This might not be so related to your post: We tend to be proud of our heritage or "culture" ,in my view, because that fills us with some sort of a power ,which is of course not "real". We tend to say we are Persians or Iranians or whatever in the appropriate situation because that connects us to the glorious history and to hide our Iranian background in other situations because people will be reminded of our current miseries. I don’t see any problem with the current flow if it ends up with N individuals than P GROUPS of individuals and I don’t see any problem if we don’t celebrate norouz in the next 100 years. Well there are of course many negative aspects when it comes the more practical issue of “global economy”. But the way I understand globalization, it doesn’t have to be accompanied with globalization in... [more at the permalink of the entry above]

Although I am a bit unsure if the real American culture ever happened to be as settled, I agree with you on one point that I conceive the Yankee, Massachusetts style of American culture as very original one. It is fair to back you up by saying that “the real” one is and was the basic denominator of a much idealized cultured US culture as I identify it with the US' founding fathers and their outstanding scientific (Franklin), philosophical, and political contribution (Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson), not to mention Henry David Thoreau. This was the US that Alexis de Tocqueville observed and celebrated in his much renowned Democracy in America. It started around mid-1600s and perhaps its prominence died around late-1963. As per our Indo-European origins, with much confessed and confused bias of mine, I still believe that if you get lost somewhere in the mountains of North, in the... [more at the permalink of the entry above]

First and foremost, I am not sure I quite understand what you mean by Hamburger culture. The discussion is of course out of my league as well, and I am not going to elaborate on it. Abstractly speaking though, I believe there is a simple rule that covers almost every country/culture, and that is so to speak: "mediocrity rules". I do not want to sound cynical, but in the old times that the culture was conducted only by the elite, the results used to be much more impressive, compare to the late 20th century that pop culture emerged, and now is ruling the world. And frankly, most of the products of this culture are out there to satisfy the "high" intellects of bunch of philistines. Does that mean that I am an elitist? not really. But I cannot help wondering whether the "law of excluded middle" holds in this... [more at the permalink of the entry above]

In circumstances that do not merit explanation, I forced, without intending to be mean, a European who hadn't even heard Persian music to that date to listen to Hossein Alizadeh's NEY-NAVA. What he said made horns grow on my head, as we say in Persian. He said the sound of the music (or the NEY , I don't recall) brings to mind longing and makes you feel you miss something that is lost. I immediately remembered Rumi's first line in Masnavi and envied my friend for his pure grasp of the music without any need for words to mediate. Coincidence, you say? Well, you may want to repeat the "experiment" with your non-Iranian friends. The result is not clear to me.

Saeed, this is what happens to you, if you don't celebrate Nowruz in a 100 years: You loose a part of your identity. That is the same if, Iranians for example in a 100 years, stopped practicing Shi'ite Islam. It is a sad fact of life that people tend to be the most brutal and unforgiving when it comes to their own kind, and hence go against the evolutionary instinct of the survival of their own species. Being reminded of their common origins, people are reminded of their instinct for survival, and thus act in favour of it with compassion and cooperation. As an example look at the way Jews, Armenians, and to some extent the Irish and the Indians tend to remind themselves of their identity and compare it to the Persians, the Italians, and to some extent the Muslims do so. The difference, I believe, is fundamental.... [more at the permalink of the entry above]

Kaveh, some clarifications on my comment: 1) I don't think of norouz as part of my identity the same way that I don't feel celebrating ashoora -the way we used to do in Iran - as part of my identity. My philosophy (the way I think of "life") ,on the other hand, is part of my identity. I think of Islam - as I know it- as part of my identity. My love for my parents is part of my identity. My concern for humanity is part of identity. My memory -even norouz- is part of my identity. But nourooz itself is not part of my identity and I am as eager to celebrate norouz as to watch a football match. 2) My "leniency" about the future was with the assumption that "everybody" thinks of his identity as I tried to describe. I was not living in the same... [more at the permalink of the entry above]

we're all mortals and so are our cultures. and so was god. death is the ultimate irreversible process.

Identity is not equal to ego.

