Sharing: Hooman Majd

Posted on October 29, 2008

Laat, like many other Persian words, can be translated in different ways and some dictionaries use the English “hooligan” as the definition, although it is in fact wildly inaccurate. The laat holds special places in Iranian culture: a place that at times can be compared to the popular position of a Mafioso in American culture, albeit without the extreme violence associated with him—and at other times a place of respect and admiration for the working-class code he lives by. Hooligans are anarchic; laats fight only when necessary and to establish their authority.Iran’s cultural history of the twentieth century prominently featured the laat and with perhaps more affection the jahel, the onetime laat who had elevated himself to a grand position of authority and respect in a given urban neighborhood. The jahel, a sort of street “boss,” occupied himself with many different illegal and quasi-legal activities but, unlike gang leaders in America, rarely found himself the target of police investigations—partly because the police were often from his social class, partly because the police were doled out many favors by him, and partly because the governments under the Shah were loathe to disrupt or antagonize a class of society that could be relied upon for support, should it become necessary to buy it.The last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, when forced to flee the country in 1953, found great use in the jahels and laats of South Tehran when the coup organizers intent on restoring him to power (financed and organized by the CIA) hired a prominent and formerly pro-Mossadeq laat, Shaban Jafari, better known as Shaban Bimokh (Shaban the Brainless), to successfully lead a counter-uprising in the streets of Tehran, and mercilessly beat any anti-Shah demonstrators they came across. Using street savvy toughs rather than military gave the Shah the cover of populist sentiment in his favor, not to mention the convenience of violent reprisal perpetuated in his name, rather than directly by him and his forces.The laats and jahels came from the lower and therefore deeply religious strata of Iranian society and were strong believers in Islam themselves. But they were notorious drinkers and womanizers, not to mention involved in prostitution and drugs. The jahel code, at least they themselves believed, was one of ethics and justice. Shia ethics and the occasional sin would be repented for later, as is possible in Shia Islam. The code extended to their dress: black suits, white tieless shirts, and narrow-brimmed black fedoras perched at an angle on their heads. A cotton handkerchief was usually to be found in their hands as a sort of fetish, and the famous jahel dance in the cafes of working-class Tehran involved slow spinning movements with the handkerchief prominently waved in the air. Read more

Art Underground: Alissa Whelan

Posted on October 27, 2008

Voting

Posted on October 21, 2008

With less than two weeks until the election, many of you are yearning for a place to engage in candid conversation. You can visit the usual angry message boards, or you can try something thrillingly out of left field. You can pop the cork on a bottle of wine, smoke a j, and come hang out with us.

Our community is a digital coffeehouse—a place to discuss politics and entertainment, share art, books, travel recommendations, and much more. From now until November 4th, join the election conversation in our political section, Washington Jones.

Vote for your candidate of choice and debate the issues of the day. And the best part about our smaller community? Others will actually listen and thoughtfully respond to what you say. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?

Registration is absolutely free. Just click register and follow the very easy instructions. This is the biggest election of our lives—everybody has an opinion. Come share your thoughts. And while you’re at it, click on MyTunes, and whistle while you work. We now have more than 100 songs instantly available.

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I and the Universe

Posted on October 18, 2008

Medieval Astronomy, PraguePhoto by Amy Rollowww.amyrollo.com

Now

Posted on October 16, 2008

7

Posted on October 15, 2008

Happy days are here again, we just don’t know it yet. A depression could be just the thing to elevate our battered spirits. No more arguing whether the glass is half-empty or half-full. The glass is broken, ok? But press your nose into the shards and breathe in freedom’s air. The gloom-and-doomers might say otherwise, frighten us with their scary statistics—25% unemployment in 1932. But let’s be clear about the facts: Most experts are whiners. In the real America, Hannity’s part, they’ll shoot their supper with a musket and cook it on an open spit. (They’ve been practicing for years in Michigan.) And the rest of us will slowly adapt. There are many new industries ready to boom; jobs that not only will fill our pockets, but help us rebuild America into the greatest Chinese-owned nation in the world. Consider as alternatives:1. Dumpster Diving Instructor: The next big thing at The Learning Annex. Can you stylishly furnish public housing with garbage from a Detroit alley? Can you make a non-lethal five star brunch with discarded supermarket shrimp? Or maybe you’ve written a mapping program that pinpoints high concentrations of cans. An ideal job for unemployed brokers, dumpster divers are shrewd, resourceful, able to seize the moment, and experts at cooking meat on a stick.2. Soup Manufacturer: How high-tech has the world become? So much that we’re coming full circle. Soup, yes soup, could be the Mac of the 21st century. Just last week, analysts weren’t pushing Apple—they were pushing Campbell’s. At only eighty-nine cents for a can of hot, tomato-paste love, you couldn’t ask for a more cost-effective meal. Plus somebody has to make the gruel for the glut of soon-to-be-opening soup kitchens.3. Walmart Greeter: Admit it, you’re intrigued. You see them in their little vests, dead expression on their faces, as customers wander through like cattle, hour-after-hour. “Welcome to Walmart…Welcome to Walmart…Welcome to Walmart…” You get the picture. But what about the sunny side? This is a perfect job for actors, who are used to starving anyway. Don’t merely greet customers, offer them performance pieces! Or sharpen your character work at work. Before lunch, you’re Oscar, with a fervence for chihuahuas and The Passion of the Christ. After lunch, you’re Klaus, gay German Nihilist. “Velcome to Valmart…Velcome to Valmart.” Read more

