Valentine's Day in Iran!

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Valentine's Day in Iran!

Postby Ahreeman X » Tue Feb 14, 2006 11:04 pm

Valentine's Day in Iran

Despite Iranian police crackdowns on Valentine's Day, Iranian people have been celebrating Valentine's Day & every other American Holiday for 27 years straight! Actually before 1979, Iranians were not used to celebrating "All" American Holidays, but now, they see fit to celebrate them as a negative struggle & civil disobedience against the Islamic Regime. After 1979, All-American Holidays have become very popular in Iran!

Every year, youth celebrates the Valentine's Day, Halloween & every other holiday, with full glory of it! Iranian youth says: Valentine's Day & Love belongs to everyone, even Iranians.

More power to Iranian youth.

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Valentine's Day crackdown in Iran
Associated Press

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Shopkeepers were asked not to show off Valentine cards.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iranian police have launched a massive crackdown on Valentine's Day celebrations in a bid to limit Western influences.

Shops were ordered to remove heart-themed decorations from their windows and Valentine cards were confiscated.

Plainclothes police began the crackdown on Monday after Valentine products inundated shopping malls in wealthy north Tehran and young people began to show great interest in marking the day.

Valentine's Day and its tradition of exchanging gifts with the opposite sex contradicts conservative morals in a country where contact between unrelated men and women is strongly discouraged.

"Plainclothes police confiscated some of our Valentine Day decorations and told us to remove attractive Valentine cards from our windows. They offered no reason for the crackdown," shopkeeper Shahab Amirkhani said.

Amirkhani's shop is one of many in the sprawling Qaem Shopping Mall, near Tajrish Square, prevented from showing off products for the February 14 holiday.

He said he removed the large "Happy Valentine's Day" decorations from his window but was still meeting "unending demands" from young customers.

"They (the police) are opposed to love and affection," Mina, an 18-year old girl who was buying a Valentine's card for her boyfriend, said. She refused to give her last name.

"They don't want us to be happy because Valentine's Day promotes happiness," she added.

Amirkhani and fellow shopkeeper Hamed Hosseini said they have been told to go to the vice police headquarters in north Tehran, apparently to pledge that they will not sell products promoting Western values.

"Though they are denying us of a brisk business, I'm not looking for trouble. I have to listen to them and remove anything representing the celebration against my wish," Hosseini said.

Amir Rezaei, 23, said the crackdown would backfire: "There are a lot of good things in the Western culture. They can't force people to buy and like what conservatives buy or like. It only creates hatred.

"Police even objected to little mice couple in our window because they were embracing each other."

In Iran, public embracing between men and women is considered taboo.
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Postby Ahreeman X » Tue Feb 14, 2006 11:06 pm

Valentine's Day Flashback

Valentine's Day ban is telling - Don't fret if you happened to forget or neglect your significant other on Valentine's Day.

Things could be worse.

You could live in Iran.

Iranian police, directed by the heartless Iranian government, cracked down on Valentine's Day Friday, forcing shops to remove all materials related to the holiday which is regarded as a decadent, western-influenced celebration that runs contrary to Islamic beliefs.

Many Iranians stated they would share in the holiday by giving gifts to loved ones despite the Valentine's Day ban, but they preferred not to identify themselves by their full names.

One shopkeeper in Tehran was ordered not to hold any parties or celebrations related to the holiday.

He refused to give his name, fearing stiff reprisal by the Iranian police for merely discussing the ban.

While many countries that practice democracy and freedom would have been heartbroken, there is an underlying issue to Iran's heartlessness.

In the so-called depraved west, primarily the United States, citizens are free to celebrate Valentine's Day and free to ignore it altogether.

The same holds true for Christmas, Easter, even for the Fourth of July.

Consider the rationale behind Iran's Valentine's Day Massacre - namely to suppress freedom and individual rights so power can be maintained by a select few, and then come to a conclusion about which society is truly depraved.

The heart holds the answer.
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Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
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