!
The more devastating fact about such rhetoric is not the existence of the writers of these accusations in Iran, but the existence of the Iranian people who buy into such accusations for which these nonsense continue to bear validity. The saddest part is there are still Iranian people that accept such words intoned in such manners as mass trial of a wide and varying party as the reformist in Iran. It's the Iranian people who don't think about and question what they're being told, and hence accommodate liars into deceiving them. As this isn't enough, the passivity & lack of critical thinking of these people aren't bound to the uneducated and the poor, but to some of the most educated and well-off Iranians. So, it is the mindset of the Iranian people, who exist not as civilians but also as politicians, those who articulate such thoughts and those who process and accept such words. The Ahmadinejads and Mesbah-Yazdis, even Khameneis and Rafsanjanis are the kinds that exist in average Iranian people, in their religion, culture, outlooks and behaviors. The radicalism, intolerance of criticism, imposition of one's own beliefs upon others, preaching instead of teaching, forcing instead of allowing to choose, suffocating free thoughts, resorting to violence, and inability to maintain moderate position instead of extremism in all things are characteristics exclusive to "Iranianness", whether it's the kings or Velayat-e Faghigh or Ahmadinejad or Khomeini or average Iranian civilians or even Iranians living in Western countries abroad!!!!! These are all traits that run deep in the educational system, the parental attitude and ways Iranians raise children, in their relationships, daily practices and in ways they govern and rule!!!
Going to school was a fear, a fear of forgetting your books and school supplies, which would result in your teacher yelling at you, humiliating you, branding you the "lazy child" of the class and calling for you mother to come to school. One couldn't question the teacher's "teaching" or else you'd be kicked out of class and in universities would brand you as an activists and result in your receiving stars, taking away your academic privileges, and ultimately in your expulsion.
Even in economics, the way it is run and managed, and how the wealth of the nation (e.g. oil!) is owned reflect such cultural attitudes.
What it brings to my mind is what the government and the hardline masterminds behind it want is the demise of the reformists and their involvement in Iran's politics and unilateralism of their sect. The accusations of the prosecutors against these reformers in court are outrageously ridiculous; their consent with the international communities' supervision in the elections, provoking the emotions of candidate supporters into street protests and vandalization, maintaining contact with foreign cultural institutions, involvement in election campaigns and promises of safeguarding people's votes (!), deviation from the principles of Islam and criticizing the country's laws, communicating with professors outside of Iran, receiving certain writings from foreign universities and reading some books.... these were their "crimes"!
The more devastating fact about such rhetoric is not the existence of the writers of these accusations in Iran, but the existence of the Iranian people who buy into such accusations for which these nonsense continue to bear validity. The saddest part is there are still Iranian people that accept such words intoned in such manners as mass trial of a wide and varying party as the reformist in Iran. It's the Iranian people who don't think about and question what they're being told, and hence accommodate liars into deceiving them. As this isn't enough, the passivity & lack of critical thinking of these people aren't bound to the uneducated and the poor, but to some of the most educated and well-off Iranians. So, it is the mindset of the Iranian people, who exist not as civilians but also as politicians, those who articulate such thoughts and those who process and accept such words. The Ahmadinejads and Mesbah-Yazdis, even Khameneis and Rafsanjanis are the kinds that exist in average Iranian people, in their religion, culture, outlooks and behaviors. The radicalism, intolerance of criticism, imposition of one's own beliefs upon others, preaching instead of teaching, forcing instead of allowing to choose, suffocating free thoughts, resorting to violence, and inability to maintain moderate position instead of extremism in all things are characteristics exclusive to "Iranianness", whether it's the kings or Velayat-e Faghigh or Ahmadinejad or Khomeini or average Iranian civilians or even Iranians living in Western countries abroad!!!!! These are all traits that run deep in the educational system, the parental attitude and ways Iranians raise children, in their relationships, daily practices and in ways they govern and rule!!!
Going to school was a fear, a fear of forgetting your books and school supplies, which would result in your teacher yelling at you, humiliating you, branding you the "lazy child" of the class and calling for you mother to come to school. One couldn't question the teacher's "teaching" or else you'd be kicked out of class and in universities would brand you as an activists and result in your receiving stars, taking away your academic privileges, and ultimately in your expulsion.
Even in economics, the way it is run and managed, and how the wealth of the nation (e.g. oil!) is owned reflect such cultural attitudes.
