| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 2:18:20 PM | It seems to me that throughout history wars have been started mostly by the leaders of countries... often for reasons that the people who were dying in the wars little understood or cared about.
If there were 'peace talks' they were done by those same leaders... peace on their terms, according to their agendas.
Nowadays... with the internet and other technology... it seems like there is no reason for peace efforts to only be coming from the top down... it seems like the people of the different nations should be talking more with each other... not just amongst our own citizenry or folks who share our culture.
I imagine there'd be arguments... but surely we'd find more common ground than not.
I'm kind of tired of my government telling me who is 'evil' in the world... who I should fear and hate.
So I went looking for places like POF that I could read and talk to people from farther away... specifically from countries that I think the U.S. is at odds with... like Iran.
I've enjoyed watching Iranian films, enjoyed reading Iranian books... I'd like to know those people better...
But I haven't been able to find a site quite like I was looking for... nothing yet with forums like on POF... which is a dating site but for a lot of us has very little to do with dating.
Does anyone know of such a site? A place that would allow some dialogue between common folks from a wider slice of the world? | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 2:48:01 PM | This is a great topic actually.
Add Pakistan to your list also. If you want to know any thing about Pakistan, contact me.
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 2:53:18 PM | Yeah... Pakistan is very important in all this too... so any sites where we could mingle/talk with the people of Pakistan would be nice to know too.
Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey... I just feel there needs to be a wider community of casual discussion... even just about 'silly' things like music and art. | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 2:57:22 PM | I used to chat in the yahoo forums and others but most of those have become quite restricted these days, but I still have "e"friends from around the world from them. A shame really because as a well travelled sort of person (I used to be a roadie).
I have been to a lot of of foreign countries. In fact I've probably visited more slums (it was a punk band) around the world than I could count. One thing I always used to do no matter where we where was to find the nearest local non music bar and have a drink and try to chat to the locals. No matter where we went I found that people are just people a few are good most are just average take them or leave them and a few are **stards, exactly like you get in your home town or even your close circle of friends. We all want very similar things in life our kids to do better than we did etc. One very useful bit of info if you are travelling abroad you need very few words to get by in most countries. Please and thank you, hello, good bye, will serve you well where ever you go. (beer and you are pretty girl used to work too) English is the most popular international language and it is likely you will find someone trying to learn it where ever you end up. But politeness doesn't cost and does open doors. | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 8:18:10 PM | Holding your breath and refusing to talk is a rather poor way for children to interact, but it's been our foreign policy for years now. And when we do talk with other countries we seem to automatically assume it's a one way conversation. With the sole exception of North Korea, almost all of our 'enemies' around the world are of our own making in one form or another, some of which go back for decades.
If you travel to other countries and show respect for their customs and culture, you will find that almost all of them like Americans. Many just don't like our government.
If you want to chat or interact with people from other countries, look for their blogs. Use go0gle and you can find people from almost any country that has internet access. | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 8:27:07 PM | | How do you handle a compulsive liar?! Peace talks seem to hold little water these days...jmo | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 8:42:08 PM | Hi Op... here is a story with a link.. to a forum started by the iranian president... or iran presidents blog .... i looked at it briefly once.. and anyone can post from outside iran also...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4790005.stm
i find alot of foreign newspapers online.. ie israel... etc have forum links etc...on their newspaper site..
so maybe google middle eastern newspapers.. and pakistan etc news...
i usually read a few of these newspapers ... written from their perspective on their events and own countries...... the journalists seeped in the culture... etc... usually have a different perspective to what western papers report on... its good to see many perspectives...
smiles/peace | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 8:46:59 PM |
How do you handle a compulsive liar?! Peace talks seem to hold little water these days...jmo
And what countries are we currently at war with where we need 'peace talks?' If other countries started making demands on the US and how we conduct ourselves, are we under some obligation to listen and jump to their demands? When countries take steps they feel are legitimate to their defense, should they not do it because it would make them more secure?
