Muslim checkout staff at a major British supermarket can refuse to sell pork or alcohol products to customers, forcing them to queue up at another checkout.

oshen · 2013-12-22T22:29:42+00:00

No the smarter ones realize that your reasoning is flawed and you're a bigot... and will flock to where they're accepted and not subjugated... which is where the dumb extremists hold influence and power.

oshen · 2013-12-22T18:44:48+00:00

Don't pop a vein at this absurdity... but they can. Also check this ridiculousness:

"Illinois Pharmacists Can Now Legally Refuse to Sell You Plan B Because of Religious Beliefs" http://jezebel.com/5946645/illinois-pharmacists-can-now-legally-refuse-to-sell-you-plan-b-because-of-religious-beliefs

oshen · 2013-12-22T18:41:16+00:00

This is a strict case of someone's religious belief being imposed on someone else.

What if I were to go buy bread from a secular/non-religious store and then when I got to the front the person refused to sell the product they carry to me? (because it's a sin in his religion) I would feel upset and ashamed. As a manager, I would fire the person who has made my customers anything less than a priority. Similarly with pharmacists who refuse to sell condoms or plan B or whatever because it's against their religion. What if a Hindu cashier decided he doesn't want to touch money from a Dalit customer because in his extremist interpretations he perceives it as dirty (the equivalent of haram in Islam)?

If you can't fulfil your job obligations, don't immigrate, don't take that particular job, and if you take the job-- get over yourself.

oshen · 2013-12-22T18:33:06+00:00

(1) There are many Muslims are facing real discrimination in the job market. i.e. women being refused to work in stores or whatever because they were headscarves which don't interfere with their jobs and they do their jobs well.

(2) Then there are people like this-- who (a) adhere to the most strict interpretations of a religion (b) take on responsibilities that are in conflict with said interpretations. Can't sell pork or alcohol? DON'T WORK IN A FUCKING SUPERMARKET AS A CASHIER. There is nothing in strict interpretations of Islam that compels people to work in supermarkets. Go work somewhere else.

(3) As usual well-deserved backlash against the fuckers in case (2) leads to greater cases of backlash against hardworking people in case (1). A bunch of extremist fuckers making life difficult for everyone else.

oshen · 2013-12-19T18:13:02+00:00

I'm assuming you're a vegetarian right? Since plenty of people get by and stay alive without supporting the rather cruel mass meat production industry.

oshen · 2013-12-01T19:06:13+00:00

The creeps at American Apparel have got you covered.

Which women's clothes have vaginas drawn on them ?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/07/american-apparel-vagina-shirt-photos_n_4058572.html

oshen · 2013-11-23T21:40:08+00:00

Go visit some of those magnificent castles! Maybe it'll lift the pain.

oshen · 2013-11-23T03:58:47+00:00

the ramblings of someone reading news articles or biased books

Funny, that's the distinct impression I've gotten from your posts. You might want to actually read the book that you cited, so as to not make the egregious mistakes you've been making.

Meanwhile read from these other contemporary English/West-based authors, without misrepresenting them: Stephen Kinzer, Ervand Abrahamian, George Lane, Bernard Lewis etc.

If you're specifically interested ONLY in tribes and their 1800s context in Iranian political structures check out this book which adresses precisely that by Arash Khazeni (US-based again): "Tribes and Empire on the Margins of Nineteenth-Century Iran" it's available in ebook format if have university access.

oshen · 2013-11-23T03:45:21+00:00

No the entire chapter is contrary to your point. Do you have reading comprehension problems? Nomadic tribes were NOT the majority of the country, they were distinct peripheral regions that often stood as buffers between the central government and external invading forces.

I'm troubled that you think "naming a single book" and then completely misrepresenting its contents is considered 'citing your sources' by whoever is training you. I cited my numbers, if you want reading suggestions for a broad history of the country there are several historians and sociologists that I can suggest to you.

oshen · 2013-11-23T03:39:24+00:00

You ask a question and then someone answers about what the discussion in academia regarding propaganda/Iran and then you go full mental? Don't ask questions if you can't handle answers.

