A recent picture of the Kashavarz family
A recent picture of Usef
There are thousands of returned-Peace Corps Volunteers living in the United States today. They spent time in 'Third-World' countries, met the people who live there, and brought home an understanding of other societies; something that is far too rare among Americans. Yet even our exposure was often superficial. I lived almost two years in Iran and came to know very little about Iranians. Their world view is so different from my own. And I dealt almost exclusively with educated, upper middle class professionals who hardly represented the whole of Iranian society. I never knew the peasants, the conservative Islamic faithful, or the poor in the cities and the countryside - all of whom comprise the bulk of the population.
So even Peace Corps Volunteers came home with varying degrees of exposure to and sensitivity toward the people they encountered. But one thing all of us experienced was culture shock. Culture shock is not noting the profound differences that strike the tourist at first glance - you use camels and we use horses - that sort of thing. Culture shock comes with trying to absorb and comprehend the deeper customs, mores, and values that influence and drive those more visible actions. Culture shock is realizing that people somewhere else see the world differently, that things important to you are insignificant to them, and that the way they attack familiar problems is quite unlike the way you might go about the same task. Culture shock is the dim recognition that words do not always mean exactly the same thing to others and that all of us screen what we hear, say, and see through filters of custom, tradition, and history unique to ourselves.
Culture shock works two ways. It affects people who live in other societies. And it affects those societies. The traveler or stranger may know to some degree what culture shock has done to him. He seldom sees what he has done to the people he encountered along the way. Sometimes the latter can be the more traumatic and harmful.
With over thirty years of hindsight it is increasingly clear that Western influences overloaded the Iranian ability to absorb change and still maintain their traditions and customs - the things that provide stability to any people. The reaction has been violent and disturbing, and more officials and diplomats should have seen it coming, but they did not. We did not see it when we lived there although many obvious clues existed.
Many Iranians were outspokenly critical of the United States during the two years that I lived there. They were especially critical of American actions in the Vietnam War. They challenged me to explain American racial prejudices and injustices that they heard about daily in the news. The Israel-Palastanian conflict had not yet looked large in Iranian consciousness, but even then American support for Isreal was not appreciated by most with whom I came into contact. Iranians were shocked at lax morals displayed in American films and television progams. They wanted the material prosperity they saw in the United States, but most did not appreciate the challenge to their values and customs. While they were kind to me personally they did not generally embrace my country and it would be wrong to say that any of my friends in Iran were really "pro-American."
I lived in Iran during time of the Shah. His picture was everywhere and everyone outwardly paid lipservice to him and the government. But privately nearly everyone I knew criticized the Shah and while they never said in so many words that they wished his overthrow, it was clear that in their hearts they did not support him. They spoke of corruption and waste and bothersome things that the government required them to do. There was great fear of saying and doing the wrong thing during the time of the Shah and those who were cought paid in many ways.
The Shah walked a fine line between East and West and failed. Caught between American and Soviet great power politics, and unable to resolve the growing unrest within his own society that this struggle increasingly disrupted, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi succumbed to conservative, traditional forces as old as Iran itself. Further, he was unable or unwilling to stop corruption in his government, in local government, and even within his own family. Many of the people I knew while in Iran privately expressed solid dislike for the Shah but they had to give lipservice to him and his administration to hold their jobs and for the safety of themselves and their families.
Iran is an ancient country with a long history. Its people will eventually find their place in a world that is giving them culture shock. There will be many difficult moments ahead for Iran and for the West while that process unfolds. It will take time. But in the end the odds favor Iran over the long haul. Its many successful experiences in overcoming invasions, trials, and turmoil bode well for its future.
PS: I do still keep in touch with some of the people I knew when I was in Iran.
A recent picture of the Kashavarz family
A recent picture of Usef