Iran Expatriates Get Chilly Reception

Source: New York Times

But last week, the Iranian government paid for several hundred “highly placed” Iranians living abroad to come back for a three-day, all-expenses-paid trip. They were invited as part of a high-profile effort to repair Iran’s pariah image, win over some of the expatriates and, not least, draw some much-needed foreign capital to Iran’s troubled economy. The guests were treated to a musical performance, a fawning speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — complete with oddly inappropriate wisecracks — and a trip to the tourist destination of their choice. The event did not exactly go as planned.

The gathering, officially known as the Grand Conference of Iranians Living Abroad, is based on the idea that “lying media organizations outside the country with the aim of painting a black picture of the situation in Iran have created an incorrect impression such that some of our countrymen do not have a bright and clear picture of Iran,” as the conference organizer, Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh, said in April. But no sooner had the visitors arrived in Tehran than hard-liners condemned them as traitors. Some clerics were offended by the musical event, which featured women playing traditional music alongside men. The visit aroused such a storm in the media that the Tehran City Council removed all banners and billboards advertising it, said Khabar Online, an Iranian Web site.

In short, the conference underscored an ambivalence that had been part of Iranian political culture ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979: an evangelizing impulse coupled with a deep distrust of those who ventured outside the fold. As a result, an event that was aimed at polishing Iran’s image ended up showcasing many of the country’s bitter internal divisions.

Photographs of the musical performance, in which women could be seen wearing head scarves much looser than those usually required at government events, were published on hard-line Web sites and drew outrage. When female musicians played for the crowd, two clerics left the hall in protest, said a report on the Tabnak Web site.

Perhaps oddest of all was Mr. Ahmadinejad’s speech, which at times resembled a stand-up comedy routine, and included jokes with lewd references. At one point, saying that blaming Iran for the world’s problems was futile, he used a Persian expression that can be loosely translated as “that breast has gone away with the bogeyman,” but with a vulgarism for the body part.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/world/middleeast/08iran.html?_r=1&ref=world

lol, and wtf does that mean regardless of what word you use??

However, you would think, that some, previously confused, Iranians would now see the light of day. Another words, the Iran, elites proved to the world that Iran is a joke of a Country. And, why not?
Trying to Modernize a 14th Century, religion to fit in a 21st Century world can never and will never, work. PERIOD.

I think you mean to say "in other words."

for older religions, either.

as far as I can tell.

It seems to have very good relations with a far larger number, including its immediate neighbors and leading trade partners.

And one other thing, what government doesn't have "a deep distrust of those who ventured outside the fold" - i.e. former compatriots who chose to become citizens of a country that regards you as the enemy.