My dad, a leftist, observed to me sometime in the 60s that revolutions had tended to make refugees, admittedly propertied refugees of the adherents and privileged classes of the former regime. And that among these people were often individuals and entire families who showed extraordinary drive, talent and discipline. He'd have been thinking of the almost-contemporary Cuban Revolution, but certainly meant to include the Russian and the Chinese, and would have predicted the same for the Vietnamese.
And I remember him adding, characteristically, "So 2 societies benefited!'
I see he drives a BMW. No word on the color, though.
Next time I see her I'll be sure to tell her what you said, ogged.
I am reminded of Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, and the chapter "Dr. Schlichter von Koenigswald Approaches the Break-Even Point."
Multi-generationally.
I'm much more focused on ethnicity than gender.
Josh: More racist than sexist, but definitely both.
Josh, you fool, Persian monarchists don't just drive BMWs. There's also Mercs, an occasional Lexus, and the Bijan Veyron.
Who says that gender isn't an ethnicity?
That may have been unfair. I'm not super clear on Bijan's role in the super complicated world of Iranian politics.
heebie is ethnically female, but she doesn't practice.
All I'm saying is that Nazi Germany would have considered me female.
This discussion must be very triggering for our readers in the secret-police community.
Hitler: more racist than sexist, like Josh?
Anyhow, I'm not going to check the archives but didn't Ogged say once that the preferred car was a black BMW 3 series? Which is total bullshit, it's a white E-Class.
For Persians who've scored the right car and need to protect it:
http://www.naaminis.com/pix/naaclors.jpg
I think I said that Iranians shouldn't drive black Beemers, on pain of being stereotypes.
I could live with the bitterness of the child of a torturer enjoying the fruits of the wealth and freedom her father worked so hard to keep others from having, and I could even forgive private feelings of loyalty for a father who has surely been good to his kids, but to publicly fete his courage and conviction, when he was really a more brutal, hands-on John Yoo, deserves a rebuke.
It is up there though. Not quite "Heinrich Himmler was a public servant ... And a great Dad" but not way off either.
I sorta kinda loosely dated a girl of Iranian extraction while I was living in New Orleans. And then I found 133,191 rials.
I have an Iranian boss. He's great.
I played racquetball doubles with one guy who was iranian. He was both very hairy and unbelievably terrifyingly wild with the racket.
And he kept wanting to take over an embassy.
This is the "let's all list all the Iranians we know" thread?
Where is the thread about how evil the NCAA is and how much more evil it will be if Ohio State doesn't get some shit going quickly?
I suppose nobody else is watching, but I've either great timing or a wizard.
The Iranian I know best is Canadian anyway.
I don't know any Iranians. Not even ogged.
My uncle used to live in Iran. He left in late 1978.
Seriously though, it's like Ohio State hadn't realized it could try harder until I said something.
I should remember not to brag about my peed powers.
I've worked with a few. They all had black BMWs. Really.
My chair has a tan BMW, not black.
The Canadian guy can't legally buy a car.
Licenses revoked in multiple states for too many unpaid tickets and traffic violations, I think? Maybe no insurance company will sell him a policy? Also this.
That shows impressive commitment to being an asshole.
I have a Zoroastrian friend, and he gets very upset if people call him Iranian instead of Persian. He also gets upset if you call it Zoroastrianism instead of Zarathustrianism, because he hates the Greeks.
But how does he feel about Freddie Mercury?
And the Shah, I guess, but let's keep our priorities straight.
Now I'm waiting for one of you to say you know the feces grater.
This new information makes the very next comment to the one essear links even more apt.
45 belongs in the kidney stone thread.
I was also, shamefully, thinking 57.2. But seriously, who does that?
The Iranian guy I know (actual Iranian citizen) is forbidden by the United States Government from traveling in the US beyond a radius of 50 miles from Grand Central Station.
who does that?
There is an earnest answer to this, especially if the guy is under about 35 and grew up in Iran. When older Iranians go back, they can't believe how coarse and rude the culture has become, even as they recognize that there's basically no shared civic community, and most everyone lives with crushing economic pressure--everyone is stressed out and it's every man for himself.
That said, the guy essear knows is clearly someone predisposed to find himself on the asshole spectrum.
Well, judging by the guy's Facebook photos, either the rules have been relaxed, or Lake Champlain is a lot closer to NYC than I thought.
there's basically no shared civic community, and most everyone lives with crushing economic pressure
Sounds just like Washington DC.
I think the only Iranian guy I know is the author of this book. Is he the kind of author who responds to negative Amazon reviews? Yes he is.
66: A story from a Delta operator's book about the raid: a senior noncom was knocked unconscious when one of the helicopters crashed, woke to find himself alone on a burning helicopter that he thought was still 1000+ feet in the air, chucked himself out the side door without a parachute. Asked later what he thought he was going to do without a parachute, he replied, "One problem at a time, Top."
Words to live by, really.
have you read The Twilight War?
I haven't. How skeptical should I be that it's written by a US government historian?
Baha'i and torturer really don't go together at all. It's like a Unitarian serial killer.
