JahanKhalili
About myself:
I'm half Iranian and half American. I'm here to say what I think. If you came here to be pleased or flattered, you're in the wrong place. No one owns me. I'm a free individual. I don't bow to anyone's politics, here or in Iran. I'm my own person, and that's too bad if anyone doesn't like it. When people read my stuff, they'll get MY opinion. I alone am responsible for my opinion - no one else is. Likewise, I'm not responsible for your opinion, or your assumptions about me. You are.به زبان فارسی
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Who Made Saddam Into The Monster That He Became?
27-Sep-2011
We've explored how he was armed and supported by various arms dealers and by some of the same Western governments who later were posturing about human rights abuses by Saddam.
We've explored how the gulf Arabs supported him, and how the UN consistently ignored his use of chemical weapons and starting the Iran-Iraq war.
Now let's examine what sort of mentality produced him.
We've visited how the West armed him.
We've discussed how the governments and businessmen of various countries supported him and enabled him to survive, so he could inflict greater harm than he would have if they hadn't done it.
The UN ignored it when he started the Iran-Iraq war. They also didn't do much about his use of chemical weapons. Nore did the US government seem to mind, while it had people in the DOD over in Iraq assisting Saddam against Iran at that time.
That perhaps isn't such common knowledge among the Iranian public, but there has been open discussion about it. The discussion is ongoing, and we'll see where it goes. In fact, much of that discussion was helped by Westerners themselves who had the courage to admit that they contributed to the making of a monster.
Now let's explore how Middle Eastern culture might have contributed to the monster that Saddam became.
Of primary importance in the Middle East - whether we're discussing Arabs, or Iranians - is family reputation: they are all about their family honor, and their family background.
.... and whether we're discussing Muslims or Christians... they have pretty much the same basic attitude. Its all about how great their parents or children or relatives are supposed to be.
That's the whole center of their lives.
They are obsessed with bragging about their ancestor or famous relative, or their kids or who they are related to.
If you spend enough time with any Middle Easterner, you'll probably eventually be told about what a great family they come from, or how important their relatives were or are, how big and important their job is, etc.
Reputation is very important in the Middle East. Whether we're talking about Iran or Iraq, pretty much the same mentality holds sway in both countries:
If your relative is a great person, you're honored.
BUT... if your relative is disgraced, SO ARE YOU!
The ridiculousness or unfairness of this doesn't seem to strike anyone. Its what they're used to. Like a pig lying in its own filth, Iranians and Arabs both luxuriate in a sense of superiority based on who they're related to, or feel inferior for the same reason.
The self-determinism and freedom to be who you are - or who you want to be - based on yourself is virtually absent.
If an Iranian or Arab wants to insult someone, they inevitably talk about the target's family member: i.e. their sister, father, mother, wife, aunt, etc.
They'll try to dishonor your family, or elevate themselves in some petty "mine is better than yours" contest over who comes from the bigger or better family.
Frankly, I don't give a sh-t about who I'm related to. I know that far enough back, ALL of our ancestors defecated in the wilderness and had intestinal worms, and were hunted by carnivores.
The pretense that anyone walking around today is great or small because of who they're related to is funny, because every snob or beggar had the same cavemen for ancestors.
I'm not flattered by people wanting to associate with me because of which important person I'm related to; I'm disgusted by it.
Not only is this attitude disgusting to me, it can be quite harmful.
According to what I've read (and anyone out there who knows better, please feel free to correct me), Saddam Hussein was born out of wedlock.
That's right, he was a bastard.
Being born in any Middle Eastern country and being a bastard is really a curse for reasons I've already explained. There is almost no way such a child can grow up to be a normal person. They will not have ANYONE's respect.
Saddam was reportedly taunted and teased for the fact that he was born out of wedlock. In other words, the society around him tormented him for something that was not his fault.
I'm not defending Saddam here, or trying to justify anything he did. But its important to understand things.
Saddam was born and raised in a Middle Eastern country. He is the product of that culture.
What effect do you think that the teasing and taunting had on the small boy, Saddam?
Imagine that you are a child, born into the world without knowing or understanding it - and you are blamed for what your parents did.
