Speaker 1: Our friend armand Hello, Hi?
Speaker 2: Who is this?
Speaker 1: Hi? Hi?
Speaker 3: This is armand Armand what's up?
Speaker 2: Armand?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I'm good? How are you?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, not too bad?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 2: What what is it that brings you into my Gecko
Speaker 2: show today?
Speaker 1: Uh? So I did say I'm good, but I'm mentioning
Speaker 1: that feel too good? Uh, I don't know. I tink
Speaker 1: to you a couple of times. I a'my lng.
Speaker 2: In and your Iranian?
Speaker 1: Yes, m And I don't know if you have seen
Speaker 1: anything in the news, but for the past uh, for
Speaker 1: the past week, there's been an internet shutdown in Milan,
Speaker 1: so we shuldn't really hear anything from me. Ran. Well,
Speaker 1: there's there's a few things here and there. People are
Speaker 1: trying to, you know, make their voices heard. But it's
Speaker 1: it's been very difficult, and I've been doing a little
Speaker 1: stress and and I thought maybe I should call in,
Speaker 1: try calling in and see uh it should be interested
Speaker 1: in hearing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, definitely. So Okay, So you're you're Iranian? And
Speaker 2: where do you live right now? Because you're not You're
Speaker 2: not there.
Speaker 1: I'm not there, you know, I'm im in. I'm living
Speaker 1: I'm living in Toronto. But I had the time living
Speaker 1: in Okay.
Speaker 2: Did you live there for a bit?
Speaker 1: I did. Yeah, I lived there until I was twenty four,
Speaker 1: until you were twenty four. Yeah that was that was
Speaker 1: a few years ago. Yeah. I did grow up there,
Speaker 1: So I know what the government is by, I know
Speaker 1: what the people are like, and I know that you know,
Speaker 1: everyone had their biases. But I want to try and
Speaker 1: give you one non partisan of whatever you would call it.
Speaker 2: You sure, sure, but I just I want to just
Speaker 2: get a profile of you first.
Speaker 1: Sure.
Speaker 2: So Okay, So three years ago you moved from Iran
Speaker 2: to Toronto. And so what you're like twenty seven?
Speaker 1: Not two years ago? About six seven years ago? Uh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I moved out.
Speaker 2: Okay? Cool? And what made you want to move from
Speaker 2: Iran to Toronto?
Speaker 1: Uh well, A big part of it was the economic
Speaker 1: situation alone, and uh the general state of things. I
Speaker 1: just didn't think that this dre anymore.
Speaker 3: Mm hm.
Speaker 2: You were in were you in Tehrant?
Speaker 1: Yes? Yeah?
Speaker 2: And did you move to Toronto? Did you move to
Speaker 2: Toronto with anyone or did you come here completely alone?
Speaker 1: No? No, I moved to Montreal and I was in
Speaker 1: Montreal for a while and then I moved to Tolano.
Speaker 1: I would be okay staring more information, but just so
Speaker 1: you know that your own region is it is a
Speaker 1: big stat of check. I'm not here to just send
Speaker 1: political messages or anything, but uh, it is difficult for
Speaker 1: people to talk, and a lot of people still refuse
Speaker 1: to voice their opinions and their rage even because they
Speaker 1: they don't want to be what do you call it
Speaker 1: talks whatever. They don't want the reason to know, even
Speaker 1: if they are outside.
Speaker 2: Of you on I I listen, I I I definitely
Speaker 2: have more questions about Iran itself, but I still want
Speaker 2: to know. You've been living in Toronto for uh? They
Speaker 2: said about six years?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: And how how has it been? How has the experience
Speaker 2: there been compared to your experience in Iran?
Speaker 1: Well, and it's very different. I don't know where to start, okay,
Speaker 1: just to describe what my experience was right before I
Speaker 1: moved out of Iran, I was I was going around
Speaker 1: talking to people, you know, just living a normal life
Speaker 1: as the average Iranian would. Two. I wasn't the political person.
Speaker 1: I still don't consider myself a very politically active person.
Speaker 1: But but just how life was in Neuron was that
Speaker 1: the value of their ruanium currency kept dropping day by day,
Speaker 1: week by week, months by months, kept getting worse and worse.
Speaker 1: And there's something you can check online. So I don't
Speaker 1: want to get too in through it, but just to
Speaker 1: describe to you what the situation was, I would be
Speaker 1: talking to someone and they would they would tell me
Speaker 1: that it doesn't make sense for them to work anymore
Speaker 1: because they wouldn't have enough money to get to their workplace,
Speaker 1: so it wouldn't make sense for them to work anymore.
Speaker 1: And this was back when I was in Iran. This
Speaker 1: was mostly two colored people, but more recently it has
Speaker 1: been everybody. So it doesn't make sense for a white
Speaker 1: collar worker to go to their office because that doesn't
Speaker 1: pay you for the cab right there or whatever the
Speaker 1: gas to get to their office. So that was one
Speaker 1: big thing that that I don't living here. You know,
Speaker 1: my situation isn't great, but at least I don't have
Speaker 1: to worry about the value of my currency dropping every day,
Speaker 1: and and even just not being able to afford anything.
Speaker 1: At this point, it got to a point that people
Speaker 1: can't afford food anymore, and they can't bring food home
Speaker 1: to their children. And this is true for again like
Speaker 1: white collar wouldens at this point, So I'm just trying
Speaker 1: to Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2: So h so six years ago, i've when you made
Speaker 2: the decision to go to Canada? Do you save up
Speaker 2: money to get there?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: How how did you get there?
Speaker 1: Uh? Be perfectly honest, I had my family support and
Speaker 1: I I consider myself somewhat privileged in that my family,
Speaker 1: I'm rich, but they could afford helping me get out
Speaker 1: of you and I am very grateful to them for that.
Speaker 2: And he said that, I'm sorry. I know I asked
Speaker 2: you this there and maybe I just fucking missed the answer.
Speaker 2: But did they Did you go alone? Did you go
Speaker 2: with family? Do you have any friends come with you?
