Unfortunately For Governments Like That Of Iran,

Memories Have Ways Of Becoming Independent Of The Reality They Evoke. They Can Soften Us Against Those We Were Deeply Hurt By Or They Can Make Us Resent Those We Once Accepted And Loved Unconditionally.

Every Culture Has Something To Be Ashamed Of, But Every Culture Also Has The Right To Change, To Challenge Negative Traditions, And Create To New Ones.

That, Of Course, Is What Great Works Of Imagination Do For Us: They Make Us A Little Restless, Destabilize Us, Question Our Preconceived Notions And Formulas.

The Reason I Am So Popular Is That I Give Others Back What They Need To Find In Themselves. You Need Me Not Because I Tell You What I Want You To Do But Because I Articulate And Justify What You Want To Do.

This Is A Good Time To Ask Apologists For The Islamic Regime, Who Degrades Islam? Who Imposes Stoning, Forced Marriage Of Underage Girls And Flogging For Not Wearing The Veil? Do Such Practices Represent Iran's Ancient History And Culture, Its Ethnic And Religious Diversity? Its Centuries Of Sensual And Subversive Poetry?