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FORA.tv SERIES: Iran: After the Election

Rick Steves: A Perspective on Iran

Commonwealth Club
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Ikumi Avatar
Ikumi
Posts: 0
Posted: 02.13.09, 11:27 AM
I've enjoyed Rick's talk pretty much. He succeeded to humanize Iran well (at least for me), and now I am looking forward reading his upcoming book, "Travel as a political act." Meanwhile, I will visit his website and learn from his experiences

Thank Rick and thank FORA.tv!
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SNS Avatar
SNS
Posts: 64
Posted: 02.13.09, 12:48 PM
Two of my house mates in Oxford were Persian women - their assessment of the status of women in Iranian society differs sharply with Steves. In some areas of Iranian society they are fairly treated. In others they are not.
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Zafari Avatar
Zafari
Posts: 1
Posted: 03.21.09, 12:37 PM
What you describe is what exists everywhere! Rick's view if pretty balanced and describes well the issues arisen from reciprocity and misunderstanding.
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rezaroosi Avatar
rezaroosi
Posts: 1
Posted: 03.26.09, 05:38 PM
More Americans need to see this!
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Assad Avatar
Assad
Posts: 1
Posted: 03.31.09, 01:55 PM
Am I the only one who cannot watch the video?
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Paul Smith Avatar
Paul Smith
Posts: 1
Posted: 04.03.09, 10:25 PM
Rick Steves description of the Baha’is in Iran is incorrect.

First, Baha’is are not the type to walk around Teheran proclaiming their faith to other countrymen or trying to convert their neighbors so suggesting there are imposing themselves in their own country is a stretch.

Baha’is have also been persecuted since the inception of their religion and they know better to keep to themselves and live a private religious life. You don’t find any Baha’i temples on street corners like you do with mosques and Baha’i cemeteries have systematically been desecrated (I guess Rick didn’t get the chance to visit any Baha’i landmarks while touring Iran). Perhaps you could blame the dead for being too pushy with their religion but let’s not go there.

Second, Baha’is don't simply have the option to leave the country anytime they want. The government closely monitors Baha’is and many are currently jailed. In addition, the government will generally require people to specify their religion when requesting a passport, attending schools, etc. So it’s difficult to hide unless you are willing to recant your faith altogether. Thank God we are free to worship in the US (Rick knows this, right?).

If we can learn anything from this sort of simplification is that there is a difference between writing travel guidebooks and conducting investigative journalism. But if Rick was trying to accomplish the latter while in Iran, he would have probably spent a little bit more times with the Baha’is… in jail.
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zhiges Avatar
zhiges
Posts: 3
Posted: 04.13.09, 09:02 PM
less Americans need to see this. The warm hug of the people in Iran is not necessarily a surprise to that of a wrong American point of view. It is simply a cry for help, loving the enemy of your enemy. This speech is well put and explained but i can't tell if the false perceived information is only because of Mr. rick's boneless optimism or simply a way to reduce the hatred regarding Iranian values. By the way i am Iranian and what he calls a product of the new Islamic generation, and have lived there most my life so i do know what I'm talking about.
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zhiges Avatar
zhiges
Posts: 3
Posted: 04.13.09, 09:04 PM
I do think his generously structured choice of words are admirable but lack of bitter truth help sweeten the hearts of the poor Iranians trapped in Iran?
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zhiges Avatar
zhiges
Posts: 3
Posted: 04.13.09, 09:05 PM
*would lack of bitter truth help sweeten the hearts of the poor Iranians trapped in Iran?
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Briana Avatar
Briana
Posts: 1
Posted: 04.15.09, 12:24 AM
It has become extremely popular to say that we love the Iranian people and culture but hate the IRI, Obama even said it, certainly the former monarchists in the diaspora and other elites say it but I think to get at the heart of the IRI and why it has survived for 30 years you have to see it as a populist regime much like the French Revolution with its subsequent Reign of Terror, the Bolshevik Revolution and Mao Tse Tung in China. The capitalists in the West may not like a nation which insists on its own sovereignty and refises to be a colony and the IRI may not be the ideal government for Iran but at least it is Iranian. The USA so rife with violent crime and rape that it boasts the biggest per capita jail population in the world is hardly in a position of moral authority nor does its track record of bombarding and invading other countries put it in a position to tell the IRI anything other than threaten it the way it keeps accusing the IRI of threatening other countries...does Iran have half its navy parked off shore USA?
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