Iran Heritage, Persian Gulf, Iran Alliance, VAFA and Mehr Animal Shelters

...............

MSNBC says the restaurant has more customers and business is booming after the poster controversy was reported.

//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45171296

"Nonmacher said his business has seen more customers since the story aired than they have in years.

"This is like $100 million worth of advertising," he said. "I'm amazed at the support."

Culture has had more influence ad continues to

But sadly Religion has influenced culture too much as well.

Mr Ala

I agree that culture does have some effect but not as you describe. Many Iranians were born into Islam and did not chose it. Therefore they become secular nor not Muslim when the come to America.

On the other hand American Muslims do it by choice and are more observant. There is also a huge difference between "Nation of Islam" and others. That is more a reaction to racial discrimination and should be viewed in that light.

Anyway a first generation immigrant Iranian American is more Iranian not Muslim. In my experience most Iranian Americans are secular. The Muslims tend to also be not that observant; definitely not radical.

Amirparviz

I am not sure if Westerners know what they are dealing with. Raoul is the perfect example. He thinks we may just switch religion no problem! The naivete of West is dangerous.

They may think again about radical Islam if they realize the results. The problem is specially with the Liberals. Who go around pretending that all we need is to hold hands and be happy! 

If they realize what they are promoting they may change their minds. Jimmy Carter went for it and lost his presidency. Now Obama is following suit. The radicalization will not be just in ME. It already bit them in a *** and will again if they promote it.

Religion and Culture

It is my view that culture has (had) more influence on people than religion.  For example, American Muslim is more American than Iranian Muslim who lives in America.

VPK re Worse are the Westerners that do not realize it and bet

on mullahs.

The Thing is The West wants Islam in power for Iran, they are the force and power that is keeping them and holding them in place, they won't be able to keep them soon.  Once these brutal dictators go, the only thing that would keep the next group of mullahs is an equally brutal and murderous mullocracy like the MEK, there are literally millions of Iranians that were soldiers during the iran Iraq war and they don't want islam in power so they can want all they like, but their capability to keep another regime of mullahs in power is folly based on an over confidence on their own capabilities against a nation. 

The Unity of powers will break up once the horse leaves the barn/regime falls and the smarter powers will focus solely on put their support behind the winner of an internal battle for the soul of the country as opposed to trying to create the winner.  The Shah may not make it to Iran alive due to the wests position on him personally, but his side has all the good will in Iran that Monarchists would ever need to win.  Within Iran, from technocrats, to business leaders, to the secular mullahs themselves (which are all around RP II in the USA), to the working classes in Irans Industries and Farms, Monarchy has the strongest support. 

Raoul1955 In Iran you can not change your religion if born to

Muslim Parents, VPK is right the penalty fr refusing the gift is death, that is what the Christian Pastor is on death row for, giving up islam and encouraging others to do the same.  So Iran is a muslim nation only in name, the majority of the people are anti-mollah.  This was not the case back in the 1970's, when Ironically people like the royal family and societies elites upheld the reputation and respectability of islam among iranians.  If the leaders of society were not so pro-shia islam the religion wouldn't have a leg to stand on.  Today it really doesn't have a leg to stand on, people hate it and its representatives.

This is the one good thing the revolution brought to Iran, an experience of how corrupt the religous authorities were and are and a desire to change this.  Until freedom is restored to Iran ofcourse this will not be changed, but the very first task on the agenda for Iranians within Iran is to pursue/hunt down the religous authorities, most of them praise khomeini and his dream to this day in public, the people all know who they are and when the tyranny that is protecting them collapses they will all be brough to justice, like all nazi supporters, for praising and benefitting from the crimes of the corrupt religous authorities that they supported, this includes the mousavi/karoubi so called opposition, who love khomeini and his brand of islam in opposition to the peoples desires.

The reason people chant allah akbar from their homes is because this is the only expression they are allowed in the tyranny they live in, if they were to express themselves the punishment is death, so if they chant "javid shah" like the majority wants to they will be killed.  Of course this would be very different if the Shah was prepared to fight on the ground and his supporters had heavy weapons and were killing the regimes thugs.  That won't happen as long as the USA/UK/France oppose the Shah for Iran and give all their support to other muslim radicals like the MEK and also tell the shah to tone down his language and not openly show the size of support he has.  His life is secure only by his hosts and he will meet the same fate as his brother if he is proactive in any way that is not approved of by the USA.

