Jahanshah Javid

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Anonymouse Jaan, Thank you

Anonymouse Jaan, Thank you for your comment/advice to Anahid. I too learnt something positive from it by re-analyzing my own last relationship's experience, fault and final lesson... You are good, Aafarin bar shoma :-)

Dear Anahid, Thank you

Dear Anahid,

Thank you for taking the time writing your opinion on my comment. I agree with you based on my own personal experiences in the past and especially a very recent one. I appreciate your thoughts on this. 

Repectfully,

A

Evil in disguise

Nearly the last decade we've seen evil being portrayed as good,or least to say 'reasonable' by alot of people claiming their own self rightousness.People who hijack planes and kill thousands,suicide bomb,blow up the London tube,blow up Spain,machine gun the Taj Mahal,behead people by the factory load,kidnapping,blow off a half ton of TNT next to buildings full of people,dress up as 'good guy policemen and slaughter off a village,set roadside bombs,blow up people waiting to vote,pack their car full of bombs and drive them into cities.All this evil...Not really seen as evil.

Looking for Mr. Bad Bar?

The best case for the triumph of Evil over Good is right in front of your face on a daily basis.

No, I'm not talking about your zionist ads.

I'm talking about the triumph of the IRI over Good. To the point where sometimes, we don't even know if the IRI is really all that bad or not. That's how Bad (or Good) Evil can get.

To the point that it makes you second guess and question what you thought Good was to begin with.

Or, if you repeat a lie over and over enough, it eventually becomes the turth, or in our case the President of Iran.

JJ

From Hungary to Croatia. Good or Evil.

Listen and learn from a country that fell apart.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2GyMKA8OIs

It should be noted that in

It should be noted that in many conventional movies, you can find at least some virtues and positive features in the anti-heroe characters. After all, in order to challenge our heroes , they have to have some positive strength of some sort (intelligence, determination,…).  Some of them have unique and oddly strong features. They might be admired and credited  by some villain audiences and even be identified with secretly(!); but as you mentioned it is the good-the hero-which usually wins at last. As you see here, its up to the audiences to pick bad and good out of this context. It is just a subjective and relative matter. To them, the bad guy can be the good and they’ll root for them. For the Realist and “neutral” movies (and literatures), based on their internal set of bad and goods;  things can be easier for anyone to pick. for instance, evil is not necessarily a loser. 

If you really want to experience an evil- winning plot, watch “Irreversible”, an extremely disturbing and violent movie by the French director Gaspar Noe. It is disturbing in a sense that a pure evil sadist and torture , at the end is in fact entertained and pleased to see a revenge plan (by some sort of a hero)  mistakenly directed at someone else. Although in this movie,  the evil is not glorified, however it is the good which is badly humiliated, defeated and punished to the point that you regret you're backing the good and the morality. 

thanks Anonymouse but sometimes I have to do what I have to do

Dear Anonymouse, thanks for your comment. However, if I am dating someone and I am worried whether they got home safe, I am going to inquire. If that is a deal breaker, my attitude, is that let it be. To me, If I care about someone, if I wnat to know they are OK, that should not be negative and if they don't like it, then maybe we are not meant for each other.

How much enthusiasm?

Anahid jaan I think it is ok to show enthusiasm on a date provided the conversation doesn't go on and on or about the exes and the general stay out of it subjects.

When you're on a date (provided it's not the first date) or later when in a relationship and are out on a day of having fun it is ok to show enthusiasm and show that you're having fun.  Same goes for your date if you don't show anything you have no feelings.

However, calling in the evening to see how s/he is doing or if s/he got home safe is too much!

Or calling the next day and planning for the day may be too much.  I think that is basic and the rest is up to the couple but a never ending race to do something next is too much and never enjoying or understanding the moment and the person.

Everything is sacred

curiosity kills the cat

Please don't get me wrong JJ, this is a thought provoking topic for those who wish to be enlightened. I was only suggesting that we should look at what mass media and Arts aim to promote. Which are the sociopolitically "accepted" values of the times.  If you ask me, McCarthyism is still in place. That is why anti-heroes are not glorified often enough. Social consciousness can create havoc in a weak system of ideology that refuses to look at the real motivations behind wars and colonialism. 

