Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think your fear is misguided. You may never see Iran...but not because you are an American. Instead, it is because Iran is a ticking time bomb. Once the country opens back up, and it will open back up - you have to question whether there will be anything left to see. Civil war is a nasty thing. See: Syria. I recommend you visit now before its too late.
Why is it certain that opening up Iran would lead to Civil war? When I read your first paragraph I assumed you were referring to these mom and pop kinda shops going out of business once the economy develops, replacing them with cookie cutter malls or online retail.
Mr. Rafieh’s Tehran Pencil Shop
71–80 of 84 posts
Re: Mr. Rafieh’s Tehran Pencil Shop
#72Years ago, I dismissed photography as a pretentious hobby that would be rendered obsolete as smartphone cameras and digital improvements became more ubiquitous, but I have since learned to appreciate the talent behind a good photo. I only bring this up because I had a similar experience with these photos that I had locally. My Hudson Valley town is a delicate balance of many cultures (primarily white, black, and Cent…
They say "you have a good eye."
Re: Mr. Rafieh’s Tehran Pencil Shop
#73Years ago, I dismissed photography as a pretentious hobby that would be rendered obsolete as smartphone cameras and digital improvements became more ubiquitous, but I have since learned to appreciate the talent behind a good photo. I only bring this up because I had a similar experience with these photos that I had locally. My Hudson Valley town is a delicate balance of many cultures (primarily white, black, and Cent…
>> Years ago, I dismissed photography as a pretentious hobby that would be rendered obsolete as smartphone cameras and digital improvements became more ubiquitous. Actually, smartphone cameras make photography even much more accessible. I don't want to sound old, but perhaps you remember 3 or 4 decades ago where all people took pictures with film. It's a limited media (usually 36 frames or less on bigger formats). No…
Action and sports photography is an exception to this since you just click as many photos as you can to capture the right moment.
So I wonder if the explosion of digital cameras and smartphones have helped in creating better photographers. One argument could be that now there are lot more people who are taking up photography and some of them eventually will figure out the intricacies of the craft and become better photographers. Kind of like the 80-20 rule. On the flip side there is also a lot of noise (people just clicking photos), which is fine I think.
Re: Mr. Rafieh’s Tehran Pencil Shop
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> Years ago, I dismissed photography as a pretentious hobby that would be rendered obsolete as smartphone cameras and digital improvements became more ubiquitous. Actually, smartphone cameras make photography even much more accessible. I don't want to sound old, but perhaps you remember 3 or 4 decades ago where all people took pictures with film. It's a limited media (usually 36 frames or less on bigger formats). No…
I think the olden days of photography with the limits on the rolls etc, created some great photographers. You didn't have an infinite supply of film at your disposal so every shot had to be thought through. Action and sports photography is an exception to this since you just click as many photos as you can to capture the right moment. So I wonder if the explosion of digital cameras and smartphones have helped in crea…
Re: Mr. Rafieh’s Tehran Pencil Shop
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> Years ago, I dismissed photography as a pretentious hobby that would be rendered obsolete as smartphone cameras and digital improvements became more ubiquitous. Actually, smartphone cameras make photography even much more accessible. I don't want to sound old, but perhaps you remember 3 or 4 decades ago where all people took pictures with film. It's a limited media (usually 36 frames or less on bigger formats). No…
I think the olden days of photography with the limits on the rolls etc, created some great photographers. You didn't have an infinite supply of film at your disposal so every shot had to be thought through. Action and sports photography is an exception to this since you just click as many photos as you can to capture the right moment. So I wonder if the explosion of digital cameras and smartphones have helped in crea…
I think the exposure to hundreds of nice photos every day combined with the ability to line up your subject on a screen while taking your own photo, makes it easier to learn intuitively the basics of composition.
Re: Mr. Rafieh’s Tehran Pencil Shop
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've spent half a day looking through pictures of Iran from before the revolution, it was - and in many ways probably still is - an absolutely amazing country. Sooner or later the mullahs will be given their walking papers and hopefully the country can then recover some of its former splendor.
Europeans have been anti-Persian since before Socrates was a hoplite. It would be better if fifteen hundred years of Islamophobia was disinfected from Europe. It's a double standard where nobody sees a problem with England even though there's a state religion and the religious head and government head are the same person...and unlike Iran, those roles are hereditary. Iran today looks like what throwing off the yoke o…
Re: Mr. Rafieh’s Tehran Pencil Shop
#77To anybody with a cynical view of Iran and its people I highly recommend watching this fairly recent documentary about a British guy riding a motorcycle through the country. The people seem like some of the most friendly in the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2LEgowbzSc
> To anybody with a cynical, narrow-minded view of Iran and its people I highly recommend ... Do you expect any reader of this comment to say to themselves "Ah, that's me!"?