Raoul1955

Your response indicates you do not know Islam.

1. Yes people born to Muslim parents are required to be Muslims in Iran. The penalty for refusal is death. That should explain the number of "non practicing" Muslims.
2. Yes it is very important to know a culture to talk about it. That should be obvious and not even need explanation. If you have not met the people you know next to nothing.

Based on that premise, a) many of us cannot possibly have valid opinions on any country outside the forty eight contiguous states

Bingo! That is right and one of the problems we have isn't it :-)

VPK

1) No one is born a muslim, a jew, etc.  There is no genetic marker for an ideology.
2) Your [multi-segment] question is based on the premise that to know a nation one has to speak the dominant language of/in that nation, has lived in that nation, or has had face-to-face interactions with the citizens of that nation.  Based on that premise, a) many of us cannot possibly have valid opinions on any country outside the forty eight contiguous states, and b) even within the forty eight contiguous states one's opinion is limited to those states that one has lived in.
I do use islamic and muslim interchangeably.  :-)

amirparviz Jan

You are absolutely right on this.  Mullahs are goners and don't know it. Worse are the Westerners that do not realize it and bet on Mullahs.

VPK I was at a wedding and 90% were from Iran 25 to 35 years old

Muslim in name, not in practice, all but one.  No prayers, no nothing, even anti-mullah.

Mullahs are finished, but because they have a mass of poor, uneducated under their controll they themselves don't know what gonners they are yet. I think that what has happened is that the people see through them nowadays and they have hate for them, this gets deeper and deeper with time it will erupt.

Raoul1955

You say 

Iranians [as a group] are for the most part islamic.

This statement is plain out wrong. Iraj Khan already did some correction. I would go further and make it clear that I know many Iranians who are secular. If you define Muslim as by birth then they are Muslim. But they don't pray; fast or eat halal meat. In other words they do not practice Islam. But they may tell you "they are non a practicing Muslim" whatever that is! 

With respect I like to ask you a few questions. How many Iranians do you know. How much time if any have you spent in Iran and do you speak Farsi? If you really want to know about Iran it requires interaction not possible without direct experience.

دو نکته:

Wrong: " Iranians [as a group] are for the most part islamic"

correction: Iranians [as a group] are for the most part muslim.

Wrong: "singling out Iranians as a group, or muslims in general, is indeed both ethical and also logical..."

Correction: singling out Iranians as a group, or muslims in general, is indeed both unethical, illogical and Racist".

I'm just saying,

Iraj

Mohammad:

MLK's quote is nice, however it is NOT applicable to your case:
One should 'distinguish' between individuals based on the ideology that they subscribe to.  Would you 'discriminate' against the Neo-Nazis or a Klansman?  Iranians [as a group] are for the most part islamic.  Not mentioning all the evil that Iran has committed in the region... singling out Iranians as a group, or muslims in general, is indeed both ethical and also logical...

... just as sad as it is beautiful..

Thanks Mash Ghasem for this beautiful but sad song… the depressing thing is that the words are based on real life occurrences.

MLK:  It's sickening to see that people where killed, tortured, lynched, traumatized and discriminated against merely for their color of their skin…. something which has absolutely nothing to do with their character… something which they have no control over…

Strange Fruit

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

...

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,

Then, big bulging eyes, and twisted...

P.S. Vaughuan you're so right, hear, hear.

Real Lynchings

J. C. Vaughan

The tragedy is that real lynchings have happened in Iran. Check the internet for "Makwan Moloudzadeh", or "Ayaz Marhoni and Mahmoud Asgari", or "Neda Agha-Soltan" or just for "Iranian hangings".  The lynching is being done by the Mullahs and the IRI - the exact same ones who should be protecting Iran and leading the people closer to Allah. Instead, they act like infidel devil worshipers who must offer human sacrifice to preserve their power.  And if America and Britain attack or invade, that will surely make the bad situation a million times even worse, just like in Iraq.  

