Current Events

Re spams

Dear JK, I for one assure you that I got your message by your first dozen or so postings, and can safely vouch for everyone else here too! Yes you are marveled by the Western achievements and have disdain for the East for lack of achievements, or perhaps you simply are playing the devil's advocate! Either way, you do not have to inundate the blog with redundant, repetitive posts. Spamming is a practice employed either out of insecurity, or to overpower opposing voice! 

What That Wikipedia Article Says About Iranians

"After the fall of the Persian Empire's Achaemenid Dynasty and its successors, and the lapse of Old Persian cuneiform writing into disuse, the nature of the inscription was forgotten, and fanciful explanations became the norm. For centuries, instead of being attributed to Darius I, the Great, it was believed to be from the reign ofKhosrau II of Persia — one of the last Sassanid kings, who lived over 1000 years after the time of Darius I."

"Fanciful explanations".

That's what Iranians are good at.

They don't investigate things, they make up stories about them.

They do that about EVERYTHING and EVERYONE....

.... and have been doing it for centuries.

It seems Iranians have not really changed much over the past few hundred years. 

It Seems That Iranians Sat On Their Asses For Centuries...

... and ignored this.

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behistun_Inscription 

SK

You "treasure" troll is not giving anyone any medicine. He is simply spamming utter nonsense for his own personal gratification.

I'll just pick a couple of examples of the troll's drivel to illustrate:

 He says:

"Iranians didn't discover their own archeological treasures (which is why there are so many major ancient Iranian artifacts and discoveries in London - maybe more of them there than in Tehran)."

What is his evidence that Iranian's didn't discover any of their own archaological treasures? Did it not occur to him the fact that many of Iran's ancient artefacts have ended up in the UK was maybe because for decades Iran was under the control and influence of the Brits who, while no doubt did discover some artefacts, also helped themselves to whatever they damn well pleased, including those already discovered by Iranians? 

The British museum also houses massive of collections of Roman and Greek historical artefacts? Does it also automatically follow that Italians and Greeks didn't discover any of their countries' artefacts?

He also says:

"Iranians didn't discover most of the plant and animal species in Iran and their own acurately-mapped geography, or that of the "Persian Gulf".  

Again, what are these claims based on? (not that anyone "discovers" the mapping of geographical area).

He posts a link on a Book entitled "Snakes of Iran" (typical weird random tripe by your treasure), and claims: "Check out this book about Iranian snakes - of which most Iranians know nothing about (even the educated ones)."

I don't know how he has come to the conclusion what Iranians know about snakes of Iran or not (and really don't give a shit), but Leaving aside the fact that the book was written by an "Iranian" (the irony), what the hell is that supposed to prove? Do most Brits know all the snake species of the UK?

By all means call this troll a "treasure" for coming here spouting nonsense about Iranians, because you don't like some comments about Arabs, but at least take a look at some of his crap before you swoon at his feet.

The guy is either bored and trying to be funny/get a rise out of people trolling nonsense or he is a mental case. Either way, I wouldn't waste any more time on him. You, on the hand can knock yourself cheering him on, if yon want to.

Jahan

I think you should not be banned from this site... You are very good at giving a few of us, Iranians, here some dose of our own medicine and that is to humilate another nation or race for example, Arabs , for whatever weird reasons that come to mind ....

You sure are a treasure and its fun having you around..

: )

LOL ...

I am not sure about middle finger but they sure show lots of thumbs up !!

It Didn't Work

I'm using my real name here, and am writing exactly what I think.

A troll doesn't use their real name, and is often someone who pretends to be something they are not.

That description suits a lot of you better than it does me.

Trying to focus on me is all an attempt to dismiss and ignore evidence of Iranian underachievement in the realm of discoveries - which I showed you.

Instead, why don't you all ask yourselves what it is in Iranian culture that stifles discovery and free inquiry?

I'll give you some suggestions:

1) Obsession with reputation. This prevents people from acknowledging the truth. A lack of respect for the truth directly translates into a disinterest in reality, and therefore a disinterest in things like physical sciences.

2) Fear of what the Iranian tribe thinks. Fear of mockery, etc. These things have an impact on people's willingness to take risks and do new things. Unfortunately, a willingness to defy convention is often necessary for discoveries to happen, and most Iranians I know do not have the ability to show their compatriots their middle finger if their compatriots disapprove of what they're doing. 

I wonder

How long before the troll gets banned. Would not be soon enough for me.

PS

Yes, I blame my upbringing.

