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As an outsider, I am really surprised by how deep-rooted America's hostility is towards Iran. Shi'ite Iran certainly has human rights issues, but as far as terr

• jki275 8y ago
  Most Americans have as their only understanding a picture of Iran in their minds of the overthrow of the shah and IEDs in the past 14 years of war. Very few Americans would even understand that Iran isn't like the rest of the ME and has a very different history. Americans in general aren't well educated about the ME and the ethnic and religious differences there -- even the past 17 years of war there haven't tipped the education system to give them better knowledge about it.
  • walrus01 8y ago
    Most americans would be surprised that the situation for womens' rights, while not ideal, is significantly better in Iran than in the nation of our "good friends" Saudi Arabia. By very nearly any metric: Number of women with professional educated jobs, number of women with bachelors degrees or masters degrees from large, recognized universities, number of women who drive their own vehicles independently around their home cities without male accompaniment, etc.
    • jki275 8y ago
      It was that way in Afghanistan in the 70s as well. Yeah -- agree, most Americans simply aren't able to identify the differences between the ME countries. SA is a marriage of convenience, nobody likes them even though we have a somewhat tenuous alliance.
• ethbro 8y ago
  Iran is an easy enemy for the US government to offer to its citizens. Because of the fairly harsh anti-US rhetoric circulated by the Iranian government to its citizens since the revolution (itself because of our previous support of the Shah and current support of Israel) for purposes of maintaining power, it's easy to say "Look, Iran hates America." The Shia / Sunni distinction is largely lost on the average American. And just as a personal note, almost every Iranian I've met in the US has been an awesome person. They've got a fascinating history and culture.
  • Alex3917 8y ago
    > almost every Iranian I've met in the US has been an awesome person Yeah because most of the ones here are the kids of the high-level government officials from before the revolution.
  • rayiner 8y ago
    To be completely fair about the last point, immigrants you meet in the US are not a representative sample. I say this as an immigrant myself. The Bangladeshis and Pakistanis I’ve met in the US are educated and relatively liberal, having gotten through our immigration filters. But the beliefs and attitudes of people back in the country are totally different. For example, American muslims are slightly more liberal than americans as a whole on homosexuality, and 60% of Americans say society should accept homosexuality. In Pakistan it’s 2%: http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/06/04/the-global-divide-on-homosexuality http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/06/04/the-global-divide-on-hom...) Also relevant: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiM2aSRw67fAhXHpFkKHUYGAhYQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.radiofarda.com%2Fa%2Fshiraz-mp-accuses-rouhani-suppressing-iran-history%2F29558964.html&psig=AOvVaw2WossgQlvRLbpJ4tYATlJX&ust=1545399294800903 https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiM...
    • ethbro 8y ago
      Granted. I was going to include a note, but didn't want to get too long winded. Non-representative sample, self-selected according to dominant migration obstacle (e.g. financial or educational).
    • selimthegrim 8y ago
      (Some) Pakistani-Americans I’ve met who’ve grown up here have told me that my parents should be executed for being Ahmadis once an Islamic State has been established (but graciously offered them a one time chance to repent). So much for the immigration filter.
• lotsofpulp 8y ago
  Hate towards certain ethnicities and countries is a tool used by the leaders (political and business) of the US to further their economic interests, either for selling weapons or sewing discord to take advantage of other people’s natural resources. Kind of ironic when you consider the leaders of a country using patriotism for their personal gain. It’s so weird seeing all the flag toting, national anthem singing population in the US tow the line when they can’t even be bothered to learn their country’s history or participate in the civic process and hold its leaders accountable.
  • DyslexicAtheist 8y ago
    what history? my grandma's house is older than the US. /s
• pjc50 8y ago
  Wealthy Saudi propaganda organizations? But I think the defiance is why the US elite hates Iran. They successfully kicked out a US-backed leader, humiliated Carter's rescue plan, fought off a US-backed Iraqi invasion, defied the US over nuclear proliferation. Refusing to follow US orders enrages the US. Ironically there has been extensive on-the-ground cooperation between the US and Iran while fighting ISIS in eastern Syria.
  • gdy 8y ago
    "there has been extensive on-the-ground cooperation between the US and Iran while fighting ISIS in eastern Syria." Could you possible share a source for this?
• serguzest 8y ago
  * cough * Israel * cough *.
  • hnauz 8y ago
    cough AIPAC cough You just have to see those anti-Israel boycott clauses that people have been talking about recently. And on the other hand, no problems with Saudi Arabia because they are friends with Israel. America is Israel's whore. It's sad when you come to think of it.
    • deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  • asianthrowaway 8y ago
    This. It's sad how much influence they have on American foreign policy.
• notacoward 8y ago
  Americans don't even understand the distinctions among Christian groups. If you actually went inside a Methodist church and asked people how their doctrine differs from Presbyterians' (or vice versa) you'd get mostly blank stares. So it should hardly be surprising that they don't recognize divisions in other religions. What they do understand is countries, and the US relationship with Iran has long been marked by enmity on both sides. Also, Iran's relationship with Israel is even worse, and that alone would ensure US enmity.