:)

Ahhhhh... I knew you are a softie....! thank you VPK jaan.   :)

Dear Truthseeker9

I welcome JK; AO and you. I have publicly said that if I get "blog  control" I will never ban or censor you; AO and now add JK.

Glad it was a joke

You more than anyone else will know how hurtful it is to feel unwelcome but before filtering people out consider that you are also here to learn from others that you would not necessarily associate with in real life. It may surprise you.

Truthseeker9

First of all it was a joke about JK I did not accuse him of anything.

Second I just said it would be nice if I could filter posts. We used to be able to do it on usenet newsgroups. It is better than banning or removing posts. But lets you "filter" out posts you are not interested in. 

That way you could filter my posts if you want to and not see  me accuse anyone :-) It is a pretty neat feature.

Oh VPK

Stop making posts about people on the site, like JK, Ao, Fesenjoon or whoever doesn't fit into your typical views. You are too personal and take things too personally, then complain when people turn round and give it back to you. Baba, we don't want to see you accuse people on IC all the time either. Bass kon digeh Agha ... stop the personal jibes.

JK

NIAC is trying to get popularity among Iranians

The poster had been sitting over there almost for 30 years. What is new about it ? NIAC all the sudden brought it up and pinpoint it. They're also posing as a saver of Iranians who wants to rescue Iranians from discrimination? Most likely after recent scandals and U.S tightening sanction, which has been effective so far, they are trying to get popularity among Iranians once again. It doesn't work my friends.

Shall We Call Up the UN?

Perhaps they should deliver a resolution about this.

Oh, There There My Widdle Iranians!

Don't cry.

We'll go and chase down that big bad boogyman and his poster for you. 

Lets see

what some other Houston residents, who were not Iranian, said about the 'Lets Lynch Iranians' poster:

"Ayman Wafai, a Houston energy engineer of Syrian heritage, spoke to the owner after his wife spotted the poster. He said it's a racist attack on anyone with Middle Eastern ties. He said if a different race were depicted, the furor would be deafening.

He said, "Imagine this is a picture of an African American, and this is a public restaurant, and they have a picture of a man being lynched ... an African American being lynched. How ridiculous is that?"

"I think this racism should not be tolerated," wrote Noha Mendoza of Houston in an email to Local 2 Investigates."

Hate crimes in the United States could be deadly. A couple of years ago an Afghan woman who was walking home with her toddler was gunned down in Fremont California. After they found the killer he confessed, he shot her because she was from Afghanistan.

This is United States we are talking about where millions of guns are in people's hands.  

People Who Complain a Lot Tend to Be People Who Are Spoiled

I don't know how many of you were here in America when there was REAL and widespread anti-Iranian sentiment, but if you were I suggest that you remember those things to put one stupid leftover poster that someone forgot to take down in perspective.

For the rest of you, I don't take your bitching seriously and suggest you find something real to do.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKPulvTrKr4
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Man_holding_sign_during_Iranian_hostage_crisis_protest,_1979.jpg

iraj khan

Think of a ten year old Iranian child who sees Iranian protestors in the news, or criticism of the IRI.

Which ten year old Iranian child are we talking about?

What's offensive to one person, isn't to another - even if the person is Iranian.

No one has to be offended by anything.

People can control themselves, and are responsible for their own feelings and reactions.

I was 12 years old when Americans were angry about the 1979 hostage crisis. Overnight, some of my friends became my enemies - but some others were supportive. 

Mass hysteria is never good - particularly when its about some self indulgent moral crusade. 

Things May Get Very Rough Indeed

Tiger Lily: 

"grab every law now that you can get hold of, cling onto it like an ugly ex; things might get very rough very soon."

Think of a 10 year old Iranian American child who lives somewhere in the United States and sees that image on the Face Book on his friend's laptop in the class room.

Suppose you were him or her.

How does it make you feel? 

Iranian Americans must be able and ready to defend their civil rights in the United States. As 'Hafez for Beginners' has put it, we need to get involved with the ACLU to condemn this act of overt racism against Iranian Americans.