Shame On All of Us

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve read on this site someone in our community complaining about how racist and bigoted Americans are toward Iranians, I’d be a very rich guy. We get so worked up about how hateful or insensitive others can be toward us, and we are able to clearly see their faults of character while we can rarely see the very same faults within ourselves.

Lately, there have been things written on this site under the banner of ‘Nothing Is Sacred’ that have made me sick to my stomach. Reading how some amongst us hurl insults at Bahais and shamelessly deny them the right to call themselves Iranians even though they are as Persian as any of the rest of us is so beyond pathetic that it’s pathetic. Then reading the filthy insults traded by some Persian and non-Persian Iranians over who has a greater claim on Iran in the article now appearing on the site under the heading ‘Identity’ is revolting.

For a people who claim to be so effing smart, all of us are stuck outside our homeland while nut-cases who terrorize our women, hang minors and beat-the-hell out of anyone who dares to ask for a bit of freedom rule our country. Instead of our expat community coming together and uniting to find ways to help our people achieve the freedom they so dearly hunger for, what do we do? We bicker and fight amongst ourselves, hurling insults at one another as if remaining a fractured community is going to somehow help our loved ones in Iran or ourselves here.

We pride ourselves in being descended from a great and noble people, but I really wonder what those ancestors of ours would think if they could see us now. Monarchists hate Republicans. Republicans hate Islamists and Islamists hate everybody. Persians, Azeri Turks and Arabs all hate each other. Muslims hate Jews, Bahais, Christians and Zoroastrians. While we expend so much effort in hating each other, the sad fact remains that we (Iranians) are one of the smallest minority groups in America. We want everyone else to love us, but we can’t even love ourselves. We are a pathetic bunch of hypocrites.

We deserve to scattered throughout the world like a bunch of windswept leaves. Diaspora, I am now certain, is all that we are good for. Until we learn to respect and accept one another as fellow Iranians regardless of religious beliefs or ethnic background then Iranian.com’s mantra fits us well for ‘Nothing is Sacred’ as long as we don’t hold one another to be sacred. While I know that we have many beautiful, loving and gifted souls amongst us, we as a people have a lot of growing and soul-searching to do. If those ancestors of ours could see us now, I’m sure they would hang their heads in shame, for compared to them we are but a candle while they were as the sun.