In other words, you are being blamed for something you cannot even yet understand.
Of course, anyone who isn't an idiot can see what effect this probably had on Saddam. What did he grow up to be like?
He killed anyone who didn't like him. He forced people to put on shows of affection for him. He put statues of himself everywhere. He obsessed over his stature in the Arab world. He probably made up false stories to cover up the shame of his origins. And he started a war that killed off so many innocent people.
The society that made him into what he became in some ways ended up on the receiving end of all of the abuse it had dished out to him.
There's an old Iranian saying, that goes:
از ماست که بر ماست
Literally, "It is from us, that is upon us", or loosely "what we have reaped is what we sowed".
In the West, they have a different saying.
"Every nation gets the government it deserves"
- Joseph de Maistre
A logical outcome of all of these Middle Eastern heirarchies of miniature make-believe dynasties and fake pretentious royalties - where people are respected or not based on who their father or mother is - is something like Saddam.
Whenever I deal with Iranians and listen to them brag about their relatives, or try to make their family look really big and important, and try to elevate themselves by elevating the make-believe importance of their family or relatives, I remember Saddam...
Whenever I hear them putting down someone else over who they're related to, or trying to diminish the other person's self-respect by pointing to their relative or insulting them, I remember Saddam..
...and various other examples of people who were undeservedly scorned or rejected, and who came back to haunt the society that produced them...
... and I am more glad than ever that my mother is American and I don't have to care about this sh-t or deal with it.
Who made Saddam into the monster he became? Middle Easterners did. Their culture did.
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Congrats to Siavash300
by JahanKhalili on Tue Oct 04, 2011 07:29 PM PDT... for actually addressing the subject of the blog post, and for actually discussing it.
Generalization is always misleading
by Siavash300 on Tue Oct 04, 2011 05:58 PM PDTSteretyping and generalization is always misleading. When we say westerners are accepting their mistakes because they have been historically perceived in this fashion. Now, individually we can find many different exceptions to the general rule. In Iran, we heard many times the parents tell the child go to the door and if someone who is a creditor shows up, tell him the father is NOT home. That teaches the child double standard values. The child knows that father is at home and he/she has to say he is not home. Such a scenario is very common in Iran. Many psychologists such as Kohlberg did extensive research in this area. Kohlberg found that in a third world countries (or rather developing countries) the level of moral development doesn't go futhrer than level 2 in his classification of moral development. That level is very common in developing countries. Of course, the closest country to Iran that Kohlberg found his subjects was Turkey. He didn't do it in Iran, but he picked his subject in Vietnam and Turkey. Given the similarity of Turkey in terms of culture and level of development, we can very much come to the same conclusion. Morality in developing countries is inspired and thought mostly by religion instructions, versus in industrial society, it has been thought by parental guidance and the way they raise the child.
Siavash
Accepting Mistakes
by Veiled Prophet of Khorasan on Tue Oct 04, 2011 02:42 PM PDTWesterners quickly accept their mistakes and appologize for that, but Iranians never wanted to accept their mistakes. I think it is related to their "national pride".
Really? Have you heard Jimmy Carter admit he messed up betraying the Shah. I have not if you have please show me a quote.
I admit my mistakes all the time. You remember the banking meltdown? I had an American financial advisor who to this day won't accept he messed up. Cost me 20 thousand dollars. But I said "I messed up". Took my losses and moved on.
Iran became long ago
by Abarmard on Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:39 AM PDTWhat US is becoming now!
Thanks for the entertainment ;)
Iranian culture v.s westerners
by Siavash300 on Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:20 AM PDTMost of the Iranians have a great fantasy about who did what. They always blame others for their shortcoming and wrongdoing. The reason in one part related to the course of history. The foreign powers intervented in our personal businesses since shah Abbas Kabir where Portugese and Brits wanted to take over Persian Gulf and the shah wisely kicked them out. Another part is the cultural defect that they never learned to appology for their mistakes as they grow up. Westerners quickly accept their mistakes and appologize for that, but Iranians never wanted to accept their mistakes. I think it is related to their "national pride".
