Pictures of Iran: You decide

Iran has always been a fabulous place, and one of the bed rocks of human existence. I would love to spend time there and visit like I could if I went to Europe, but that is not the case and it seems they do not want it either. Hopefully saner minds prevail over there and the moderate youth start to influence the extremist that make up the older generations. After being in Iraq for a year to walk the streets in Iran and be treated as a welcomed tourist is a very big goal of mine that one day I hope to actualize.

[edit on 5-11-2007 by Xtrozero]

Originally posted by ralph nader
I wish every news cast tonight, would quietly run these pictures between their stories and wake the American people from their government induced hypnotic suggestion,that we must bomb this land.

So your logic and criteria for protecting our country is based on how pretty the land looks. WOW!

I believe he didn't ask for your pettiness.

oh whatever, sure there is some pretty places there, if only they wouldn't have a crazy president that wants to kill all Israelites. and SOMEONE had to vote for that freak! and SOMEONE has to stop him...whatever it takes, they made their bed...
and besides...some of those pictures just scream CGI

Originally posted by Odessit
I believe he didn't ask for your pettiness.

Then you would be wrong.
I only responded in kind. Sorry if you don't see it. Oh well....
Besides, are you his spokesperson?
Can you read his mind?

[edit on 5-11-2007 by 4thDoctorWhoFan]

reply to post by centurion1211

I wonder how long before someone that disagrees with your plan for running things sticks some C4 next to your airlock just to let you all know how much they disagree? Nevermind what gets destroyed and how many are killed to prove their point.

hmmmm..... who said I wanted to "run" anything? people imposing their way of life on others is the reason someone might "blow your airlock" in the first place... why not consider letting things happen as they may... i.e. let people decide for themselves how to live their lives? I have no plan, therefore no one can disagree with my plan for them.... that said, some people are violent and will kill regardless... others are pushed to it... some are insane and some are just frustrated... and some view it as business... can i sell you a sword? oh, i see you already have one... how about a sheath instead before you hurt someone... maybe take an "eye"out....

[edit on 5-11-2007 by never_tell]

reply to post by antar


It breaks my heart to think that we want to destroy such a beautiful place like that. Those pictures were amazing and it makes me sick to my stomach that Bush wants to go to war with Iran over knowledge of having nuclear plants.

I wish Americans could really do something about it but we can't because Bush is a fascist tyrant who is going to do what he wants anyway.(IMO).

I wish he would just leave office, he has done his job already which is to make his rich friends richer and rob the middle class.

Having said that, it does not mean I like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because I know nothing about him. But I hear there are a lot of Iranians that do not even like him because he is just as political as any other politician.

The people I really worry for is the Iranians who want to live in peace and whom are caught in the middle of world politics.

I think If Americans would watch that Ted Kopple episode on the Discovery Channel where he did a study of Iran culture. You would find out that they know more about us than we do them. Americans and Iranians do have some things in common and I wish people would just try and understand more. But that's asking too much.

My Father-In-Law fought in the Korean War and has a few medals. I remember him telling me some things 5 months before he passed away. It was just after 911. He told me that he knew we were going to war but was hoping we would not. He remembers going to Korea and seeing how it affected everyones lives. He remembers how their homes were destroyed, they had no place to live and slept outside. He recalled seeing beautiful places there that he would never forget. He had this look in his eye as he knew how it was going to affect kids, mothers and old men and women.

5 months later he passed away after 911. Now I think really think hard how we got to where we are now, and see the peoples lives it destroyed including our troops and their families.

All while a few elitist get rich because war cost $$ and there is $$ to be made.

The media seems to show the ghetto parts of the world instead of the beautiful places that it has. As to betray other countries as being barbaric or uncivilized.

Let me give you an example, every city or town has a good part of town and a bad part of a town.

I can drive in any city and visit some of the beautiful and nice places, and I can drive 2 miles North, East , South or West and find that the city also has a ghetto part of town. It's like this in just about any where you drive in this country.

That's my two cents.