Speaker 1: I came alone. I had I had relatives in Montreal,
Speaker 1: but I did. I did.
Speaker 2: And so when you first got to Toronto, what what
Speaker 2: were you doing for work?
Speaker 1: So? While I was in Montreal, I couldn't work because
Speaker 1: I was on I could only work part time because
Speaker 1: I was on a student visa basically a student work
Speaker 1: permit or a student I studied permit and I could
Speaker 1: only work part time. I was working at a Southway
Speaker 1: the past food. Uh that was that was Montreal. And
Speaker 1: then when I got here. I was already because I
Speaker 1: was studying in Montreal. So when I got to Toronto,
Speaker 1: I started applying and I found my job, and I'm
Speaker 1: doing okay. Now, Toronto was very expensive, and I'm not
Speaker 1: making amble of money, but I'm compared to what's going
Speaker 1: on in you and what I could be doing if
Speaker 1: I were back home. Honestly, I think if I were
Speaker 1: back home, i'd be unemployed at this one. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm doing a lot there.
Speaker 2: Did you mention what Liz you're doing for work in Toronto?
Speaker 1: I didn't, And I don't know if I'm comfortable saying
Speaker 1: all of this. I don't know. Is that okay if I.
Speaker 2: Don't of course, yeah, of course, of course.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know, Yeah, yeah, of course, Sorr. I was
Speaker 2: gonna say, I don't know what it would look like
Speaker 2: if it wasn't okay, you know what I mean, I
Speaker 2: wouldn't I wouldn't hang up on you. There's many other
Speaker 2: things I want to talk to you about. So so
Speaker 2: your mom and dad and siblings. Who's who's in Iran
Speaker 2: right now?
Speaker 1: I don't know how I should say. Again, I I
Speaker 1: think this might get out and I don't know some
Speaker 1: of this might be just mean being paranoid.
Speaker 2: I don't know, how what do you what are you
Speaker 2: paranoid about?
Speaker 1: So I don't know if you heard. But what I
Speaker 1: can say for certain based on everything I'm hearing from
Speaker 1: Iran and people have talk to firsthand who have been
Speaker 1: able to get in touch good family in Iran, which
Speaker 1: is very difficult right now, is that thousands of people
Speaker 1: have died and there's a care few and uh, there's
Speaker 1: basically Marshall State, you know. I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: the correct straying, but there is a martial law. Martial law, yeah,
Speaker 1: and and there's there's just no discrimination that people are
Speaker 1: people are being shot at it if if they're outside,
Speaker 1: it's just well being not doing anything in groups. And
Speaker 1: it is very scary. And I just don't know, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to get anyone in trouble directly. Uh
Speaker 1: and uh, I think I think that I just don't.
Speaker 1: I just don't know if me saying anything out of
Speaker 1: mind could lead to somebody ah getting harmed in any way,
Speaker 1: but I don't want to do that.
Speaker 2: I am listen, you don't have to say anything you
Speaker 2: don't want to say. I'm I'm pretty sure the Iranian
Speaker 2: government is not listening to the Therapy Echo podcast. But
Speaker 2: you still don't have to You can do whatever you want.
Speaker 2: But I still have questions for you. So, I mean,
Speaker 2: regardless of the specifics of who you know, have you
Speaker 2: been able to get in touch with the people that
Speaker 2: you you you do know there?
Speaker 1: So the last message I got personally was Thursday, Thursday
Speaker 1: last week, so it's been a week since I heard anything.
Speaker 1: I lost messages for people, but they haven't been delivered. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I don't know what's happening on the other end,
Speaker 1: so I have no idea of my family there or
Speaker 1: even safe. I heard something from one of my aunts
Speaker 1: who lives in the US. She told me that she
Speaker 1: contacted a friend of hers and they contacted my family
Speaker 1: members and they said that they were okay. But I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't I don't have any specifics. And
Speaker 1: it's been a week since I heard anything from my
Speaker 1: my family members there. The calling there, I left no message.
Speaker 1: I tried calling. My calls don't go to Some people
Speaker 1: say that they have had calls coming out of Iran.
Speaker 1: So people you know, I means, who are outside your
Speaker 1: room right now, got calls from inside Iran, but they
Speaker 1: couldn't call back. They couldn't call they couldn't make any
Speaker 1: calls to Iran. And that's been a situation called about
Speaker 1: a week now and there's been a total internet blackout.
Speaker 1: There are a few people getting some stuff out with starlink.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember all that Elon Musk
Speaker 1: starlink mom. I have no idea how they work, but
Speaker 1: apparently some of those got into yourn and people have
Speaker 1: been using that very sparingly. Like the amount of information
Speaker 1: that's coming out of Yon is very very little, and
Speaker 1: all day run in people that I had been in
Speaker 1: contact with, people I you know, people I grew up with,
Speaker 1: people I knew from school. They're completely silent this past
Speaker 1: week because they can't make their words or they don't
Speaker 1: have access to the internet.
Speaker 2: M So, so you said that there's been Okay, So
Speaker 2: I've I've been reading the news a little bit and
Speaker 2: I'm gonna summarize what my understanding is of what's going on,
Speaker 2: and then uh, you can help me fill in these
Speaker 2: these gaps. So basically, my understanding is that these widespread
Speaker 2: protests going on in Iran, UH and the government is
Speaker 2: cracking down on those protesters and as and it's what
Speaker 2: you just said is freaky about they're not making a
Speaker 2: distinction between protesters and people just stand in the fuck around,
Speaker 2: which is which is spooky. Uh why well okay, why.
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 2: Why why are why are people protesting? And also like
Speaker 2: why why is why are they protesting now?
Speaker 1: So just to be clear there, I've been protests going
Speaker 1: on for quite a while now. I wish I was
Speaker 1: a little more educated on these matters. I know. The
Speaker 1: latest products in Iran huber In the latest bigger protests
Speaker 1: in Iran that became international news were in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two and twenty three about Masmini protests and that was
Speaker 1: the woman Wife's freedom progress and again thousands of people
Speaker 1: died in those protests, a lot of people were arrested.