Cost-of-Progress and the Rest of You
by JahanKhalili on Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:31 AM PDTI don't know any of you, and don't owe any of you anything.
If you don't want to discuss the rotten aspects of your own culture, go somewhere else.
Go find someone who will tell you the lies you want to hear about yourselves.
By the way
by Cost-of-Progress on Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:29 AM PDTYou're the one acting like an idiot.
I'm outta here.
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IRAN FIRST
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1/2 American?
by Cost-of-Progress on Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:28 AM PDTthat explains some, but leaves more questions than answers.
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IRAN FIRST
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jahan
by Cost-of-Progress on Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:26 AM PDTI respect your individual rights until the cows come home. Actually, if you've read anything I have said here for the past 3 plus years, you'll know that one of the main points I've made is just that. We suffer from our own ills (mainly).
But an anti nationalist, anti-Iran, corrupt and rotten entity masquarading as government certainly doesn't help. In fact, it promotes it.
That, khalili jaan, you don't understand.
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IRAN FIRST
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Your Own Conduct is Offensive
by JahanKhalili on Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:24 AM PDTI would take great offense to Anglophile's idiotic assertion that "Hakim" writes for me, but I've gotten used to this crap from Iranians.
Nevertheless, its annoying.
Can't you idiots ever stop?
What's with all this crap about some secret invisible manipulator or conspiracy being behind everything?
I'm half American, and I don't have to take this crap from you.
I'm honestly sick of this sh-t from Iranians.
Give me a break!
Barely Any of the Few Commenters Addressed the Article
by JahanKhalili on Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:18 AM PDTBut this article has registered 531 reads so far.
I guess the silent majority has nothing to say, and the noisy minority can't bear to address the article, because the truth always hurts.
Of Course I Show My True Colors, Cost-of-Progress
by JahanKhalili on Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:08 AM PDTThat's the whole point of my writing anything.
Maybe Iranians are against people being honest.
Here you have Iranians asking me to say and think things I don't believe.
... and you blame the government in Iran for all your ills.
Its yourselves who cannot understand respecting individual rights.
Ja ja jahan
by Cost-of-Progress on Tue Oct 04, 2011 08:27 AM PDTI was being sarcastic dude. But you show your true color easily!
I know you people don't care about national heritage and identity, but you should - as in without it, you're nothing.
I am still waiting for you to tell me what makes the monsters occupying my ancestral land who they are. At this point, Saddam makes didley squat bit of difference....but the monsters in Iran make all the difference for Iran and her people.
Is Iran YOUR ancestral land? ANCESTOR as in Iraani: One who puts Iran before any other garbage currently fed to Iranians.
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IRAN FIRST
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Dear VPK
by anglophile on Tue Oct 04, 2011 07:58 AM PDTYou are a true and decent Iranian.
Thank you for being such a FREE spirit.
I flagged JK
by Veiled Prophet of Khorasan on Tue Oct 04, 2011 07:52 AM PDTFor insulting anglophile.
I have a little advice for you
by anglophile on Tue Oct 04, 2011 07:39 AM PDTfirst see my comment of the quality on your evidence (boy I can't stop laughing)
and then go bury your self-hate inferiority complexes elsewhere. Your Iranian side is haunting you for the rest of your clownish life
bye bye kiddo
say hi to that Hakim dude
ROTFLMAO
Dear stupid anonymous coward "anglophile"
by JahanKhalili on Sun Oct 02, 2011 07:41 PM PDTWhy don't you provide evidence that Hakim ever said such a thing, mon idiot?
Or do you even understand why evidence is relevant to anything?
Boy you are more entertaining than r2d2
by anglophile on Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:00 AM PDTIslam Has Nothing to Do With This
by JahanKhalili on Sat Oct 01, 2011 06:15 PM PDTIn fact, I was treated better by religious Muslims in Iran than I was by the elitist supporters of the Shah.
I've been on the receiving end of discrimination by both, but at least the religious Muslims included among them people who felt responsible for inflicting harm on others, and who would say "gonah dareh" about hurting anyone.
There were religious assholes in Iran who did wrong things, but there were also some who did good, and who tried to be fair to everyone.
