The vase on the right creates cognitive dissonance for me. It is ostensibly a Persian vase from the 1600's passed on to me by my mother who got it from her aunt.
To me it is a beautiful vase and a sign of high-tech culture. I have also seen a continuous line of brilliant Persian art from the 400 CE until the 16th century.
In my mind it is hard to reconcile this extraordinary cultural development with modern Iran that is incapable of turning oil into gasoline, Iran sells oil and buys gasoline. It can’t build oil refineries. It is a society that cannot build a bicycle for export but claims it can make nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles.
I just don't understand what is going on. Persions are not Arabs. Arabs I can understand because I have known many and they absolutely cannot fit into the modern world of technology. Persians on the other hand seem to do quite well in fitting into modern technology.
It cannot be Islam alone as the problem. Arabs and Persians are Muslims. It could be an Islamic state that creates the problem. Under the Shah, when I visited Tehran, there seemed to be a modern society evolving. It stopped and the people who had evolved may have moved to other countries, including Los Angeles..
It was a Persian who, until George W Bush arrived, was the best friend the Jews ever had, King Cyrus. Today the loudmouths out of Iran are spewing Zyklon B (Jew hatred). I also know that they have not killed the few thousand remaining Jews in the original home of the Persian Jews: Isfahan.
What will reconcile my cognitive dissonance? Is Iran a state of idiot incompetents, or the heir to the great Persian Empire?