Speaker 1: That again the internet was shot down before that. I
Speaker 1: was in twenty nineteen there were massive protests in on
Speaker 1: because the regime, as they say, by mistake, they are
Speaker 1: shut down a plane, a passenger plane in Tyhran and
Speaker 1: people came industry. They were massive protests and that was
Speaker 1: the first huge internet shutdown back in twenty nineteen. So
Speaker 1: these products have been going on for years. But to
Speaker 1: anserior plush specifically, right now, people are set up with
Speaker 1: a lot of things. They won't freedom, they want their
Speaker 1: voices heard, they want basic civil rights, human rights that
Speaker 1: they've been deprived of. But it's got two points where
Speaker 1: people don't have a choice anymore because the majority of
Speaker 1: people are so poor that they can't afford very basic
Speaker 1: food food stuff like they can't afford eggs, they can't
Speaker 1: afford a regular on a regular income, you can't afford
Speaker 1: eggs or tuna for your family. You can afford the
Speaker 1: basy vegetable stream. And that's just food. I'm not talking
Speaker 1: about the price of gas or your rent or whatever.
Speaker 1: So this is this is a huge This is a
Speaker 1: huge issue for the Iranian people, especially because when when
Speaker 1: I was living in your this wasn't a situation. You know,
Speaker 1: there was some poverty, but it wasn't so widespread. I
Speaker 1: can't put a number to it. I can't put a
Speaker 1: percentage it, but I know that at this point, at
Speaker 1: least judging by something that hurt from the Onion government themselves,
Speaker 1: at least like eighty percent of the people are in poverty.
Speaker 1: So the thing is they don't have a choice anymore
Speaker 1: because if they stay home at the end of the month,
Speaker 1: they're still gonna perish at this point. So it is
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is being setting the news,
Speaker 1: but they run and people really don't have a choice anymore.
Speaker 1: They're they're fighting for their survival, not for not for
Speaker 1: anything else. You know, I hear a lot of people
Speaker 1: saying that they're being incited by the West or employe
Speaker 1: Asrall or whoever.
Speaker 3: I what what is what?
Speaker 2: What is the what is the argument that they're being
Speaker 2: Who's arguing that they're being incited by the West?
Speaker 1: Well, I don't know, man, I've been reading too much
Speaker 1: news honestly, whole past week of my phone, non stuff,
Speaker 1: and uh, I just see a lot of triggering stuff. Uh,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know if it's just rage
Speaker 1: faid or you know, there there is propaganda coming out
Speaker 1: of ground. There is a lot of propaganda coming out
Speaker 1: of your own And I was just talking to my girlfriend,
Speaker 1: like my dad, she said something that you know, it
Speaker 1: was her opinion. They come because she's about Iranian and
Speaker 1: these weren't her opinions based on what she had heard
Speaker 1: in the news and other political abouts and whatnot.
Speaker 2: And what was her opinion.
Speaker 1: So there were a couple of points that she made
Speaker 1: that Ah, sorry, I'm not blanking all a little bit.
Speaker 1: But one thing I remember specifically was the Balcanization of Iran.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're familiar with the concept, but
Speaker 1: basically she was saying, Iran is going to be broken
Speaker 1: into different states if there's if there's the Western basically,
Speaker 1: if there's Western people coming and messing with the situation.
Speaker 2: Oh in West Western. Okay, So you're saying that Iran,
Speaker 2: your girlfriend thinks Iran is gonna split into two uh
Speaker 2: different states if the West comes in and intervenes with
Speaker 2: what's going on. Yeah, and then what I assume I
Speaker 2: assume I assume would it be one state, uh whatever
Speaker 2: proxy governed by the West versus the one state that's
Speaker 2: ran by the regime.
Speaker 1: So specifically, specifically, what I what I heard when I
Speaker 1: was living in Iran, when I was going up in
Speaker 1: Iran over and over again, was that if there's Western
Speaker 1: into once Ian intergration, if there is a war, if
Speaker 1: there is unrest, there's going to be abouganization of Iran
Speaker 1: and a separation of all the different states of Jan
Speaker 1: and there's going to be actually more than a few states,
Speaker 1: so the Courtish part of Iran. This is by the way,
Speaker 1: not true at all. I just at least I'm not
Speaker 1: I'm not a prophet, you know, I'm not a I
Speaker 1: can't say for certain that this is definitely not going
Speaker 1: to happen. But judging by how this was the Iranian
Speaker 1: regimes propaganda all all of my childhood and adulthood, I
Speaker 1: know that this is something that they've drummed up and
Speaker 1: this is their opinion, and this is what they're steaking to.
Speaker 1: So there's definitely something in it for them. And they
Speaker 1: believe that Kurdistan is going to get separated from your on,
Speaker 1: which is the western western part of Iran.
Speaker 2: So it's the so you believe it's the current regimes
Speaker 2: desire to have Iran split into multiple states.
Speaker 1: No, but that is there. That is something they're using
Speaker 1: as leverage. That is their propaganda. For lack of very words,
Speaker 1: that is that, that is their instruments. That is one
Speaker 1: of their instruments of terror, because that's what they keep
Speaker 1: telling people whenever there is civil unrest in Iran. They
Speaker 1: keep telling people all these people are Westerners. They're paid
Speaker 1: by the US, They're paid by outside forces and uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: there are trying to.
Speaker 2: So it's being it's it's used as a propaganda tool
Speaker 2: where the regime is like trying to convince people that
Speaker 2: the protesters are uh. The regime wants people to know, uh,
Speaker 2: wants people to think that the protesters are like Western
Speaker 2: actors attempting to split the state.
Speaker 1: Exactly. Yes, yes, And this is may I say, I
Speaker 1: I know there are different political side than everything. This
Speaker 1: was my experience growing up in Iran. And I can
Speaker 1: I can prove it that. You know, there's so much
Speaker 1: evidence out there that this is the Iranian the Islamic
Speaker 1: Republics stands on the civil long rest in Iran.