Dark hero

Thanks Niki. Anti-heroes are not glorified. They are portrayed as demented or evil. What I'm wondering about is whether there are any villains shown in a positive light. A reversal of negative judgments of bad/evil individuals and actions. Evil heroes, not merely interesting anti-heroes. As a creative exercise, of course. Is it even possible? An "uplifting" fairytale about a dark prince?

Maybe I should just try to write something myself :)

Dear Anonymouse, thanks for your advice

 Dear Anonymouse, you wrote in your comment:"Showing too much enthusiasm can be misleading.  I'd just keep a space until and such time as you've seen the other person's weakness and then decide how much of that weakness is a deal breaker." I think this is a good advcie.  However, it is hard to know sometimes how much enthusiasm is the right amount to show. 

Btw, JJ

It's a million $ question.

Lolita, Lost Time - Dysfunction the New Evil?

In "Lolita", Nabokov's Humbert Humbert is not drafted as"anti-hero." He's written to be despicable and low, the embodiment of the "banality of evil" a dyed in the blood and true-to textbook pedophile. Lolita grows up but is clarly damaged and eventually dies after fading off into droll suburban  existence.

Nabokov's characterization of Humbert (sounds deliciously close to "Humbug") is so devoid of redeemable qualities that reading the book made me feel ill.  I hated Lolita's vacuity, her passivity.

Everyone loves to read Marcel Proust, but his characters in "Lost Time" aren't all that heroic. Some of them are quite twisted and dysfunctional. So is dysfunction the new "evil?"

Good and Evil at the same time

Universal.  Yet so relative at the indivdual level. For what may be good for you could be evil for me, and vice versa.

@Arthimis, from my own experience.  The more we age, the more we look for good guys. So, stay on the good side.  ;o)

Anahid jaan I think this attention issue is unisex!

I don't think it matters if you're a man or a woman.  If you cook for your boyfriend early in a relationship or call your girlfriend one too many time the expectations will go haywire!

Showing too much enthusiasm can be misleading.  I'd just keep a space until and such time as you've seen the other person's weakness and then decide how much of that weakness is a deal breaker.

This is especially true in this day and age where everyone seems to be so aggressive.  Speed dating was invented in this day and age was it not?!  For people who are sincere and meet another sincere person the relationship is not that difficult. 

Everything is sacred

Dear Arthimis,Many Iranian men seem to like to be treated bad

Dear Arthimis, your comment is very interesting. My experience; although limited:), is that with many Iranian men, the more attention you give them and let them know that you think highly of them, most of them, the less interested they become in you. However, many times if you ignore them; either on purpose or just because you are simply not interested in that person, the more they like you. This is detrimental to relationship. Since in order to have any relationship between men and women, both sides have to be nice to each other. I am curious whether other Iranian woemen have noticed this also.

The Prince, You are very

The Prince, You are very wise person. Thanks for your comment. i enjoyed reading it. We so called human beings most of times( if not always) are operating by our own Thoughts, Mind and Egos and thus percieve things the way we want them to be with these tools...

Very seldom and very few human beings through out history of mankind either naturally knew or learnt operating by their CONSCIOUSNESS!

So long as we are operated by our mind,thoughts and ego and don't live in present reality (whatever is ...) , we shall suffer...

True salvation (in addition to your wise comment) is to live in Present as it is... and with Consciousness. ( Although that may not get us all the earthly and physical goods we yearn for...) :-)

Very interesting blog JJ,

Very interesting blog JJ, Thank you... I love the comments here too, some are very well thought and written...

I just wanted to share my opinion or perhaps more of a personal experience of GOOD and BAD! It is about the ladies... I have come to (somewhat) conclusion in my own personal life about women I have been with!

Good or Bad, women that I were with (honestly no bragging but they were few...) they were always more attracted to bad !!! Those I didn't treat good (or treated bad) were more attracted to me on all levels and eventually I parted from them!!! Those I treated like (Princess) Good found me not as attractive and eventually they parted!!!

So I have been the same me pretty much in all those relationships, but when acted bad (evil), I was more interesting to women, hence my yet another single status after another ended relationship that lasted only two months due to my own inner conflicts about being good or bad...I chose being Good and got shafted...