• mc32 8y ago
  On the other hand the regime supports destabilizing groups throughout the middle east. They want to contend to be the main influence there along with Saudi. They also from time to time threaten oil supplies and threaten Europe with restarting their missile programme. They’ve been quite nettlesome. However, with more energy independence the present US administration seems to be disengaging from the ME, in contrast to the last two admins,
  • mmjaa 8y ago
    >On the other hand the regime supports destabilizing groups throughout the middle east. They want to contend to be the main influence there along with Saudi. As does the USA. So?
    • mc32 8y ago
      Right. So they say we’re bad, we say they’re bad. I’m all for letting them work things out on their own and stay out of their local disputes so long as they keep it local. But unfortunately with the weapons they’re willing to use against each other it may be hard to just sit on the sidelines. Any case OP was painting them as being “innocent”.
      • pjc50 8y ago
        > with the weapons they’re willing to use against each other it may be hard to just sit on the sidelines. Someone's got to keep selling them those weapons, right?
        • mc32 8y ago
          I think Iran has demonstrated they ate quite capable in this regard.
  • pjc50 8y ago
    Trump reimposes sanctions: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/iran-sanctions-trump-us-eu-nuclear-deal-trade-executive-order-latest-a8479806.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic... Trump's "muslim ban" nations includes Iran: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13780 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13780 Active US involvement in the war in Yemen continues. The only difference of having Trump in power is that the news is full of his twitter remarks and news about prosecution of his accomplices, rather than what's actually happening elsewhere.
• whoisthemachine 8y ago
  As an insider, I have no hostility towards Iran, and would prefer that our government ally itself with them instead of Saudi Arabia (if it has to choose at all). However, our government is a representative government, meaning it favors those whom it profits most to represent. Sometimes this works in favor of the common American, sometimes it doesn't.
• the_other_guy 8y ago
  This. It's funny that the West is blaming Iran 24/7 for terrorism while 3/4 of terrorist attacks are just Sunni against Shia mainly in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and the other 1/4 is Sunni against non-muslims.
  • notacoward 8y ago
    > 3/4 of terrorist attacks are just Sunni against Shia I think people are talking past each other here because "Sunni vs. Shia" is a distinction that has great meaning to those on the inside of that religious or regional context, but means absolutely nothing to most on the outside - especially but not only those in the US. Imagine that there was a wave of Buddhist terrorism. Would people in mostly-Christian or mostly-Muslim countries notice or care about mahayana vs. hinayana (vs. other)? Big nope. If they made any distinctions at all, those would be on the basis of country/region or skin color or just about anything besides doctrinal differences. More likely they'd just tar all Buddhists with the same brush. Do people in Iran pay attention to factional differences in the US, or are we all "Americans"? So it is with US vs. Iran. Sunni vs. Shia might well be important, might be highly visible to you, but to at least one half of the people making geopolitical decisions it's just not part of the equation. Maybe that's a good reason not to have the ecclesiastical and secular authorities so intertwined, as it makes such confusion almost inevitable (cf. Israel vs. Judaism).
• ryanmercer 8y ago
  In the case of suspending these accounts, this isn't something just Slack has done. A crypto exchange was wholesale closing accounts in the past 3 years if people even opened the app while on holiday in Cuba and rightly so. You do NOT want to have to deal with the government if they suspect you, or a customer, of dealing with a sanctioned or embargoed country. You just don't. It's going to be messy and long and expensive especially as a finance or communication company. It isn't a "oh you're a Muslim/Iranian/Cuban/resident of Kiev, banned!" thing it's a "Oh, you could cost us millions and millions of dollars in legal trouble, exposure of our other customer's data, etc, sorry but we have to sever ties with you immediately to reduce our risk to very serious government investigation and litigation". Given Slack also uses encryption at rest and in transit, there may be a LEGAL REQUIREMENT not to allow users with ties to Iran to use the product under CFR title 15 chapter VII, subchapter C. > Shi'ite Iran certainly has human rights issues, but as far as terrorism is concerned the majority of them are orchestrated by Sunni groups It doesn't matter what religious sect has perpetrated acts, the current government is reliably documented to a laundry list of terrorist attacks, cyber attacks, imprisoning/lashing/executing members of the gay community, at least 15 assassinations on foreign soil (US, FR, DE, CH, SE etc), a recent president was a staunch holocaust denier and the government even sponsored an anti-holocaust conference. We impose sanctions, embargoes etc on COUNTRIES not religious sects. We hold COUNTRIES responsible for war crimes and genocides, not specific religious sects. The current government of Iran in this instance has a history of doing bad things for its entire existence, as such the U.S. government has decided they are both a threat to nation and worthy of sanctions for various reasons. I suspect the powers that be at Slack simply are trying to minimize risk to the company and other customers by eliminating users that have shown a connection to IPs geographically connected to the nation of Iran. See: - 15 CFR chapter VII, subchapter C. - 31 CFR Part 560 and Appendix A to Chapter V - Public Law 115–44 (the CAATSA)
• patmcguire 8y ago
  It's mostly about 1979 and the humiliation of the hostage crisis.
• prawl 8y ago
  You are surprised by how deep-rooted America's hostility is towards Iran, so you seize the opportunity to incite hatred against Sunnis?
• EB-Barrington 8y ago
  Wahhabist, to be more specific.
• zachguo 8y ago
  You know, Iran is selling oil to countries without using US dollars.