Speaker 2: So how long has the regime? How long has this
Speaker 2: current regime been in power?
Speaker 1: For it for forty seven years, has been in power
Speaker 1: for forty seven years.
Speaker 3: It's a slave guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's the Islamic Revolution back in nineteen seventy nine.
Speaker 1: The government of Iran has been the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Speaker 1: and that is what they call the country now. And
Speaker 1: just because you said the same guy, there is a
Speaker 1: sort of full election process. There is false democracy, if
Speaker 1: not an actual democracy. It happens in a lot of
Speaker 1: places in the Middle East and in other places in
Speaker 1: the world as well as well. But in in its
Speaker 1: core there is one one political group and uh it's
Speaker 1: one person at the top, and there there is a
Speaker 1: system of oligarchy.
Speaker 2: But uh wait, so what's the who's the who's the
Speaker 2: one person I'm looking right now, massued Uh yeah, so
Speaker 2: is he like the guy or is he like a
Speaker 2: puppet for a different guy who actually has the power.
Speaker 1: So the mass which as is is a pupp is,
Speaker 1: as you said, a puppet. I don't want to use
Speaker 1: very strong words here, but he is quote unquote the
Speaker 1: alexa president of your own at the moment, he is not.
Speaker 1: He is not a very important figure. Uh the most
Speaker 1: important figure in the country right now is uh say
Speaker 1: as many oh.
Speaker 2: I say, here you go that yeah, okay, So he's
Speaker 2: the Okay, he's a supreme lead. He's a supreme leader
Speaker 2: of ira Yes since uh oh ship Okay, he's the
Speaker 2: longest serving head of state in the entire Middle East.
Speaker 2: That's crazy, Yes, forty seven years, I mean eighty six.
Speaker 1: He is barely alive, honestly, but this is this is
Speaker 1: the person who took it, took the reins after the
Speaker 1: death of the Test of Harmony, So technically not forty
Speaker 1: seven years because the revolution got started by another figure,
Speaker 1: but uh how many came right afterwards?
Speaker 2: So is so uh m hmm, what do you think?
Speaker 2: What do you think? I think this is very interesting.
Speaker 2: I don't usually don't know, you know, I don't talk
Speaker 2: a lot about politics on this podcast, but I but like,
Speaker 2: as a on an individual level, I'm like very fascinated
Speaker 2: in them. And and you know, American politics two And
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't know if we have I don't
Speaker 2: know if Americans have the U, if we if we'll
Speaker 2: if we're going to really be able to do that,
Speaker 2: you know, like in the way like where you got
Speaker 2: Like I feel like in other countries when they just
Speaker 2: have like a fucked up government, like they really they
Speaker 2: really go at it. But I think you gotta be
Speaker 2: It makes sense. It makes sense that like true revolutions
Speaker 2: are primarily happening when people like literally just have no
Speaker 2: other option, like it's pure survival. Maybe maybe America like
Speaker 2: we're still maybe we're still too comfortable, I mean, especially
Speaker 2: compared to other countries to ever like you know, and
Speaker 2: we're too big for us to ever do like a crazy, uh,
Speaker 2: full scale revolution the way that other countries have.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know. Yeah, I'm gonna be honest.
Speaker 1: When I called you, I wanted to just say as
Speaker 1: much as I can about to prow this happening in
Speaker 1: your and I'm the guy had you started with the
Speaker 1: basics and you know, trying to understand what the situation,
Speaker 1: and then it's very perceptive of you to say that
Speaker 1: you can't really connect with it that deeply. And I'm
Speaker 1: genuinely good I've had you fill that with because growing
Speaker 1: up in a totalitarian state is an awful, awful thing
Speaker 1: and I wouldn't lose it on anybody, And just about
Speaker 1: the US itself, I don't want to quote, I don't
Speaker 1: want to get anybody Quoteah.
Speaker 2: We're here, we're here, we're here, let's do it say whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't personally, I don't consider myself a left,
Speaker 1: but a lot of my ideas, a lot of the
Speaker 1: things I stand for are left leaning at least as
Speaker 1: or as the US political left goes. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: I I'm trying to make a cohesive comment here. But
Speaker 1: I just think the US political left has nothing to do.
Speaker 1: That's that's the wrong way putting it, It has no
Speaker 1: equivalent in Iran. Like, there's no no, there's nothing that
Speaker 1: I can point to in your own and say, oh,
Speaker 1: this is somehow reminding me of the political agenda.
Speaker 2: Don't you really I would? There's not even there's no
Speaker 2: like I mean, are there not even any fringe movements
Speaker 2: in Iran that are you think are similar?
Speaker 1: So you talked about the president of Iran and a
Speaker 1: few nuts back, this guy is actually called a reformists.
Speaker 1: So the are two, yes, yeah, there are two, at
Speaker 1: least on paper, there are two political groups in Iran.
Speaker 1: There's not really any divides. There's only one Islamic group,
Speaker 1: and he is of the reformist group. These are these
Speaker 1: people are supposed to be the political left in Iran.
Speaker 1: But the fact of the marry is that all these
Speaker 1: protests that happened, the protest that is happening right now,
Speaker 1: the protests that happened in back in thirteen eighty eight. Paly,
Speaker 1: I'm using because we use a different calendar system, So
Speaker 1: thirteen eighty eight have been four and sixteen years ago.
Speaker 1: The protest that happened then there under reformist government quote unquote,
Speaker 1: a lot of people got killed and a lot of
Speaker 1: people got arrested. So there is there's really no real
Speaker 1: political left in me wrong, there is no there is
Speaker 1: no opposition to be honest, and there are people outside
Speaker 1: of youran that sort of take on that mantle. But again,
Speaker 1: I don't want to get tuned to the politics of it.
Speaker 1: I don't want to bore your audience. I would rather
Speaker 1: people no.
