© the eyeranian

Pedram- Nice to have you back. Yea, I know, restricted internet access sucks. I am in that same boat right now. Anyway, here is how i deal with the "Are you Persian" question. I say "Yes, I am Iranian". It works pretty well. so long for now.

Can you say "I am Persian-Iranian?" Also, along the lines of the MMM, I frequently remind myself of this quote:
"A good manager is one who can make decisions. It may not always be the best or most elegant decision, but it is one that will work."
--Frank Herbert, "Children of Dune" (I think)

Here is a comment I left elsewhere, on almost the same subject:

As a Persian myself, I always introduce myself as an Iranian.

I think it is insulting to our other fellow Iranians who are not Persian to refer to everything Iranian as Persian. For example, the Best so-called Persian rug is made in Tabriz by Azeri Iranians and not Persians.

Internally speaking, that is to say, when I speak to an Iranian, I am Persian, but with non-Iranians, I am Iranian. I consider it a pitty to call myself Persian when I am outside Iran.

Some people even dare to call NoRouz a "persian new year" which is absolutely not true. NoRouz is celebrated by many non-Persian Iranians as well.....

Well, well, well... ;-)
I used to live in LA/OC (for about 15 years), before I moved to San Diego.

Once you find your way around, it may be one of the best places in the world to live.

I love LA !!

Here are a few reasons:
Multi-cultural, Musuems, the best book stores, listing to KPFK 90.7FM, the best Kabab Kobidehs, fresh Barbari in the morning, Iranian book stores, some of the world's best AND worst architecture. Most importantly, at least for me, is the fact that almost everyone is a "Foreigner" ;-)

On the Access issue:
Have you tried the "w.bloggar" editor? I use it to created logs for my blog. It even has a spell checker!

'Faramin', the country was called Persia until recently, hence why we have Persian cats and Carpets.
You guys are try to be so politically correct that its laughable and idiotic.
The reason why some Iranians refer to themselves as Persians is to distance themselves with the current Arab dictatorship in Iran. I dont blame them for that.
Incidentally, I know Iranian Turks who say they come from Azerbaijan. Again, I think to distance themselves from the regime.

Faramin,

I think most of Iranians are Persians, if not all of them!The fact that at some parts of Iran, there are different languages spoken, has nothing to do with their race, but with the influence of the neighboring goverments. For example people of Azerbaijan used to speak Farsi, untill a few hundred years ago and Tabriz has been there on the map for much longer than that, I've heard!

Please read the following:

http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2002/May/Persian/index.html

His e-mail address is

vahid_agha@canada.com

Mast,
I am not trying to be politically correct, however, you can consider it that way and laugh for that.

There is no need for me to distance myself from that regime by partially identifying myself. (I can always say, that I am an Iranian, but that government does not represent me). Yes, I am Persian but a Persian Iranian. I value my fellow non-persian Iranian friends, so much that I will not insult them by such arrogance of identifying myslef as Persian only. I have some dear Kurd and some Azeri friends that feel offended by the comments such as yours. But fortunately, they are mature enough not to take comments such as yours seriously. But many might not be. Please don't push them away from us. Do not marginalize them. You are not helping.

The rediculous argument that you have Mast, only creats divisions between us and doesn't serve the country that you would like to call Persia, and I call it Iran.

Keveh,

I am afraid you are wrong on identifying Iranians as Persians. That is true, the biggest ethnicity in Iran is Persian which makes up just over 50% of the population but ie. about 25% of Iranians are Azeris, and the rest are Kurds and other ethnic groups.

You can choose to identify yourself the way you wish, but I am a Persian when speaking with you, but I am an Iranian when speaking with a non-Iranian.

Let's show respect to other fellow Iranians. Iran does not only belong to Persians.

Leila,
Thanks for the link.

I found the homeless people in San Fran to be obnoxious. I am tall and large and hard to miss, so they all seemed to notice me and want to talk to me. In any crowd, there was at least one homeless person, who invariably noticed me. I just wanted to re-enact the scene from Airplane where where the pilot makes his way hurredly through the airport kicking the crap out of Hare Chrishnas and other pan handlers.

I was repeatedly amazed by the articulate motivated 'go-getters' that were homeless. I am very sorry for the people who really have some sort of imbalance that stops them from having a place to live, and I wish there were treatment centers or something that could help them. But I saw a lot of people who's only apperent problem was drugs and alcohol. For the indolent I would advocate tough love. And for the indolent, articulate, pushy, gin soaked malcontents that tried to get money out of me by acting by blocking my path,,,, I advocate extremely tough love.

A.H.
Perhaps you have a kind face.

I think your on to something.

you're in l.a.?! aaaawesome! all the PERSIAN and IRANIAN bloggers in l.a. should have a little blog party, i think! yes? yes!

i tell people i'm persian. personally, it sounds way more mysterious than iranian, and i'm all about the mystery.

kidding. relax, my hamvatans, it's all good.

Hey you goddamn camel jockeys,

i am out here in jersey and can't seem to meet any cool iranians... actually, i don't even see that many "per-shians" either. anybody go to rutgers university?

I hear there is a Persian Parade in New York coming up. Check out the "Where's MY Elephant?" link at the bottom of this page.