What is this
Are you all trying to out do each other with pathetic talk about I'm better than you, or I didn't ask for your opinion etc.. Who cares if your on the right or left of politics. Stop acting like children and grow up.
I think Iran is beautiful and would love to visit too! But I also know that if it comes down to it, war will happen and lives will be lost. And so will some of the land. This is why wars start. So much disrespect for one another and I'm always right attitudes.

beautiful pictures. i'll never understand why a world that's one has to be divided. i'll never understand why people can't just get along. i'll never understand what good comes from killing. thank god i'm not the only person who cares. something must be done to stop the madness. where did all this start?

god help us all.

reply to post by Solarskye




Seriously........does the "beauty" really matter when their own leader tortures and kills their own people for ridiculous things? Their own leader doesnt allow them to live free?

Who cares about the beauty when their own people are treated horribly. Their woman are treated like dogs. If you are so concerned about Iran..........then how on earth can you ignore these other things?????
People are soo flippn concerned about what our Govt MIGHT do, that they completely ignore what their own government is doing to their own people.

I just dont get it.


And the media hasnt put any ideas in my head about what Iran looks like. Why on earth would the media report on green fields, trees, mountains and pretty flowers? They dont do this for other countries.

I guess I dont get the correlation to "pretty Iranian countrside pictures" and the media reports about its leader.



[edit on 5-11-2007 by greeneyedleo]

[edit on 5-11-2007 by greeneyedleo]

reply to post by bovarcher



I don't know how many ATS members have visited Iran in recent years, but I have been there quite a bit, most recently in August 2007. I have some excellent business contacts there and we export a lot of medical diagnostic systems to Iran.

I am not Iranian & have no Iranian family or ancestry; I am English.

The pics posted by Antar are pretty accurate, and reflect the diversity of the landscape. What they don't really communicate however, is the sophistication and intelligence of the people and their genuine, warm-hearted good humor.

From my fairly extensive personal experience of Iran and dealing with Iranians, I have to say that it is by far my favorite place in the entire region between the Mediterranean and India. It's relaxed, friendly, immaculately clean, surprisingly wealthy (by the standards of the region) and full of highly educated and complex people. Being a westerner there you don't really stand out, as they all look like Europeans anyway and the men at least dress just like westerners so you have a kind of anonymity.

I am always delighted to see family groups out in the warm, dry evenings picknicking together in the parks in Tehran and Esfahan, welcoming to anyone who wants to join and engage with them. I have never seen the slightest sign of crime, anti-social behavior of any kind, or litter. People seem to be very socially responsible. No doubt there is anti-social behavior, but little evidence of it.

The predominant Shia religion is very tolerant of other belief systems. Jews, Christians, Parsees and the rest are integrated and the atmosphere between them is very warm. One of my closest Iranian associates is a self-confessed Atheist and they are cool about that too. You can discuss the God issue openly and will probably have an enjoyable and well-informed philosophical dialogue.

The level of understanding of western culture, values and political systems is quite sophisticated - in my experience people seem to be rather better informed than in say the Arab world, where a few misconceptions may be found. This may be partly because the society is quite developed technically & culturally, partly because many Iranians have family living & working in Europe and they go back & forth a lot. You can get most western news channels on satellite there, and English is widely spoken and understood.

People openly discuss their political/legal system and are often surprisingly self-critical. The current President is not popular amongst the educated business community and the more modernizing city-dwellers but well, they have a democratic voting system and Ahmadinejad was elected fairly, so they are for the moment stuck with him. There is irritation that the US-inspired sanctions keep Iran outside the international banking system, so all the US goods you find in Iran have to be imported through the UAE. This trade is making the UAE rich, as they are handling such a huge volume of stuff between the US and Iran now. People always find a way around trade sanctions.

One of the minor inconveniences this causes as a visitor is that very few places like hotels can accept credit cards, so you have to take cash for everything. It's cheap though. Gasoline is just US$0.05/litre at the pumps (that's right, 5 cents - or 25cents/gal if you can only think in gals).

I have to say that Iran is the only place in the region where I could happily live (that would include Israel which I have visited on 14 separate occasions and don't really like that much). Esfahan is truly sublime.

Believe it or not (some of you will choose not to I'm sure, because you don't want to) there is a lot of admiration evident with most Iranians for the USA and all things American. Sometimes I suspect if more Iranians were to travel to the USA and spend some time there, they might appreciate better what they have at home.

reply to post by TheInfamousOne


Thankyou, your father in law sounds like he did his part in raising the consciousness of the planet through his heart and for having the courage to see things as they are instead of threw cold eyes and stone heart.

That is what this Revolution is all about. Taking back the truth and dissipating the lies from our lives so that we can stand up for what we truly believe. We deserve to sort through truths and brilliance not lies and ignorance.