Speaker 2: I yeah, Well, actually it's funny you call because I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm very lately becoming on a personal level more interested
Speaker 2: in geo politics after like, you know, fucking traveling and uh,
Speaker 2: traveling to Iraq. I'm gonna, I'm gonna. I don't know,
Speaker 2: I haven't I haven't talked about this on the podcast,
Speaker 2: but I'm going to Ukraine in four days to make
Speaker 2: a video there, so I don't And I've also just
Speaker 2: been thinking about fucking America, been thinking about I talked
Speaker 2: to Gemini about Israel and Palestine for like six hours
Speaker 2: the other day, so I've just been I've been thinking
Speaker 2: about a lot of this ship. What's it going to say? Oh, yes, oh,
Speaker 2: I was gonna bring this up. There's this there's this TikTok,
Speaker 2: this video that I don't know if it's the same
Speaker 2: video if it's a bunch of different videos, but it's
Speaker 2: going around and it's of these like younger teens in uh,
Speaker 2: I think in Tehran who are like putting on like
Speaker 2: a I if I think I'm correct that they're putting
Speaker 2: on like a punk concert and like nobody's wearing a
Speaker 2: hit job, and it's very like, uh, you know, like
Speaker 2: this this like punk rock kind of informal thing happening
Speaker 2: on the streets. If you've seen the video and that's
Speaker 2: not what this is. It's something like that. I don't
Speaker 2: know the exact thing, but okay, you've seen it, Okay,
Speaker 2: And then a bunch of people are like, bro, does
Speaker 2: secular mean religious or non religious? So if you say
Speaker 2: something as non secular, that means it's not religious, right.
Speaker 1: So sexually, my understanding of it is, and if I'm wrong,
Speaker 1: I don't want to chats right now or way.
Speaker 3: I can google this, okay, hold on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my understanding of it is it's a state where
Speaker 1: religion and politics are separate.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, So ira so okay, basically okay, So
Speaker 2: that would mean people in the comments are saying that
Speaker 2: Iran is slowly becoming more secular. Do you think that's
Speaker 2: do you think that's true? And do you think do
Speaker 2: you think that like we're looking at like the future
Speaker 2: of the country, do you think that like it will
Speaker 2: it will become like slowly over generations more secular, or
Speaker 2: do you think that like, uh, like regimes and people
Speaker 2: in power are going to like shut that down.
Speaker 1: So just to speak to the people in the chat,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm not sure I'm being a little technologically
Speaker 1: illiterate because I can't see your chat right now, but uh,
Speaker 1: for the people in your chat to be perfectly almost
Speaker 1: with you, and uh, I mean, I don't I don't
Speaker 1: want this to get misconstrued. But since twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: when the Mason MiQ photests happened, because a big, a
Speaker 1: large focus of those photos was the mandatory h job laws.
Speaker 1: So they wanted they wanted to make it so that
Speaker 1: people could wear whatever they want, uh m hm, for
Speaker 1: women not specifically not to have to wear a job.
Speaker 1: So that was what happened in twenty twenty two and
Speaker 1: to government twenty three. There are other civil rights issues
Speaker 1: that the people were fighting for, but that was a
Speaker 1: large focus then and since then, since then, the government
Speaker 1: has been has been trying to let go of those
Speaker 1: laws a little bit. It has been, it has become
Speaker 1: it has become a little more lax on those laws.
Speaker 1: And the reason for that is the government, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: and this is this, that is my opinion, the government
Speaker 1: is trying to buy itself more time by appealing to
Speaker 1: the general population of your on and people.
Speaker 2: You think it's a four dy chess move of like
Speaker 2: we'll give a few, well, well it will sprinkle a
Speaker 2: little bit of secularism here, buyer sells more time to
Speaker 2: like to take it all away. Is that what you're saying.
Speaker 1: Pretty much? Yes, But what I also what I'm also
Speaker 1: saying is that so so for the people in Iran,
Speaker 1: if not that they've been given the specific rights, maybe
Speaker 1: some people feel like they've they've made some headway and
Speaker 1: it's a bargain of sorts and the government is trying
Speaker 1: to sort of pay them off by giving them these
Speaker 1: specific freedom. But first of all, the laws are still
Speaker 1: that a job is mandatory in Iran, it's just not
Speaker 1: being forced as much as before. So that's one thing.
Speaker 1: And also when you have people without his job going
Speaker 1: around in Iran. You can take videos of that and
Speaker 1: send it, send it too far, impressed and tell them
Speaker 1: all you're on is free. You're on is like Lebanon run,
Speaker 1: like the U A E. It's like Dubai. People are having,
Speaker 1: you know, the time of their lives. That is certainly
Speaker 1: not the case. And uh for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: you know, people are still getting you know, arrest. That's
Speaker 1: for not having his job. It's just not happening as
Speaker 1: much as before.
Speaker 2: Mm hmmm mm hmm h what's your name again?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 2: My name is Armah Ahmed armand ar armand armand Arma,
Speaker 2: armand armand and yes, how you how you feel in armand.
Speaker 1: Frankly, I'm I'm very hired. I uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: haven't had a call any week from many one inside
Speaker 1: you on so uh at this point because some other people,
Speaker 1: I don't know if everybody has had called some of
Speaker 1: the people have talked to you and whatever day I've
Speaker 1: had calls from you on. So now that I haven't
Speaker 1: been in contacted by anybody on wondering if somebody has
Speaker 1: died and they are not calling me because if they do,
Speaker 1: they would have to go ah, and that is very
Speaker 1: difficult and uh, well a lot of scary stuff is
Speaker 1: also happened there, so mm hmmm, it just uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I've just been very tired that I've been eating the
Speaker 1: needs and I've been trying to you know, be active
Speaker 1: on social media. That there's nothing else I can do,
Speaker 1: and uh, I just wanted to get on here and
Speaker 1: talk to people because maybe you haven't had maybe you
Speaker 1: haven't seen a lot of publical views online, but you
Speaker 1: might see it in the future. And I just warned
Speaker 1: people to know that there are lives that's taking here on.
