As a kid, my neighbors were an Iranian family. My neighbor's mom was the nicest, most hospitable, caring, outgoing, hilarious and glamorous lady you ever met. His grandmother, who eventually moved in with them, was also really really nice--she would make food for you and insist that you eat it, even if she couldn't speak a lick of English and was so frail that just moving about the kitchen looked like a hassle. His dad was also hilarious, and (like every single other Persian I've met) had great taste in cars; they had two, a Mercedes E-class and an Alfa Romeo. His uncle would visit sometimes, and he was nice enough I guess. He struck me as a bit different though, and it wasn't til awhile after meeting him that my neighbor told me why. The uncle was a veteran; he had fought against Saddam Hussein long before America did, had survived artillery barrages and chemical weapon attacks... sometimes, my neighbor said, he would have panic attacks at night where he would shake uncontrollably.
Persian is a funny-sounding language. A lot of the time, it sounds very nasal, and there aren't as many guttural sounds like in Arabic. When my neighbors would have family get-togethers they'd be very loud but not in an obnoxious way--they just enjoyed having a good time. Actually, having a good time seems to be something Persians excel at. They like to dress really well, go out hard, and be extremely expressive and emotional. After the Revolution in 1979, when many fled the unrest, a fair number ended up in LA, where my mom was working at the time. She laughed at how all of these expensively-dressed, heavily-perfumed, supremely confident Iranian guys would party like crazy and strut around; one of their hilarious conversation-starters/pic
The Iranians I've encountered are all obsessed with two things, soccer and politics. (Partying would be a close third, although my guess is that this is not a universal Iranian thing, given how culturally conservative many Iranian voters seem to be.) But yes, back to soccer and politics. Soccer is a huge deal for Persians, as you can read here: Just how big of a spectator sport is Football (Soccer) in Iran? During some crucial game prior to the 1994 World Cup (which was in the US), Iraq beat Iran. I don't remember the exact details, but I believe this meant that Iran stayed home and was excluded from the finals. My neighbors were so distraught about this that they couldn't stop talking about it for awhile. Apparently, Iraq and Iran are two of Asia's more successful soccer nations, and the memory of the war plus traditional Persian-Arab rivalry, makes it a bit like sports games between Korea and Japan, or France and Germany.
As for politics, if you ask any Iranian here in the US what they think about the government in Tehran, you will get an earful in my experience. Sometimes it'll be praise, other times it'll be bitter criticism--in other words, no different from Americans. Whichever it is though, they all seem to believe very strongly in their democracy--Islamic democracy, which is obviously different than the Judeo-Christian democracy that we have in the West. A few years ago in San Diego, I was talking to this Iranian cabbie who was saying how he and all of his relatives had piled into a convoy so they could go up to LA to vote out that "asshole" Ahmadinejad; like many Iranians, he was convinced that Ahmadinejad had robbed the election, but was still determined to vote for the liberal candidate next time round. This doesn't seem that unusual--voting is a big deal for Iranians. I met an Iranian Kurd (not a Persian, he emphatically told me!) in Denver who would gather up his family every presidential election and go to LA, where the nearest ballot boxes for Iranian residents of the US were located.
So all in all, Iranians are great. I don't know too many that well, but I've never had any reason to think as a people they're bad. They certainly aren't much different from Americans.
Read other related questions on Quora:
- What do people think about Tehran?
- Persian: I recently bought an intriguing album (Faraz o Forud: Radifs of Iranian Vocal Music) and can anyone help me find out what it's about?
- What should I know about Iranian/Persian men?
from Quora http://ift.tt/2cdh58j
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