Farhad Kashani

Do people deserve the government they get??? Not sure what the answer to that question is. In my opinion, it depends on the circumstances.

So did Iranians deserve Shah or Khomeini? Were they misled? Or were they happy with the status quo? Again, I think it depends on the circumstances and there are many factors to consider.

It is not a secret though that we, as a nation, have yet matured politically, although at this moment, we never been maturer. So, what causes political or cultural maturity and what doesn’t? What are the signs, if you will?

By analyzing the Iranian behavior, one can tell what some of us have been taught and not taught. This applies more to the traditional elements of our society versus the more modernized and urban.

These are some of the things that some of us haven’t been taught:

We were not taught social discipline.

We were not taught to stand up to tyranny. That was never our priority up until the early days of last century.

We were never taught to take things seriously.

We were never taught social bonding, including finding friends outside of extended family or, tribe, if you will. Usually our best friend is our cousin! That does not build up a strong and unified bonded society, a society that cares for each other.

We were never taught that at some point, you need to let go of traditions that hinder progress and stand in contrast with the modern ideas of human rights and civility. As matter of fact, we were taught to worship tradition, good or bad, and we were taught that distancing yourself from those traditions is “treasonous”.

We were never taught self responsibility and taking responsibility for our own action. Blaming others for our shortages is an integral part of traditional Iranian identity.

We were never taught to self criticize. That one is a big taboo. Everything that has the label “Iranian” on it is “sacred”.

We were never taught that “Zerangi” (in the “sneaky” term) can backfire at a later point!

We were never taught to look at the big picture.

We were never taught that enviousness (Hasoodi) is a social illness.

So does any of that impact the political landscape in ? I think it does. We are a great people, with a strong tradition of liberalism and generosity towards others and people that are different than us. We were pioneers in introducing the ideas of human rights to the world. But the key word here is “were”.

At this point in our history, there is a strong struggle between traditionalists and modernists in . Modernists belong mostly to the 70% or so portion of the population whom are young and eager to be part of the International community. The above mentioned social traits are less visible in them than it is in the elder traditionalist portion. That calls for great optimism for the future of .

Time will tell.