Speaker 1: There are people who are suffering, and I feel like
Speaker 1: this is the least I can do two to just
Speaker 1: tell people what's going on and whatever, what are political
Speaker 1: stuff is going on out there. The people are still
Speaker 1: you know, they're suffering, they're dying, they're getting arrested, they're
Speaker 1: having their basic human rights pummeled, and I I just
Speaker 1: wish I could do more. Uh h yeah, I am,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I did you want to ask something else?
Speaker 1: I really want to talk as much as possible because
Speaker 1: I think I feel like I have a I have
Speaker 1: a duty, you know. I uh, I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: I'm sure you guys have heard of like survivor's guilt
Speaker 1: I feel a little bit of survivors guilt, and I
Speaker 1: have been feeling that for since I moved to Canada,
Speaker 1: because uh, I have been in contact with people on
Speaker 1: your own and a lot of them are doing it very,
Speaker 1: very poorly. And uh uh that could be me. You know,
Speaker 1: I could tell myself that could be and it could
Speaker 1: be me who's unemployed. It could be me who's who
Speaker 1: can't afford anything. It could be me who who dreams
Speaker 1: about having a car or even phone. It could be
Speaker 1: me there and now, it could be me fighting for
Speaker 1: my life, fighting for food, and uh, things like these
Speaker 1: don't know any public and you know, when people are hungry,
Speaker 1: that's that's the end of the line. And I think
Speaker 1: it's very important from you to the goals of my people.
Speaker 1: And I just wish I was more elocal, and I
Speaker 1: wish I was more politically savvy. I wish I knew more.
Speaker 1: I wish I studied more so that I could say more, well,
Speaker 1: I know, well.
Speaker 2: I'm in you, but you well, it's you know, it's
Speaker 2: funny to me because that you say It's funny to
Speaker 2: me that you say that because and this is kind
Speaker 2: of this is my uh you know, I like kind
Speaker 2: of approaching these conversations through the lens of like who
Speaker 2: are you right? Because I was like asking you more
Speaker 2: questions about yourself earlier and you were like, well, I
Speaker 2: would I want to you know, more talk about h
Speaker 2: you know, kind of uh broader political issues.
Speaker 3: But to me, I I think.
Speaker 2: You know, your your knowledge of a specific thing is
Speaker 2: is less is I will say to me, what's more
Speaker 2: powerful is just you as a person and your feelings
Speaker 2: and your your lived experience and and so I think
Speaker 2: you're sending a really strong message to people just simply
Speaker 2: through your lived experience, you know, regardless of political savviness,
Speaker 2: your your you know, you you lived there for twenty
Speaker 2: four years and you saw things that you can talk about,
Speaker 2: not you know, filtered through uh a journalist or a
Speaker 2: social media post or a text message. So you know,
Speaker 2: to me, your just sharing of your lived experience is
Speaker 2: I think a lot more powerful than you having some
Speaker 2: kind of uh savviness over the complex information in regarding
Speaker 2: any kind of geo geopolitical issue and uh, you know,
Speaker 2: before we go, I I I appreciate you sharing all
Speaker 2: of this stuff with us. And I'm I'm I'm, I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm seriously praying for you and for your family, and
Speaker 2: you know it's also thanks for coming, Thanks for coming
Speaker 2: to my dumb show to talk to talk about all
Speaker 2: of this stuff. I really, you know, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Can I just say, okay, I know your time is
Speaker 1: on school valuable and I don't want to go ahead
Speaker 1: get into too much. But by the way, if you're
Speaker 1: interested in how I was living there on and I
Speaker 1: could talk about that, but I don't want to. I
Speaker 1: don't want to drag this on forever. I can talk
Speaker 1: about my childhood, and there's a lot of When I
Speaker 1: talk about my childhood, people listen then are fascinated, whether
Speaker 1: in a good way or bad way. Definitely in a
Speaker 1: bad way. But I can talk about my childhood if
Speaker 1: you're interested. But just getting on the show, I want
Speaker 1: to make this clear. I know a lot of people
Speaker 1: from all different sorts of political ideas. They listen to
Speaker 1: your show, you know, really left, right, whatever, listen to
Speaker 1: your show, and you talk to something very personal and human.
Speaker 1: And I was sure that if I get on your show,
Speaker 1: you would ask questions that were the right questions. And
Speaker 1: I feel like you have to show and again, I
Speaker 1: don't know I'm not gonna, you know, have a show
Speaker 1: call on your podcast or whatever, but if you did
Speaker 1: want to hear more about my childhood, I'm willing to
Speaker 1: talk about it. I think it would be important let
Speaker 1: people know about it too. I don't know, it's not
Speaker 1: it's okay.
Speaker 3: Any stick mm hmm, yeah, do you want to.
Speaker 1: Yes? So yeah, And I don't want to use two
Speaker 1: strong language, but okay. I remember when I was when
Speaker 1: I started going to school. Uh. And this is true
Speaker 1: of schools all true Iran. First of all, it's a boys'
Speaker 1: school and girls' schools. There's no co education unless it's
Speaker 1: in a very small village somewhere. And it just doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense to have two classrooms because you know, there's
Speaker 1: there's just one teacher and he's trying to teach like
Speaker 1: multiple multiple levels. But generally, like in Tehran, all the
Speaker 1: schools are segregated by I don't know if that's the
Speaker 1: right work, but they're split by gender and uh, and
Speaker 1: that's all the way to secondary school like high school.
Speaker 1: And UH. When I started going to school, we used
Speaker 1: to uh in in the school yard and we would
Speaker 1: it would ask us to form lines like military lines,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if there's normal. Maybe it's normal
Speaker 1: in some places. I don't know if it ever happens
Speaker 1: in the US, but uh, we would basically form lines
Speaker 1: and uh uh whatever you call it. The dean, the
Speaker 1: the head teacher that.
Speaker 3: Sorry, the principal or dean probably I suppose yeah.
