"Middle and upper class Iranians absolutely love America."
So, as a generalization for most of the country, his statement is correct. Unless you dismiss the lower classes as disposable riffraff as the Shah did.
So, as a generalization for most of the country, his statement is correct. Unless you dismiss the lower classes as disposable riffraff as the Shah did.
First, a massive portion of the population (middle and upper class) are also considerable and they _dont_ hate America.
Second, the working class doesn't hate America. I was born and grown up in Iran and I've never seen _anyone_ actually having strong negative feelings towards the US. I don't think Iranian working class thinks about US as much as Americans are lead to believe.
Look, I happen to have a very high opinion of Iranians and Iranian society. I think you are one of the most sophisticated people in the world (though, note, sophisticated and sophism share the same root ;). I think the Ayatollahs have, in many ways, perverted Iranian society (in others ways ensured it's independence). But your statement is too simple, too lacking in nuance. It is, frankly, dangerous (but I'll defend your right to share them with my life!) in the same way that statements about Iraqi's perception of America were 20 years ago.
Long Version:
"I was born and grown up in Iran "
I figured, but I didn't want to bring it up; if you're going to talk about "lived experiences" then it's fair that I ask you what your social class you belong to in Iran. Were you the son/daughter of an engineer? Or were you the child of a manual laborer? Did you grow up in Tehran, or Shiraz? Or did you grow up in a small village in the middle of nowhere? Did you have foreign DVDs when you grew up?
More succinctly, did your class make or was it depicted in "Children of Heaven"? (deserved the Oscar, btw. It was brilliant)
"First, a massive portion of the population (middle and upper class) are also considerable"
Well, doesn't that implies that the Ayatollahs did well by Iran? In the times of the Shah the middle class was proportionally small, certainly not large enough to make OP's comment wrong. (The answer is no, the Ayatollahs were a disaster and Iran's middle class, even if it numbers in the millions, is still a small fraction of the total population)
" and they _dont_ hate America."
OK, here I'll concede you're probably partially right but only because "America" is very ill defined. How can someone "hate" Akron OH? You can despise them, but hate? Ohioans are the nicest people I've met in the world (lived experience from growing up in four continents)! But, typically, when ppl talk about hating "America" they are referring to DC and DC's policies.
> Look, I happen to have a very high opinion of Iranians and Iranian society. I think you are one of the most sophisticated people in the world
Thank you. I don't have such high opinion we're quite average, but thanks.
You are absolutely right that my observations are only a tiny fraction and quite subjective. But that doesn't mean they can be fully dismissed.
Go to youtube and search for Americans or European's impressions of Iran when they visited. Some of them are at very rural parts [0], and yet, they are so warmly welcomed. And don't be fooled. Iranians can be horrible people. Just see how we treat Afghans. It's pretty damn embarrassing. But to Americans, I've never heard a single bad experience from a European/American in Iran.
From reading your posts, I'm pretty much sure we're on the same page. Except that it implies that you think Iranian working class do hate america, whatever that means, and that doesn't seem aligned from what I experienced or from what I've heard from other people's experiences.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2LEgowbzSc This is a great example of a visitor going through "children of heaven" class of Iran. There are countless examples of this.