That last group were good people - good guys. They helped me learn Farsi.
Its your own elitism, and your own obsession with the caste system in your own culture that makes you assholes.
Roozbeh Gilani
by amirparvizforsecularmonarchy on Sat Oct 01, 2011 05:49 PM PDTAn and Khameneii were self mentally abused kids, by practicing islam, they harmed themselves.
I've Read That The Ordinary People Around Saddam Abused Him
by JahanKhalili on Sat Oct 01, 2011 05:40 PM PDTIt was his uncle who rescued him.
Come now.
Why do you dodge the obvious?
Is it so hard for you all to imagine that Middle Easterners and their own culture might be the real culprit?
There is a theory, about sexualy/mentaly/physicaly abused kids
by Roozbeh_Gilani on Sat Oct 01, 2011 05:07 PM PDTTurning into psychopathic abusers , killers and given the chance, bloodthirsty dictators in adulthood. I read somewhere about saddam being brought up by an abusive uncle.
Which brings me to the question, what was done to ahmadinezhad and khamenei, during their childhoods. Any ideas?
"Personal business must yield to collective interest."
چقدر شماها ترسوین
JahanKhaliliSat Oct 01, 2011 04:56 PM PDT
خیال میکنی اگر یک خورده زحمت بکشین و به عیب و ایرادهای خودتان نگاه کنین و اینها را قبول کنین ، می میرین؟
Where are our legal rights?
by amirkabear4u on Sat Oct 01, 2011 02:46 AM PDTWhy are lawyers always recommended in every legal issue in the west?
Why is it all western governments at least try to approach issues legally?
You see Jahan MIDDLE EASTERNERS MAY HAVE A REASON TO BLAME POLITICS TO OTHERS.
I strongly believe over 90% of Iranians do not have legal rights inside Iran. Who do you think is responsible for it? MAYBE those who insisted our government to buy arms.
You maybe new in this issue but it is with correct fundation outsiders are always blamed for this.
Finally I leave you with this question but need to explain before hand that I do not think our problem is all due to USA;
WHAT WAS THE REASONS FOR US TO INVOLVE ITSELF IN IRAN??? and please do not give the boring usual comment of 'OIL'. US really did not need ours.
Fairness and Equality in Justice
@#$^
by maziar 58 on Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:06 PM PDTThank you for a little course in cultural differences specially from some one with the FAKE middle eastern name?
Or Are you just al ehsas val moshahedeh? from maternal side?
good night kiddo
Maziar
Middle Easterners Always Ready to Blame Everyone But Themselves
by JahanKhalili on Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:00 PM PDTIf we can look at how people outside of the Middle East enabled Saddam, we should apply the same logic to the Middle East itself, and look at how Middle Easterners themselves and their culture contributed to making Saddam into what he was.
He was a murderer before the West ever sold him anything.
Your kind of people and your culture probably made him into one.
Is that so tough to swallow?
Yes, Why Discuss Saddam?
by JahanKhalili on Fri Sep 30, 2011 09:46 PM PDTBecause he's the product of a Middle Eastern country and culture, like yourselves.
Since he is the product of a culture like your own, we ought to take a close look at that culture, and perhaps appreciate that there are some harmful things about it.
All you who line up here to trash something that upsets your little social order, are like those kids who used to torment Saddam.
Many Middle Easterners don't have the courage to admit that they are the cause of many of their own problems.
They always want to blame someone else, instead of themselves.
JK
by maziar 58 on Fri Sep 30, 2011 09:37 PM PDTWhat was the occasion of remembering saddam?
was it his birth day?
All or most Iraqis knows Big Bush was behind hiring saddam from the time he was in CIA.
say hi to your non American father.
Maziar
What Am I Doing....
by JahanKhalili on Fri Sep 30, 2011 08:30 PM PDT... asking an anonymous coward who is apparently too dumb to see the irony of accusing someone else of not putting their name to their own opinions?
Please elaborate
by JahanKhalili on Fri Sep 30, 2011 04:30 PM PDTIf you know of anyone else who has already advanced this idea, by all means let me know about it.