Cultural Shortcomings Locked in Stalemate

Indeed, economic concerns lower the "threshold of pain” in a society to a great extent. Economic distress is much more likely to cause social turmoil than other issues. One is much more likely to express dissatisfaction by a delayed wage or monthly handout than is so by an unreleased book, unconstructed museum or insufficient educational services. Generally, the first cries of pain are let out from economically injured throats; but this is not all.

Taking economic shortcomings as apparent social pains, there is this other kind of pain that leaves much deeper injuries that remain dormant for so long: cultural shortcomings. One may not hear cultural cries from time to time, but, for sure, they will not smell a pleasant odor; everything smells stale then.

Economy garlands the society's appearance while culture does the same with its interior; these two need to move abreast of each other to ensure public happiness and should any of these two lags behind, the society will limp off its normal track. Today, neither economy nor culture can be given superiority over the other; none follows the other one; none should be considered as major or minor. An unethical wealthy person is as worthless as an ethically-advantaged poor guy. Under robust management, no oil rig is more valued than a prolific writer.

We have only one choice to grasp social happiness: produce; produce economic and cultural goods as much as we can. It is a known fact, however, that the path to perfection is rife with bumps specific to every society with its inherent historical, geographical and public specificities, and our society [Iran] is no exception. I would like to mention two of these bumps; one is the immensity of the central government which practices power in the country. The expansive presence of the government leads to irrational expectations on the part of the people from the government; where the government is viewed as the know-all and care-about-all, everything needs to happen with the government playing a major part in it; it does not matter if the thing is about foreign policy or marriage. It is the government that should care about everything and worry about all expenses. Expectations rise as much as the government grows and expands. The first offshoot of such immensity is that individual innovations flare off, leading to productions being spared.

Ethnocentricity is the other fact that prevents the society to focus on positive progress and production. The prevalence of ethnocentricity has long been the case in our country. This kind of ruling brings about this inference in the society that rulers belong to a species superior to ordinary people. The Islamic Revolution successfully managed to alter the 3000-year-old ruling order in Iran but did not have the same impact on ethnic groups in the country. Scraping off a way of thinking as old as 3,000 years is no easy task. The result of ethnocentricity is making the interests of the ethnic group a priority over national interests. No production is expected of such limited, self-oriented way of thinking, because benefits, whether spiritual or material, are sorted out to a select few who happen to be close to the winning part, rather than the whole nation.

The train of production and thinking is not stationary by any accounts in our country, but if we listen well and smell in the right direction, we shall hear cries of economic pains and sense the stale odor of cultural shortcomings. The massive wealth Iran enjoys, however, does herald social happiness in the country which can be realized by the growth of production that will function like a remedy for the hidden economic and cultural wounds of the nation.

Who may have a better wish in the New Year?

Hedayatollah Behboudi
Translated by Abbas Hajihashemi