Art Underground: John Hicks

Posted on October 13, 2008

Adam’s Vortex By John Hickswww.ahhdart.com

Walkabout Jones wants to feature artists of all kinds. Submit your paintings, graphic art, photography and drawings to “Art Underground” at walkaboutjones@gmail.com

When

Posted on October 10, 2008

The forbidden word is anarchy, though so far we’ve bitten our lips, and treated it in much the same vein as recession was whispered until now. “If we don’t say it, maybe it won’t happen. And if it does, god forbid, nobody will be able to say that we were the ones who did it.”If only such logic flew. If only we could be five again, and by putting our heads under the blankets, we could make the monsters disappear. But the monsters are going nowhere; these guys have wind at their backs to grow exponentially. How tenuous is the state of our union? We are one bullet in Barack Obama’s head away from a wave of violence like none we’ve seen since the Civil War. And beyond that, on a global level, such anarchy could lead to financial markets cratering, riots worldwide, the overthrow of governments by military juntas, and undemocratic powers like China and Russia stepping in to fill the void.Take it from a history major, things could get rough. Not only are we facing economic depression, but we’re tip-toeing on the fringes of a serious social breakdown. Worst case scenario? The collapse of the United States into a balkanized confederation of nations, similar to Europe. Doesn’t seem possible? Here’s why it could be.As we sit here, unhinged voices at McCain/Palin rallies are yelling “kill him” about Barack Obama. The Secret Service has begun investigating Republican campaign events, so angry has their tenor grown, and are doing so while neither McCain nor Palin do anything to diminish the uproar. The Republican ticket has apparently decided the only way to win the election is by making hundreds, if not thousands, of mentally unbalanced Americans violently angry with Obama. Not just crackpots, of course—they’re more of an unintended consequence. Even so, the message is directed to said-homicidal-voter’s swelling patriotism while inferring that Obama is a Manchurian candidate—a Hussein named, terrorist fist-bumping, secret stooge of Al Qaeda. While the vast majority of Republicans might view this as political theater, the insane tend to take such things more literally.John McCain doesn’t want Barack Obama shot, but he appears increasingly willing to play to the passions of poor, unstable Americans. Voters like Timothy Dale Johnson, a disgruntled Little Rock, Arkansas, man, who earlier this summer stormed Democratic Party headquarters and murdered state party chairman Bill Gwatney. Johnson, who worked maintenance at a local Target, blamed Gwatney and Democrats in general for having a bad job. Read more

Sharing: Thomas Friedman

Posted on October 5, 2008

The city of Tianjin, China, is home to many of China’s big automakers, and in September 2007, I was invited to speak at the China Green Car Congress there. Yes, China, which has been steadily improving its own auto mileage and pollution standards now holds a conference to talk about the latest in green-car technologies. Who knew? The venue was the Marriott in Tianjin and the audience was mostly Chinese auto industry executives—some pretty tough-looking car guys—who listened to my remarks, via translation on headphones. I thought hard and long beforehand about what to say to this group that might stimulate their thinking and give them a perspective they hadn’t heard before. In the end, I decided to go for the jugular. The basic thrust of my talk is as follows:“Every year I come to China and young Chinese tell me, ‘Mr. Friedman, you Americans got to grow dirty for 150 years, you got to have your Industrial Revolution based on coal and oil, now it is our turn.’ Well, on behalf of all Americans, I am here today to tell you that you’re right. It’s your turn. Please, take your time, grow as dirty as you like for as long as you like. Take your time! Please! Because I think my country needs only five years to invent all the clean power and energy efficiency tools that you, China, will need to avoid choking on pollution and then we are going to come over and sell them all to you. We will get at least a five-year jump on you in the next great global industry: clean power and energy efficiency. We will totally dominate you in those industries. So please, don’t rush, grow as dirty as you like for as long as you want. If you want to do it for five more years, that’s great. If you want to give us a ten-year lead on the next great global industry, that would be even better. Please, take your time.”At first, I could see a lot of these grizzled Chinese car guys adjusting their earpieces to make sure that they were hearing me right: “What the hell did he just say? America is going to clean our clock in the next great global industry? What industry is that?” But as I went on, I could also see some heads nodding and some wry smiles of recognition from those who got my point: Clean power is going to be the global standard over the next decade, and clean power tools are going to be the next great global industry, and the countries who make more of them, and sell more of them, will have a competitive advantage. Those countries will have both the cleanest air and the fastest-growing business—not a bad combination.That is the point I was trying to drive home in Tianjin, by making it into a competitive issue: The longer China focuses on getting its share from a world that no longer exists—a world in which people could use dirty fuels with impunity—and the longer it postpones imposing the policies, prices, and regulations on itself that will stimulate a clean power industry at scale, the happier I am as an American. Read more

Osaka Nights

Posted on October 3, 2008

VictoryPhoto by Aileen Nishimura

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