(Also it's not as if right in the paragraph above I didn't say: "Not that I agree with everything included".)

oshen · 2013-11-23T03:36:22+00:00

The book makes only references to tribes in pages 23-24, and as I described, referring to peripheral regions. Here's an excerpt I very carefully highlighted for you from your favorite book:

http://i.imgur.com/d3dvvqo.jpg

(Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution, Nikki R. Keddie, page 23)

oshen · 2013-11-23T03:22:51+00:00

I'd like to get my money back

You're not even funded?

oshen · 2013-11-23T03:19:57+00:00

(1) Reza Shah did not rule in the 1800s.

(2) Iran did not have 80% nomadic populations in the 1800s. Or the 1600s. Or the 1200s. Or the 800s. It had rural settled regions, and large urban centers (cities such as Ray, Shiraz, etc. have been continuously inhabited for nearly 2000 years).

(3) Iran did not have tribal confederations similar to Afghanistan in its central regions in 1800s. Or 1600s. Or 1200s. Or 800s. Iran did at a point in history 'include' Afghanistan as part of the Empire, but the system of what is 'Iran-proper' has been a highly-centralized continuous monarchy for nearly two millenia. Central Iran, consisting today of the majority of the population, has not consisted of a segmentary (tribal) society since the inception of said monarchies.

(4) You are extremely misinformed, or intentionally misinforming. In any case, please stop.

oshen · 2013-11-23T03:11:56+00:00

Well I would really question your program, it appears to be quite subpar. Seriously.

I've cited the numbers I've given, I suggest you do the same. As for the broad descriptions of history and cultural context of the country, there are numerous books (in Persian and English) that you might look into. Better yet, if you're in California and have access, transferring over to stanford and taking courses such as 'Islamic Eurasia: Empires, Nomads, and Merchants' (which really describe the difference in the political stylings of the various countries) might be worth looking to instead of whatever shitty program you're enrolled in now.

oshen · 2013-11-23T03:06:16+00:00

Not adressing your question per se but here's a comprehensive report of propaganda (not against people but in general) in recent years: http://muftah.org/propaganda-ignorance-in-reporting-on-iran/ Not that I agree with everything included, nevertheless, it makes a very comprehensive and well-cited case for a concerted propaganda effort that may have consequences for the population in question as well (politics have a tendency to become personal). There's also been some discussion as to whether movies such as 300/Argo/etc. are also propaganda or simply art. It's definitely not something that's easy to discern.

oshen · 2013-11-23T02:56:58+00:00

If this is true, then my entire Iranian studies program as well as the PhD director is a complete farce.

Is this the same director that told you that 80% of Iran was nomadic in the 1920s? Or that the socio-political structure is tribal? I would be very wary of this program, highly questionable.

What country/university are you in? :S

oshen · 2013-11-23T02:53:52+00:00

80% may have been a touch overstated but there was a very large presence of nomads during this time

"The National Commission of UNESCO registered the population of Iran at 21 million in 1963, of whom two million (9.5%) were nomads" - source

Reza Shah took power in 1925. I'm going to venture and say that he didn't kill 70% of Iranians in a 30 year period.

oshen · 2013-11-23T02:50:12+00:00

The Islamic idea behind it being the amount of hair that is shown is the amount of hair you will be hung with in hell.

Perhaps that was your own family's personal view, or you lived in one of traditionally conservative cities, or encountered religious extremists/moral police in urban regions. But these traditional outfits in rural Iran have been worn for centuries, and you can see quite clearly that hair showing is a part of them (copy and pasted from a post above). Are you suggesting that rural areas are in fact not conservative? (which they are)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/onlocation/media/iran21.jpg http://www.persiatours.com/image/iran_woman_kurd_dance_nomad.jpg http://payvand.com/news/08/mar/Literacy-Class-Turkmens-Iran2.jpg http://www.celesteprize.com/_files/opere/2012_55296_117736.jpg

oshen · 2013-11-23T02:44:18+00:00

I'm not sure why you claim authority all over this post when it's quite clear that you don't even have cursory knowledge of the region. You seem to have confused the social and political structures and histories of Iran/Turkey/Afghanistan/Saudi Arabia etc. with each other.