Speaker 1: Sorry, I'm again, this is my second language. The principle
Speaker 1: would get up, uh on I put him and he
Speaker 1: would start chanting things and uh chanting religious stuff. And
Speaker 1: depending on all the time of the year, it is,
Speaker 1: uh there was a specific religious Uh. I wouldn't call
Speaker 1: it holidays, but there it would be like the death
Speaker 1: of my mom or somebody, and they would change things
Speaker 1: for that, and they would read a bit of kron
Speaker 1: and then they chant things like death to as well
Speaker 1: as to America. They would change stuff like this. This
Speaker 1: is the exact thing. Yes to six year olds. Six
Speaker 1: year olds all around your on and we would we
Speaker 1: wouldn't know what it means. But I don't go where
Speaker 1: the US. Wise, you know, when you were talking to
Speaker 1: a six year old, the six year old doesn't know
Speaker 1: where you know, it's you talk to a six year
Speaker 1: old in the US, they might not know where. I
Speaker 1: don't know, for example, where Minnesota is. No, they wouldn't
Speaker 1: even have a clear idea. They might not even have
Speaker 1: a clear idea of what a country is and whether
Speaker 1: the US is and Minnesota. I remember when I was
Speaker 1: a kid, I think at some point I thought that
Speaker 1: Iran was a place in Tehran because I was a kid,
Speaker 1: like I didn't know anything anything right, right, So but
Speaker 1: at that age, it would make you chant and like
Speaker 1: to this this entity and that entity. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's just very when people talk about industry nation, that's
Speaker 1: that's really what it is. And I just want to
Speaker 1: make it clear that doesn't mean that everybody in London
Speaker 1: is in doctrine naked or a games all Western entities
Speaker 1: or whatever, especially now because you know, now is the
Speaker 1: age of internet. But when I was the kid, we
Speaker 1: didn't have internet. The internet was just coming around. You know,
Speaker 1: we're about the same age, so you know, I remember
Speaker 1: I remember Google coming around, like I remember Marcus of
Speaker 1: ninety eight, and back then people didn't know, but they
Speaker 1: didn't have all that information that they have now. They
Speaker 1: didn't have access to social media. But now people know,
Speaker 1: and still they chanced these things at that level. And
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, you know, you have music
Speaker 1: classes at school? You have I don't know. Yeah, let's
Speaker 1: start with music classes. We don't. We didn't have any
Speaker 1: sort of art classes. I remember one year in middle
Speaker 1: school we have we had a sort of painting class,
Speaker 1: drawing sort of class, and that was the only only
Speaker 1: year I had that. And we had shopped for one
Speaker 1: year as inn you know, uh workshop where you do
Speaker 1: woodworking or whatever, and that was it that those were
Speaker 1: my two classes. Instead, we had things like religious studies,
Speaker 1: and we had Arabic. I mean, it's it's a language.
Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with Aratic. I'm you know, if you're
Speaker 1: interested in studying it, more power to you. It has
Speaker 1: if a beautiful language is a history whatever. But we
Speaker 1: would study Arabic specifically to study the Quran, and we
Speaker 1: would have so we would have Arabic, we would have
Speaker 1: a separate class for Quran. We would have a separate
Speaker 1: class for religious studies. And then when I got to
Speaker 1: high school, we had a class called defense, defense preparation
Speaker 1: something like that. It's I'm trying to translate here, and
Speaker 1: that might not be the exact thing. But this this book,
Speaker 1: the textbook is basically all about gardens, all about you know,
Speaker 1: how to be prepared for a foreign attack, and this
Speaker 1: is this was a textbook at school, at high school level.
Speaker 1: And obviously, like when I was growing up, even this
Speaker 1: was in twenty ten, let's say we didn't really buy it.
Speaker 1: Like everyone in my class knew that this was nonsense,
Speaker 1: Like this was really.
Speaker 2: Even when you are even when you were like, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, a high school, middle school, you were like,
Speaker 2: this is a this is a lot, this is not
Speaker 2: the thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm not saying that there was
Speaker 1: nobody I was. I was Again, I was kind of privileged.
Speaker 1: I wasn't rich. My family was middle rich, but we
Speaker 1: were middle class, upper middle class even at some points
Speaker 1: maybe so the people I hung out with were they had, uh,
Speaker 1: they had time in their day to sit down and think,
Speaker 1: and they had families who you know, they they've arn't wealthy.
Speaker 1: Thankfully I wouldn't. I wouldn't under a lot of super
Speaker 1: wealthy to our people because some of those people are
Speaker 1: actually pro regime because they get paid by real regime. Again,
Speaker 1: I don't want to get too cool to go with
Speaker 1: this right now.
Speaker 2: Is there a weird thing where like, is there a
Speaker 2: weird thing where like if you're like like if you're
Speaker 2: very poor and you have access to you you know,
Speaker 2: really don't have that much access to like greater education
Speaker 2: or greater information or even like time to think like
Speaker 2: you support the regime because of propaganda, and then if
Speaker 2: you're really really rich, you support the regime because the
Speaker 2: regime acts in your favor.
Speaker 1: That that is basically that is very perceptual of you.
Speaker 1: I was I was trying to uh put that into words,
Speaker 1: but that is more less it access. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of pool people. There are a lot of pool
Speaker 1: people in your own who are against the regime. But
Speaker 1: just to be clear, there are some people who are
Speaker 1: so starved for information or they're so heavily inductrin that
Speaker 1: they don't really know they have an option to oppose
Speaker 1: the regime or complain about things.
Speaker 3: Even Yeah, it doesn't.