Countries hate hypocrisy as much as people. When the US makes hypocritical demands of others, I don't blame them for ignoring us. | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 8:52:09 PM | | As long as you and others think most of the enemies are of Our own doing then you will never do anything to promote dialogue ,since your agreeing with everything that other person is saying and re confirming that all Americans/Christians are evil..You fail to understand that their books tell them all Christians are infedales and must die..I lived with a Guy from Iran for four years and it all came to the surface the longer I stayed with him..I speak Farci/persian so i know a little about what Im talking about .He was over joyed that we had our citizens taken prisoner for so many years and beaten..was really over joyed that CARTER failed to rescue them and got most of our guys killed in the desert doing it..it was the day when Reagan went in that they let them go ..showing that a weak President and one that tried to talk his way out of it, never gets anywhere but when one that they fear comes in .Then there's dialogue.He told me also that is their culture that when you try and talk and compromise that it is there cue to see a weakness and they disregard any kind of weak man,so YOU tell me that you can talk your way out of it with a culture of this magnitude.Im not saying all are like this just most and are being taught at an early age to hate america and always have been especially during Bill clintons term in office since he was caught in the white house getting his tools polished..they thought of that as being a country of Evil men that would let someone be their leader who was having sex in the white house..That Aint very religious of a nation to them and for you that hate religion or christian's they are a lot worse and un forgiving than our own people trust me ..If you even look at a woman as being another race in Saudi Arabia you are shot or even suggest anything other than directions..no flirting at all ..the penalty is death ..think these are pretty free and good countries still???America has been free for so long because we stand in a position of power,and now some people in our own country are willing to compromise this by converting with the enemy that will never change bec as long as you think America has been making enemies around the world ,they have been taught even longer to hate anyone with a different religion then their own,so knowing this how would you change this when all others have failed???? | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 8:55:10 PM |
Holding your breath and refusing to talk is a rather poor way for children to interact, but it's been our foreign policy for years now.
Actually there is plenty of communication, just not between the public leaders. There are others in government on both sides that communicate at talk frequently.
What some just don't understand, is that in totalitarian regimes, talking to heads of state is used as propaganda tools, to fool the populace of that regime.
By having what is considered normal relations, IE: Talk between both heads of state. You basically are saying that the others government, no matter how murderous or brutal, is just allright with you, so you talk to them directly.
So, it is only when you have concrete concessions, that you allow your leader to speak with a dictator. You still run the risk of propaganda, cause they control their media, unlike here where a person in California can't fart in public, without someone in Florida blogging about it.
So this perception is inaccurate.
Talking to Iran? It's ongoing.
Meeting that President, with our President, with no preconditions.
Is just stupid.
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 8:55:56 PM | | It's like checkers and chess. Some countries say they don't like us (fibbers) and those that say they like us (liars)...Some countries bluff us like in poker and others sit back and wait to pounce...jmo...I wish for world peace but doubt it can happen. | |
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D_lily
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Joined: 11/25/2007
Msg: 12 | |
| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 9:01:40 PM | Great post topic. I have always said and will alway say it is governments that ruin and keep us divided. People one to another are not that different. It's government that divides. | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/6/2008 9:06:42 PM | SGFRMBOY,
I'm sure there are open-minded folks like you in most cultures... not just our own.
Plenty of folks in Iran probably have your expansive world view, and your level of certainty that they know exactly how things are.
I was hoping to talk to the people who are a bit more ignorant of how backward and evil they are supposed to be...
What little I know of Iranian culture leads me to the (obviously delusional) belief they they are every bit as varied and complicated in their beliefs as folks are here in the U.S.
I know it's self-destructive of me to want to talk to people that our Government, in their vast wisdom, keeps trying to convince me are 'evil' and just want me dead... but I just can't help myself. | |
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D_lily
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Joined: 11/25/2007
Msg: 14 | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/7/2008 5:41:01 AM | Does anyone know of such a site? A place that would allow some dialogue between common folks from a wider slice of the world?
Start by checking out Iranian bloggers, and you can find them here:
http://blogsbyiranians.com/
An exceptional one to read, written by an American woman who lived there, is this one :
View from Iran - by Tori Egherman.
It's a fascinating look at an American's view from the inside, and quite unlike what you'd expect to be hearing if you believed the images politicians try and sell us. In fact, you'd think it was another country, honestly.