The fact that I have an American parent and that I was born in America, allows me to see these things and to be unafraid of acknowledging what I see. 

Its a terrible thing to be honest. 

Iranians Didn't Discover...

1)Their own oil

2)Their own archeological treasures (which is why there are so many major ancient Iranian artifacts and discoveries in London - maybe more of them there than in Tehran).

3)Most of the plant and animal species in Iran

4)Their own acurately-mapped geography, or that of the "Persian Gulf". 

So. There's really not much credit to divide up here between one era or another.

You all can argue as much as you like about something Khamenei said, and avoid seeing what's in front of you. 

yeah

to you too.

I guess you can blame your upbringing and/or  even suit the guy that gave you that last name then you may come to some closure.

Yeah

If nothing else, Iranians can claim to be able to know all kinds of crap about complete strangers without bothering to even talk to them.

Either they're psychic, or full of sh-t.

Good Discovery Reality-Bites!

See, we are good at discovering Iranian species, despite contrary claims!

Uh oh!

Troll spotter alert!

Why Have Iranians Failed to Discover Or Study Many Species?

Just one commenter here has said something that in my opinion is quite revealing, and could provide the answer:

"People on this site are going out of their way to educate you and you have simpleton comebacks like name a snake that was discovered by an Iranian scientist!:::)))"

I think this derisive comment hints at something - a disdain that Iranians have for people who fool around with things that are not recognized as "respectable" by them. 

Naming, discovering or studying a snake is frankly something that Iranians scorn. 

They consider to be a lowly thing.

So... don't be surprised that we aren't being bombarded with discoveries of new species by Iranians. 

Maybe Rahbar is right!

Maybe best things will happen AFTER Islam!

Dear Arj

Hollywood is the master of deceit.  

I feel so bad for Native -Americans cause I have grown up seeing those cowboys films on TV, all of which used to portray Indians as being wild and out of control. Then i came to the U.S  and I learned about "First Thanksgiving" the event which was celebrated back then to give thanks to Native -Americans for helping the  Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony survive their first brutal winter .... 

What can we do but to educate ourselves as much as we can and be critical and opinionated.   

 Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran by Abbas Milani is also a MUST READ:

 //www.amazon.com/Lost-Wisdom-Rethinking-Modernity-Iran/dp/0934211892/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314763902&sr=1-2

Reform requires the consent of the corrupt

 For the actual history I

 For the actual history I highly recommend Tom Holland’s “Persian fire : the first world empire and the battle for the West”.

A very good book not only on wars but also on persian empire. ""In a time when cultures of East and West seemed farther apart than ever, Holland concentrates on explaining the mighty Persian culture which, from the time of the victorious Greeks to our own day, was mocked, denigrated, and underestimated. He makes a fairly clear argument that this kind of cultural misapprehension, after the famous Greek victory, led to an alienation between East and West which had not really existed prior to the Persian invasions, and which affects our understandings even today. This book goes beyond these events, and covers much territory concerning the founding of the Persian Empire, and early Greek city-states, and the inevitable clash that resulted from their proximity.In a world where the East rubs up against the West he can fill in the historical blanks that still bedevil us to this day. And today it still seems to me that we are living in the same battle of the past (East) versus the future (West). PERSIAN FIRE sets todays headlines, in some respects, against a 2500 year old backdrop. As we might watch the CBS news, the Athenians, in the shadow of their burned and gutted Acropolis, would watch the young buck playwright, Aeschylus, stage THE PERSIANS one year after the exhausted Greeks had won the war and returned to the abandoned Athens. Spartans, that weird and long-haired race of warriors, get their fair share of exposure but lose some of their mystique in Holland's re-telling of Thermopylae and the Spartan king's last stand.

He shows just why the Persian culture - in many ways, far superior to that of the more primitive Greeks - deserved respect for its own accomplishments, as well as how and why the Greeks came to blow up their honest victories and denigrate their Persian foes. All these points give PERSIAN FIRE a peculiarly modern resonance, as well as telling some of the greatest stories of antiquity with clarity and flair.""

 //www.amazon.com/Persian-Fire-First-Empire-Battle/dp/0385513119/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-1368292-5112658?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173677731&sr=8-1

In search of Cyrus:

//www.spentaproductions.com/cyruspreview.htm

Reform requires the consent of the corrupt

Re Hollywood portrayal of Persia

Dear SK, Hollywood has a long history of Orientalist tendencies. Among many instances of distorted portryal I've seen of Persia in particular, and the East in general, one movie stands out the most. And that is Intolerance, an early 1900s silent movie directed by D.W. Grifith, which depicts Cyrus The Great as a savage invader of Babylon who orders destruction, plunder and sacking of the "civilized Babylonian kingdom."

