Iran has always been a country with a single political party, where any voice
of concern or opposition to the government of the time has been silenced by
jail, disappearance, or execution. In Iran we have historically had two scenarios:
- Rulers who through simply being born into a family always claimed that they
are the only intelligent and all “knowing” (omnipotence)
- The religious and clergies who took advantage of their own defined “God’s”
supremacy and claimed the "all knowing" above and beyond any constitution,
king, or people as they set the moral guidelines through defining the right
and the wrong
Within this context, the Iranian people have always been treated as a people
being in need of a guardian that knows what is best for them or a figure to
keep them united & sovereign.
Despite all these forced supremacies, looking at our history, we see great
men and women who have sacrificed their lives and well being in pursuit of freedom
and independence for our country. The great citizens who sacrificed their very
being for freeing this great nation from its evils and tyrants and yet we fail
to acknowledge them today. Many amongst us to-date do not even know who and
what they were all about.
Can you remember a single date in our calendar, during your lifetime, where
a holiday was declared for a national hero?
- Are we to believe that no Iranian is worth remembering but our religious
icons, descendants of rulers (king) or a few poets?
- Did the likes of Maziar, Amir Kabir, Babak Khoramdin, Kasravi all die in
vain?
Looking at the calendars, in our lifetimes, we see celebration for all religious
icons covering their birth and death and no indication or remembrance of any
of our national heroes as if no children of Iran is worth remembering!
It is quite interesting that we can walk to an average Iranian and ask them
to talk for five minutes about a religious icon and they can state stories as
if they were facts but ask them the same question about the likes of Maziar,
Kasravi, or Babak and other than having heard their names they would be at a
total loss about their lives or achievements.
So based on this premise we would like to ask you:
Should Iranians celebrate Iranian heroes in place of religious icons?
- YES: Iranians should joyously celebrate the achievements & life
of Iranian heroes.
- NO: Religious icons should be remembered and grieved / celebrated
for their death and birth
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