As to your point about looking at the other side, I think we can learn an awful lot from individuals. Look what happened when people like myself started posting links to various bloggers from Iraq :
http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts964825.aspx
http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts6230268.aspx
Riverbend's blog was one of the best, and she could put you right inside Iraq while reading her words - on a very human level.
Another one I just love is Sunshine, a young girl living in Mosul.
http://livesstrong.blogspot.com/
I suggest people who have the interest, like yourself, start there to really see how much alike we really are - person to person.  | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/7/2008 6:13:09 AM | Inter-national grassroots networks might eventually overcome pro-war propaganda.
Of course, we will still have "Deciders," who delight in having the power to DICTATE what the country will do--especially when it's AGAINST the will of the people.
Still, as a long-term project, this has real possibilities. It was quite eye-opening to read a magazine called "World Press Review," actual stories from newspapers around the world. I was amazed to see that each country has it's OWN needs, problems, and worries.
Our media tell us that EVERY decision, anywhere in the world, is either pro-American or anti-American. The truth is that each country is pro and con issues that impact itself. | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/7/2008 7:56:01 AM | | If you build an internet system for direct global democracy or even for self-governance by direct action on a voluntary basis, without voting, you would obviate traditional forms of government and people would adopt it. It's a case of presenting the means and then people will use it. Build it and they will come. But you would need a concept to start from. It's tricky trying to imagine something new. talking with like-minded people usually helps spark ideas. I don't know of any sites for talking to Iranians. I was thinking of the bigger idea of everyone talking to one another as people without national designations even being part of it. | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/7/2008 8:31:43 AM | | HI if you go onto face book and put in Iran in the search area it will bring you up some groups, also after you are in the area at the top you find groups and there are others if you look there hope this helps. It must be an omen for me because I am going to meet someone from Iran today and just saw your line in the forum. | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/7/2008 8:41:26 AM | That would scare people. They'd scream "world government!"
Road Ranger had said
If you build an internet system for direct global democracy or even for self-governance by direct action
I think we would have to emphasize that this is just to INFORM people about other people, so they can object to their OWN government's propaganda.
While I also dream of a world with no governments--"with nothing to kill or die for"--I've seen too many great ideas die altogether because they overreached.
As in the movie, "What About Bob?"--baby steps. . .baby steps. . . | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/7/2008 10:09:46 AM | | Yeah, idealistic is not usually the way to go. I expect that if you are in a business that trades globally then as a matter of course you would talk with people from all different countries. If your country does business with the other country then there will be some kind of infrastructure in place for learning the language and culture, for making contacts, and so on. Academic pursuits span borders the same way. | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/7/2008 10:20:54 AM | We don't know enough about other cultures and too many are told what to think about other cultures.
We do have gas stations in my little area owned by Iranians and Palestinians. We talk and chat but not about differences in our cultures... the weather, sports, TV, movies, kids... these guys are no different to me than anyone I grew up with. I'd like to know about their life experiences. What they enjoy and what they don't like. How does their family interact with one another. | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/7/2008 11:13:36 AM | Yeah, I'm definitely not thinking of ideological or even political conversation... unless it evolved into that organically.
Nothing fancy or with lofty intent...
I'm more interested in just cross-cultural pollination... hearing about things going on in those places that don't necessarily involve 'hot topics'... a world forum... not just Iranians... I only mention them because that's who my government is currently trying to demonize... make me scared of. | |
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Hoop
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Joined: 5/1/2006
Msg: 24 | |
| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/7/2008 1:03:12 PM | I don't think you'll find what you're looking for here online, censorship will irritate you to no end.. most if not all that you'll get here is 'colored'
What you seek (cross-cultural pollination) you'll find on the 'ground.'
Attend cultural festivals, dances, ect. they nearly aways welcome the public. Take a dish or beverage with you and a warm smile.
happy pollinating! | |
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| Talking to Iran... and others
Posted: 9/7/2008 1:13:47 PM | to the OP: I like your post; you have a good idea going here and I think it'll make for some good exchanges...I will be back when I have more time to spend on here.
Thanks! | |
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