ONE QUESTION:

How many avoided this thread because of what you Thought the pictures were going to be?

And how many were actually taken back at what the pictures actually are?

This is my point here. To spread a new way of thinking. A more open minded and less controlled by the past way of looking at life in general. We are all ready to step up to the next level, it will take only a slight shift in our consciousness to make extreme change for our selves and our planet in this new paradigm.

[edit on 5-11-2007 by antar]

So many beautiful places in the world, and I'm stuck here. Meanwhile they're all being blown up and maimed, there will be nothing left for the next generation. A world without this kind of beauty is a sad one, and the world seems to get more sad by the day. Why is the Human race so destructive. I don't understand our species.

Who cares about the beauty when their own people are treated horribly. Their woman are treated like dogs.

[edit on 5-11-2007 by greeneyedleo]

I would strongly advise you to visit Iran and get to know some Iranians. Travel around, see the country. You'll soon lose your misconceptions, I assure you.

reply to post by Tibris


Tibris, change begins with you. As you begin to step up into the next level of consciousness the rest of us do too. Remember you are not alone and it has been said before, "No man is an island"

reply to post by bovarcher


Well, I doubt that would ever happen, as I carry a military ID and military passport......no way I would step foot in the middle east LOL

Even the EU has major concerns over the growing repression of human rights. I even listed RECENT accounts of torture for people doing things that they just dont like.

Even if I were to visit as a tourist, im not going to see reality. I will be seeing what any tourist sees....the beautiful landscape.

With all that said. I have nothing against Iranians, at all. My heart goes out to them....especially the ones who are not allowed to live their life how they want. www.hrw.org... Nobody in any country should be repressed

[edit on 5-11-2007 by greeneyedleo]

reply to post by greeneyedleo


Yes the beauty still matters and always will. I didn't say the people in charge of Iran matters. I could care less about those people who want to control peoples lifes by fear and power. The same goes for the people in my american government. These are the people we need to get rid of. I also said that if it comes down to it war will happen and life will be lost.

If it comes down to war with Iran then I'm with our soldiers who will fight in it. I don't want to see Iran with nukes either. This was all about some pictures antar put up and then went to politicial bashing and I don't care about beautiful Iran. I was talking more online about earth and it's beauty even if it's in Iran too.

reply to post by Solarskye



Well, then we agree on something




I believe that the "political" stuff was brought up because "war with Iran" was mentioned in the OP. Well, thats my assumption

Beautiful pictures, from the outside we can all see countries like North Korea and the violence fuelled censorship their citizens undertake, as political exaltedness to their *betters* is enforced upon them, most will think that this is life, it gets no better, unaware of any existence outside their tyrannical regime.

`How could they be so blind?` many will ask, the more astute will know from their own experiences, every coin has two sides, everyone has been to a very dull and boring sporting event, only to come home and watch the carefully edited highlights and think it`s a completely different event than the one they were attending.

I learnt from a very early age to adapt and take matters at face value, a new guy had started school whom was German, and ofc all Germans are evil because they murdered our relatives, omg I thought after talking to him, he doesn`t want to kill me after all, in fact, who would have thought he liked the same things I did, we became very good friends, cast your minds to a normal scenario, for so many, the only encounters they have experienced of people from other countries is through films etc, so they can get a very tainted perception of it`s citizens.

Think Saving Private Ryan and the part where they torch the German machine gunner as a GI shouts `let him burn`, how many at that time were thinking.. `I wonder if he has a wife and children at home?`.

A lot of us can see through the BS the powers that be try to spoon feed down our necks, my faith and trust in my country ended a long time ago after seeing both my war widowed nans, that died alone, after being crippled by debt having to raise 9 kids between them with a pittance of a war widow pension.

Going completely off topic I know and I apologise, to the OP your pictures as they say speak a thousand words, none more than `Look we are the same as you, we to have scenes of breathtaking beauty, why should we lose this?`

America and the UN doing their bit as mouthpiece of the world, protecting the little guy, as long as the little guy isn`t on the receiving end of .... Russia invading Afghanistan, or China invading Tibet.

OK you guys must be lonely and missing me... I was at the Revolution party Via live web feed. No where did the OP even come close to mentioning a political side to this thread. Just a thread about awareness and our perception of the world as conditioned by our media. What did you expect when you clicked on the Title?