IRAN(GOOD, BAD, UGLY)

-How are you doing today?

-I’m fine thank you, and you?

-I’m doing well, I see you have an accent, where are you from?

- I’m Persian.

I thought Persia was an ancient empire that does not exist anymore.

Well the empire does not exist, but the culture and the language does. I am from Iran, but I introduce myself as “Persian” because I know very well the questions that I have to answer as soon as I say the word “Iran”, and honestly I am kind of tired of answering all these questions every single day. American media has shown a very wrong image of the middle east over the years, as if the middle east is a big Arabic country with all the camels and sand. However, middle east has a huge combination of the different countries, and each country has different cultures, racial groups, languages, religions, climates and traditions. Here I answer some of the questions I was frequently asked about my country.

-Do you speak Arabic? No, I speak Persian which is an Indo-European language. There are words with Arabic roots in the new Persian language like there are Latin words in English, but it does not make Persian a different language.

-Do women cover their face in Iran? No, believe it or not the first time I saw a woman wearing burqa, it was in Denver Colorado. Iranian regime, which is a religious dictatorship, forces women to wear headscarf but no one really wears a burqa. Iran might be the only country in which wearing scarf does not mean that you necessarily believe in hijab or Islam. You might be a Christian, Jew, atheist or a Satanist and still wear scarf because you don’t want to be arrested by the government. Iranian girls have turned this threat to an opportunity by making fashions out of their enforced outfits.

-Can women drive in Iran?

Are you kidding me? Another question that shows how some people think that middle east is another name for Saudi Arabia (Also Saudi women are allowed to drive now) In Iran Women drive taxis, busses and even trucks. All the pressure that the dictator regime has put on women, not only has not stopped them from being the active members of the society, but made them more passionate to play more roles in the society. More women make it to college compared to men. when it comes to Iran, don’t forget that the government and people have very different values.

-Are you hardcore Muslims? Well that’s complicated. when you talk about Islam, you are most likely to think of Sunni branch of Islam. Iran is the largest Shia country in the world. Shia is a very different branch of Islam and it is somehow tied to the Persian culture. This subject is so vast that I can write a book about it. But the answer to the question above is that we used to be more hardcore Shias and more conservative in the past, but as a result of a religious dictatorship that has ruled us for 40 years, people are getting to dislike religion more and more every day, to the point that according to BBC Persian, %45 of Iranians do not believe in their parent’s religion anymore.

-Is it safe there? Is there a war going on there? Again because many people think that middle east is a big Arabic country that has been attacked by Isis , they keep asking me that if there is a war going on Iran. Well I would say if you are in Iran, you don’t have to worry about a war or a terrorist attack, but you have to be careful when you cross the road because Iranians are terrible drivers. Also like any other part of the world, watch your wallet to avoid getting robbed.

-Have you seen snow before? Yes, where I come from, it snows almost every year. Another stereotype is that because middle east is an Arabic country, it is supposed to be all dessert with no snow. Well that is not true. All kind of climates exist in Iran. Southern part is more hot and humid, middle part has some desserts and just so you know the hottest spot of the world is located in the Kavire Loot in Iran. Also there are chain mountains on in the north and west and some scatter mountains here and there. There are different kinds of forests on this mountain. Also there are a lot of forests in the north near the Caspian Sea.

-Do you hate Americans? Yes, I do, and that’s why I live in America. Aside from joking, not only no one hates Americans in Iran, but also everyone really likes them, because living in an almost isolated country (thanks to the regime) you don’t get to see many of them, so an American guest would be considered so precious. And again don’t forget that the regime of Iran and what it says and does has nothing to do with the people and the culture of Iran.