It's why I like posts like this and loved National Geographic growing up; the feeling of realizing how narrow-minded and judgemental I can be getting dissolved by fascinating exposes and beautiful art and photography.
Re: Mr. Rafieh’s Tehran Pencil Shop
#78Re: Mr. Rafieh’s Tehran Pencil Shop
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that Islamophobia contributes to unhelpfully negative attitudes towards Iran. > It's a double standard where nobody sees a problem with England even though there's a state religion and the religious head and government head are the same person...and unlike Iran, those roles are hereditary. I don’t think that anyone familiar with both countries would consider that the rôle of the two is remotely comparable. Th…
The English Parliament is allowed to pass legislation to which the head of state consents. Among such legislation is the English church’s military arm engaging in the ongoing Irish religious war. A conflict that goes back to the time Henry VIII made his own church to sanction his divorce…so he could marry the first woman he is known to have killed. More recently the English head of state created a new legal structure…
doesn’t exist; presumably you mean either the UK parliament or the Legislative Grand Committee for England.
> is allowed to pass legislation to which the head of state consents
Case 1: you mean the UK parliament.
In this case, royal assent is a mere formality. The last refusal of royal assent was in 1708, and on the advice of the PM. Constitutional practice has changed since that time. Refusal of assent is an impossibility—in particular if it a purported refusal were on the advice of the PM; see Miller:
> This court is not, therefore, precluded by article 9 or by any wider Parliamentary privilege from considering the validity of the prorogation itself. The logical approach to that question is to start at the beginning, with the advice that led to it. That advice was unlawful. It was outside the powers of the Prime Minister to give it. This means that it was null and of no effect: see, if authority were needed, R (UNISON) v Lord Chancellor [2017] UKSC 51, para 119. It led to the Order in Council which, being founded on unlawful advice, was likewise unlawful, null and of no effect and should be quashed. This led to the actual prorogation, which was as if the Commissioners had walked into Parliament with a blank piece of paper. It too was unlawful, null and of no effect. —R (Miller) v PM [2019] UKSC 41 at para 69
Now the Guardian has recently published certain articles on Queen’s consent. I found its misuse regrettable. However, the scope of Queen’s consent is essentially the regulation of a very small fiefdom—probably less in value than e.g. a supermarket chain. This pales in comparison to e.g. control of defence and foreign policy, which the Supreme Leader and religious establishment have. Royal assent, therefore, provides no grounds for drawing an equivalence between Iran and the UK.
Case 2: you mean the Legislative Grand Committee for England.
The Legislative Grand Committees had no power to pass legislation to which a majority of the Commons was opposed.
> Among such legislation is the English church’s military arm engaging in the ongoing Irish religious war. A conflict that goes back to the time Henry VIII made his own church to sanction his divorce…so he could marry the first woman he is known to have killed.
There is no ‘ongoing Irish religious war’; it is an insult to the victims of the Troubles, the siege of Drogheda, etc. to suggest that present conflicts are remotely similar.
It is pretty hard to work out in these circumlocutions what you are actually referring to here, but I hazard that you are referring to the Irish border. You seem to ignore that, as I point out, HM Government does not exercise its powers on the advice of the Church of England, and indeed often the C of E is rather opposed to government policy (see e.g. _The Guardian_, 18 October 2020: ‘The Anglican church has publicly challenged the government’s willingness to break international law over Brexit, with five archbishops from Great Britain and Ireland joining together to condemn what could be a “disastrous precedent”.’)
> More recently the English head of state created a new legal structure to harden the already armed religious border on Ireland.
Nobody acts _qua_ the ‘English head of state’ because there is no such thing.
A fundamental mistake here is to see the acts of a reactionary but democratically elected government in the UK as _sui generis_ because monarchy is symbolically reactionary. When HM Government do stupid things, they do so in the same way any other Western government does stupid things. That laws begin with a recitation that they are enacted by ‘the Queen's most Excellent Majesty’ is a distraction.
Re: Mr. Rafieh’s Tehran Pencil Shop
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lots of people from USA are visiting Iran. We travel to Shiraz regularly and even during the previous presidency we have witnessed planes full of Americans travelling there. It was quite hopeful for all as it demonstrated USA is not a narrow minded bunch… quite the opposite!
>planes full of Americans travelling there Unlike the rest of the world, Americans can only visit with organized tours.[0] [0]Unless you've got some Persian relatives you're visiting.