'Normal' was fairly biased, as it mostly refers to an average western individual.
Nothing wrong with it, but why not avoid the negative aspects of it? Why not fostering your own culture?
Nothing wrong with it, but why not avoid the negative aspects of it? Why not fostering your own culture?
P. S. Mine failed me either so I know what I'm talking about.
"You should not blame the west, you should become the west".
The persians held onto their obsession with religious leaders and sharia courts well after the vast majority of the middle east moved on. Even during Ottoman muslim rule where sharia and strictly religious leaders were semi-tolerated there was very little compromise in Iran.
I'm not saying America was right, I'm against intervention, but Iran was hardly on-course to anything except a repeat of their despots that ruled for thousands of years. Their one western-friendly leader was just a minor short-lived detour in their very long history of authoritarianism.
http://www.amazon.com/Islam-Without-Allah-Religious-External...
This "Iran has been this way" bullshit is the same nonsense I called out in a previous article about how Hezbollah is some Iranian cleric + Syrian Asad backdoor meeting became a movement BS.
Iran's history is more complex than that.
TL;DR Iran was not Shi'a, it became Shi'a, for political and politicized reasons, and was racheted up and down over the last few centuries and the authoritarian isolationism is a product of that now.
So maybe I am wrong, but what do you base this on?
(There are many books on this topic, not just this one, I just know even this one was translated to Arabic by a reputable publisher; more factual academic works exist and this is the modern Western analysis of Iran coming from when I was in school 5-10 years back in these BS Arab/regional courses, and Iran is lumped in.)
There were moments of greatness in Persian history no doubt, and even Afghanistan became a Persian cultural center. But the later history, post middle ages set a pretty strong pattern that hasnt seemed to have changed.
I'm planning to read more on the subject, particularily a book about the history of Shia [2]. I'm not calling myself a total expert on the subject. I'm open to be convinced otherwise...
[1] http://www.amazon.com/History-Middle-East-Fourth/dp/01431219...
[2] http://www.amazon.com/Shia-Revival-Conflicts-within-Future-e...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vali_Nasr
I am never quite sure if I like him, because of his seemingly packaged for Western consumption views of Iran in his books.
But then again, I am hardly an expert, and hardly Iranian. I just think Iran transitioned in and out of phases, and its interaction culturally with the Abbasid Empire at one point and wars fought in the region makes me see them differently. My interpretation is probably just biased.