I read this text and the comments. Simply said, I could not resist writing down my ideas on the issues mentioned. The idea of just "high Culture" as "True Culture" and "Popular Culture" as "anti culture" is not new. Problem is that we take this flawed idea too seriously. I give just some examples: in late 19th century Pucini's operas were considered pedestarian, low, and way too middle class to be considred "artictic" and hence "cultural". Today you can hardly argue that they are not cultural works. Being middle class, far from discrediting the works, bought them credibility. Another example: all of us have listened to Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd. In late 60s and early 70s, if you claimed that these bands are producing revolutionary music in "high society" circles, at best you could recieve condescending smiles and some smirks, and at worst, someone would call... [more at the permalink of the entry above]

Mohammad's point reminds me of a very old speech of Taghizadeh in which he was arguing trying to revive ancient Persian culture and embarking upon Westernism are commensurable projects. I am just wondering if natural selection is really an appropriate terminology. If one wants to cite Sadegh Zeebakalam, then of course thing will look differently. I think the elites of each society have their own way of redefining the high culture and the low culture. This is specifically the point that Kaveh is trying to make when he refers to Parthians being Helenophile. In fact, Orod (the Thirteenth Ashk) was informed of the victory over Romans when he was watching a Greek play. Being selective, as you mentioned, is an attribute of resistance and adaptation. I think you and Kaveh are saying the same thing, but taking different approaches. I definitely agree with you that Persian culture has been... [more at the permalink of the entry above]

Let's put this Iranian Patriotism aside for a sec. I like to assert one thing: if we want people to accept and respect our culture, we first need to accept and respect their culture. If we sit here and claim our culture is superior and bash the other cultures, they have all rights and power to do the same to us. I personally believe in, practice and preach Aristotle's famous saying: I am a citizen of the world. I take whatever is good from any culture, religion, etc and employ it in my everyday life. Ofcourse in the process I use my brain, logic and ability to analyse (Thank God for being a math major). I am thinking about becoming a vegetarian, because I don't like to consume animals, whatever the Iranian culture says about this, I don't care! Though my birth certificate says I am a muslim I... [more at the permalink of the entry above]

I'm not sure I agree with the 'McDonald culture' idea entirely, although I can feel the attraction of this point of view. What cautions me are two things: 1- It is not at all clear to me that the roots of todays cultural crisis are here and not in other more 'intellectualized' spheres of society which have constantly eroded any positive and hopeful or even realist view of future and the world instead. The general term of 'consumerism' sounds just too easy to blame. Although again this is what makes me more careful in this regard and is not necessarily a rejection of it. 2- What is relayed of any era in history to be read by the future generations is the works and struggles of the greatest or most active people of that time. So looking back at the glories of the past might blind us to the... [more at the permalink of the entry above]

I really don't understand how Noruz itself' can be part of anybody's identity! But celebrating noruz like any other ritual is the external manifestation of sets of values, worldview and the feeling of community...that is all that make parts of ones identity. Yes it gives a feeling of power, but what is wrong with that?! That is the FUNCTION of community and belonging to a community. Noruz is one of the most enduring bonds that defines us as a 'people'. It is precisely the destruction of such bonds in a society that results in chaos and demise of that society. The fact that many others oof OUR bonds has been ravaged by barbarians of different origins together with unattached among our own is the main cause of lack of 'discipline' that we all wail about today. that even a single task is not performed correctly in Iran, be it... [more at the permalink of the entry above]

The connection between the Nordic music and the Iranian music is probably not completely coincidental. After all, both languages have the word daughter (dokhtar, tochter) in common. The word Iran comes from Aryan, which is the name of some mythological celtic people coming through the Caucusus mountains from the North. Pretty much the only claim to fame the Norsemen have is their history of shipbuilding, sailing and being the most fearsome and far-ranging pirates ever. The conditions of the composers and the instruments have something to do with this also. Long melancholy nights in the desert or the steppes can speak to each other very well. Ultimately, we are probably all more connected than not. PS, Hamburg-er itself comes from a food preparation technique made famous in northern Germany, probably to tenderize tough old horsemeat, or something. It is the Ford mass production technique of service that is American,... [more at the permalink of the entry above]

Nice speech, WG!