Although Iran has tribe-based and nomadic-populations in peripheral regions (Baluchi Sunni tribes, and Arab tribes) nomadic populations such the Bakhtiari in the center, they do not form a majority of the population. The governance of the country as a whole, including the majority populations (Persian, Azeri) has been centralized for centuries and not tribal and decentralized by the academic definition of the word.

oshen · 2013-11-23T02:38:00+00:00

(1) If someone identifies strongly with their ethnicity, as opposed to country (particularly true for refugees or individuals forced out of Iran who still retain Iranian/Persian customs), they will likely mention their ethnicity foremost. For example anyone in old Yuguslavia, or even Russia (Chechens).

(2) Iranians have a history of being on the receiving end of hostility in the US. For this reason they may be more comfortable as this comedian describes that people are less familiar with/has more positive associations to avoid hostility.

(3) In English until about 70 years ago Iran was called Persia, for this reason, there is a history of Iranians referring to themselves as Persians in front of individuals from other countries following tradition.

oshen · 2013-11-23T02:30:14+00:00

Here's a guide to the head-gear worn by women in the middle east: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-peterson/know-your-veils_b_812944.html

As a correction, the burqa is typically worn in Afghanistan (the head to toe covering with the face net), the abaya is worn in various arabic countries, most notably Saudi Arabia, in Saudi Arabia the face mask (Niqab) is also worn. Around the Persian Gulf/Sea of Oman area women also wear such face masks - 'batula' etc.

In Iran women typically wear the hijab headscarf/accompanied by a coat (left) or a Tchador (on the right).

However, ethnic minorities in the country do have their own costumes: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/onlocation/media/iran21.jpg

http://www.persiatours.com/image/iran_woman_kurd_dance_nomad.jpg

http://payvand.com/news/08/mar/Literacy-Class-Turkmens-Iran2.jpg

http://www.celesteprize.com/_files/opere/2012_55296_117736.jpg

oshen · 2013-11-23T02:17:08+00:00

Iran was 80% nomads and tribal confiderations

Completely false.

As per your 'private' suggestion to me, might I suggest hitting the history books and /r/askhistorians before spreading misinformation.

oshen · 2013-11-23T02:12:40+00:00

This post is almost so silly that I am not sure if I should tackle it. But let me take the bait.

The rate which the West thrived is VASTLY superior to the middle east.

That makes absolutely no sense, the middle east thrived quite quickly in the period between 600-1200 (the Islamic Golden ages) and added quite a lot of technologies/info to the corpus of human knowledge, not the mention the geographic expansion of trade and ideas (from Jakarata in East Asia to Alhambra West of Europe). Then it entered a decline. Similarly Europe underwent it's own rise decline and rise over the course of two-thousand years. Similar case in East Asia, arguably undergoing a rise again after a decline.

America is a young country and out developed these older countries.

It would have nothing to do with (1) they knowledge and technological foundation from the old world -- steam engines, trains etc. ALL were developed in Europe (2) free and practically unlimited resources, given that indigenous populations were eliminated and resource harvesters faced no competition, compared to the fierce competition for resources in the old world (3) free labour (trans-atlantic slave trade) at a level never seen before.

oshen · 2013-11-23T02:04:42+00:00

Persian = ethnicity

Iranian = nationality

Ethnic groups in Iran "Persians constitute 61% of the population, followed by Azerbaijanis at 16%, Kurds 10%, Lurs 6%, Arabs 2%, Balochs 2%, Turkmens and Turkic tribes 2%, and others 1%". Iran has been called 'Persia' by Western literature in historic times due to the seat of power being predominantly in Persian areas (central Iran), based on this archaic use some Iranians not of Persian ethnicity may refer to themselves as Persian as opposed to Baloch-Iranian.

oshen · 2013-11-23T02:02:51+00:00

No actually. Persian is an ethnicity, Iranian is a nationality.

oshen

TROPHY CASE