I want to be good by nature ,but that doesn't get me what I want in a woman... :-)  After 43 years, I am still confused and searching about which way to choose when it comes to being with women, Good or Bad?!!!

Any advice anyone? :-)

PS. And yes you are allowed to mock me (janbasho daram) and make it funny too if you want ! :D

Scorsese is the king of anti-heros

Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino etc. are filled with despicable, violent, reprehensible anti-heros, and yet somehow we still root for them.

Not to be outdone by DeNiro, Al Pacino has played his share of anti-heros too: Michael Corleone, the armed robber in Dog Day Afternoon, of course the Cuban emigre Tony Montana, the Devil in Devil's Advocate.

I always thought the villain is more interesting than the hero.  Certainly more complex and multi dimensional while the hero could be bland and kind of a goody goody (yawn, so predictable).  Maybe it is just my twisted personality?

In reality

...it is not the good which always wins. Actually, the real world is full of the challenges of the good for beating the evil, mostly unsuccessful. So perhaps movies and literatures are mostly made in a way that they satisfy people in their unfulfilled experience of winning good. To some people of course, it is a simple deception and they rather to be fulfilled with the reality (realism).

By the way, may be it is not the good which always wins. But whatever wins is good???!! just a thought..... (hmmmm... nah, philosophy ain't my forte..!)  

Self-less neutrality

The Prince, thanks for your note. It's an appealing idea to aspire to just "being" -- without concern to right or wrong, good or bad. Except for the lucky few evolved souls, self-less neutrality is not an option for the rest of us :)

Evil Sartre

Thanks so much Orang for the recommendation. I took a look at the description for Sartre's play. I'd love to see it one day.

Just curious

Monda, I'm sorry if I gave the impression that cowboys are the good guys. I thought cowboys are universally seen as the Goliath and Indians as David.

I also don't question the existence of "Evil" art, but I want to know why it's so so rare, compared the massive daily dose of "Good" promoted around us. I don't think the answer is obvious. It's not even important. I'm just curious why isn't it the other way around.

Well I already have TWO for your list ;0)

Alex in Clockwork Orange:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n2NXuQ5ako 

and

JR Ewing in Dallas:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNSONTCwQWA&feature=related

And Boy No Wonder Cliff Barnes was always Pissed off !

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu5ULCR4qn0

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUtXwAnQwIM&feature=related

LoL

If you haven't read

The Satanic Bible,it's full of selfishness.It's about the closest where killing,cheating,stealing etc are presented as virtues.To better yourself.Of course it's not for children.

Or read the Necronomicon but don't do the main ritual or prepare for it.

Or don't read them. Really..don't..

Either way you can never break the line between good and evil,merely because they are two opposites.

Le diable et le bon dieu

Hi JJ,

Do you know intresting work of JP Sartre , le Diable et le bon dieu : //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_and_the_Good_Lord

Nobody in Hollywood want make a movie with it ! because people prefer standard view.

Cheers.

Orang

Darkness Is The Absence of Light...

Darkness is The Absence of Light...

and "Evil is nonexistent; it is the absence of good."

Thanks to "i am a Bahai too" for the quote :)

how about Perception of Good?

JJ, you sited cowboys vs Indians... were cowboys the good guys?! Really? With all the genocides that history has recorded, I think our perception of Good or Evil needs reworking, nah? 

Humanbeings are born and hardwired as very Good, an evolutionary structure, as NP commented promoting self-survival , via islamojudeochristian values.  However, trauma changes the hardwiring. Not all criminals are born antisocial. Not all rapists are born from rapist parents.

Also, there are lots of Evil-painters (like evil-doers:o) that Art world has seen and celebrated. Visual Arts promotes the socially perception of Good, because tickets only sell through imagining Hope (i agree with Abarmard).

There is so much horrifying evil happening in real life, that when it comes to entertainment - we want to see Good prevail for a change. But if we were to look at Hollywood films with open mind, what we see can differ from what we know.

Hey, how about religion winning in the movies? We watch so many IRI action on youtube, daily right? That's Evil winning, for now.

Think positive will always win

A manager or a CEO/leader that runs any organization with negativity, will go (and drag everything with him/her) down.

The spirit of positive reinforcement is seen in all champions, successful leaders, and lively individuals.