I had to sit through this movie as a part of a film course I was taking and when I went to the dean of film department of my school to protest the gross historical inaccuracies of the film, he replied: "These films are being screened based on technical merits rather than historical accuracies." He then went on, "we are not teaching a history course, it's only a film course." Sadly, that's all the answer I got from whom I thought of as a culturally conscientious person! However, to make the long story short, as I learned more about films and hollywood, I realized that it thrives on misrepresenting and caricaturization of particularly unfavoured nationalities and ethnic groups!

Soviet Union had the best scientists in the world but...

       it does not mean we have to embrace communism!

       I am still puzzled on this other issue and no reply!

Fear of Persianism is evident in this video

"Ali Geda" expresses normal reaction to utmost growing sense of Persianism among Iranians these days. It is not co-incidence group of people celebrating Norooz by the tomb of Koroush Kabir these days. It is not coincidence to see Farvahash kneckless on the neck of many Iranians these days. Ali Geda is fully aware of this growing sense of Nationalism. The above video clearly shows that he is trying to defend the foreign entity, versus spirit of Persianism. Ongoing battle between Ahreeman and Fereshteh. After downfall of turban dynasty, the golden age of "Aryanism" will prosper.

Jahankhalili

I can't figure you out.  You are either extremely myopic, arrogant or just doing this to get attention.  People on this site are going out of their way to educate you and you have simpleton comebacks like name a snake that was discovered by an Iranian scientist!:::)))  I think you're just messing with people who are taking you seriously.  You're playing devil's advocate cause I can't imagine anyone to be this ill informed;)  You actually sound like the Israeli ultraconservatives who are always busy dismissing any and all arab attributes that may potentially qualify them as human beings.

Dear VPK , I am not making up these things

I meant the First of its own kind compare to the western standards of universities, medical schools and hospitals as we see today .  I am pretty sure we even had thsoe things, but in another form, back at the time that Persians for example had established the first ever Navy in the world .  So I am not in any disagreement with you here. 

Now i know your concerns about the name Islam but honestly these things were established greatly during that era.

Watch this 

//www.pbs.org/empires/islam/filmproducer.html

I have not made these documentaries and i have not written all the textbooks that are being thought today .....

I actually, found out , how great Persia once was after I took the course:

" quest for power " western civilization  .. and how obsessed Alexandra was with Iran and everything about it. 

 But then came out the movie 300 and I was shocked and had no idea from which historical documents they got that while at the same time in their own universities and colleges , their own professors are teaching the opposite.  

oh well ...... 

Diversionary spams!

This blog seems to be hijacked by successive, irrelevant postings. Most likely to divert attention from Khamenei and his rants!

My last

post on this thread. Talking to people here is a waste of time.

One person thinks the West is great; Iranian are idiots. Meanwhile another does not know that Gundeshapur was build by Zoroastrians not Muslims.

Why do I even bother to post here? I got better things to do like clean up my kitty litter box.

What Does a Scientist Have To Say About Our Dependence on Oil?

Albert Bartlett - a professor emeritus of Physics at Univ of Colorado-Boulder 

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY&feature...

Oil consumption

is not the same as oil production. My god the degree of ignorance is astounding. Besides it is not "oil" it is energy. Many nations are replacing oil with other sources. I am not going to list all of them; go read for yourself.

Anyway the discovery of oil did nothing to help Iran. Oil was the reason for the 1953 coup. Oil is the reason IRI is able to hold on to power. Without oil Iran would be a heck of a lot better off.

I Beg to Differ

I don't know what sort of medicine was practiced in ancient times, but you can hardly compare that to modern medicine.

Tell me what treatments they had? What diseases could they actually affect?

And what part of the population had access to them? 

This book contains some references to how modern medicine was introduced into Iran through the West.

//www.amazon.com/Abol-Ghassem-Tous-Bakhtiar-ebook/dp/B0056J0XJ8 

The improvements that the introduction of Western modern medicine brought to Iran were very sudden, rapid and dramatic. 

Dear SK

The Medical School was built by Zoroastrian Sassanids not the Islamic Empire. I have hardly seen so many kinds of inaccuracies in one blog. As for your other comments; yes. Science is built step by step with many people helping.