Speaker 2: Even like consciously register. Like they're so deep in like
Speaker 2: the indoctrination of it, like the idea that they could
Speaker 2: not it's like not even in the consciousness.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like they don't even even with the Internet. I
Speaker 1: don't know how this is possible. But they're still a
Speaker 1: minority group out there who don't really understand that there
Speaker 1: is so much out there. I guess they don't install
Speaker 1: on Instagram on their phones or whatever, or they don't
Speaker 1: use vpms because you don't know. I'm skipping ahead. But
Speaker 1: basically they don't have an idea of how people live
Speaker 1: outside of Iran, or they think that that sort of
Speaker 1: stuff is a complete fantasy, because if they saw normal
Speaker 1: life in Europe, in even in Turkey, if they if
Speaker 1: they could see what normal life is like in even
Speaker 1: Lebanon in Turkey, they would start complaining very heavily. But
Speaker 1: they don't. And again maybe they're just not connected. And
Speaker 1: I said the word vidend you guys know what a
Speaker 1: viv ands. I'm sure it's a but in Iran it
Speaker 1: has a different meaning because the state sensors Internet very heavily,
Speaker 1: so you don't have access to in Iran. When I
Speaker 1: was living there, I didn't have access to YouTube, I
Speaker 1: didn't have access to Facebook, and I had access to Instagram,
Speaker 1: which was very weird for a while. And I think
Speaker 1: now you don't have access to Instagram either, So you
Speaker 1: have to use a private network of some kind of
Speaker 1: VPN to connect to the censored Internet inside of you.
Speaker 1: On uh, and that's not the whole list, by the way.
Speaker 1: A lot of a lot of publications, a lot of
Speaker 1: different websites are censored inside Iran, so when you try
Speaker 1: to connect to them, you get a web page that
Speaker 1: basically tells you it has it has a bunch of
Speaker 1: blanks to other websites that are pro regeme or or whatever. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm going on a bit. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you have any questions so far.
Speaker 2: No, it's been really interesting to hear about about all
Speaker 2: of this. Yeah, like oh man, I I uh, well,
Speaker 2: it's you know, we had a guy on the podcast
Speaker 2: a few episodes ago who was talking about like, you know,
Speaker 2: he was raised like ultra orthodox Jewish and they had
Speaker 2: a similar he had a similar kind of a thing.
Speaker 2: And it's it's weird. It feels like it's like the
Speaker 2: same story in a bunch of different places, Like I'm
Speaker 2: thinking about like North Korea too, about like people who
Speaker 2: just they just don't know about the the the like
Speaker 2: Greater Beyond, I guess because the government's done a really
Speaker 2: good job at censoring and you know all that stuff. Uh,
Speaker 2: And yeah, it's it is interesting to be like, man,
Speaker 2: you know, same same story across a bunch of same
Speaker 2: story across a bunch of different applications. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: really and I'm a crap. I think we I crap.
Speaker 2: I think I do have to go uh kind of suit.
Speaker 2: But I know, you know, you don't apolgize, just Christ,
Speaker 2: you don't have to pologest for anything. This is I've
Speaker 2: been I've sincerely, really really enjoyed talking to you. It's yeah, dude,
Speaker 2: it's it's interesting. I mean, do you feel I know
Speaker 2: you've expressed a lot of your kind of conflicting feelings
Speaker 2: about being able to leave Iran and and go to
Speaker 2: the West, But are you, like I have a weird question.
Speaker 2: There's a weird question, and this just has to do
Speaker 2: with like having an existential crisis. But like, you're an
Speaker 2: educated guy. I think I think it's it's almost it's pretty.
Speaker 2: It's I think it's objectively probably better to be educated
Speaker 2: than not. But like, you're an educated guy, right, But
Speaker 2: do you ever do you ever do you think rance
Speaker 2: would ever would be nice? You know what I mean?
Speaker 2: What does that ever stay? Like? Just do you feel
Speaker 2: do you feel burdened by your own clarity of the
Speaker 2: greater universe that lies beyond?
Speaker 1: It's an interesting question. I'm gonna I'm gonna respond by
Speaker 1: a scenario. Was something that actually happened to me when
Speaker 1: I was when I was just starting university in my
Speaker 1: basslords in Iran, I read nineteen eighty four. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: read ninety eighty four, and I felt for a lot
Speaker 1: of week after I read it, I felt extreme anxiety
Speaker 1: and I just felt awful because I felt like I
Speaker 1: was living inside nineteen eighty four, Like there are people
Speaker 1: in your own who would tell on their neighbors, like
Speaker 1: you can you can get ahead by selling out people
Speaker 1: who you know to the government. That is exactly something
Speaker 1: that happens in nineteen eighty four, among other things that
Speaker 1: I felt resonated. And I just want to say that
Speaker 1: I feel like if I wasn't an educated guy, I
Speaker 1: shouldn't read that book. It's not just about literacy. I
Speaker 1: think you have to go a little bit out of
Speaker 1: your way to read something like that, right, And it's
Speaker 1: a choice, like you have to sit down and you
Speaker 1: have to finish the book, even though it's genuinely like
Speaker 1: eating you up. And and I just want to say
Speaker 1: that I'm the I think I'm a better person for it. Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: any person, anyone might have a different depend members. But uh,
Speaker 1: the fact that I'm calling you right now, I'm trying
Speaker 1: to stand up and be the voice of the running people. Uh.
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say it like that because I'm I'm the
Speaker 1: voice of me. I just I'm trying to say sorry.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, go ahead what you're saying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not. I'm not anybody who attorney you know,
Speaker 1: but I know a lot of people have had the
Speaker 1: same experience, and a lot of those people are still
Speaker 1: living in it, so it's been an even voice for them.
Speaker 1: If I if I didn't have the education that I've had,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have a chance and a privilege to uh
Speaker 1: stand up with people. And I wouldn't have the chance
Speaker 1: to uh anymore because you know, the knowledge, even if
Speaker 1: it brings pain with it. Uh, it's just still a privilege. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: if you don't have the knowledge, you can't you can't
Speaker 1: do anything. And uh.
Speaker 2: Well oh sorry, sorry, sorry, I'll let you finish.
Speaker 1: And other people who will suffer for it. M M. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's all I wanted to say on that. If
Speaker 1: you really have to go, just give me a few
Speaker 1: seconds and uh them makes fun. It's not a statement,
Speaker 1: but just wonsibly a few words, but at least you
Speaker 1: were you were saying something.
Speaker 2: Well, I you know, I uh, well, after I asked
Speaker 2: you that weird question, I was, well, I was, I
Speaker 2: was I was thinking about my own answer to it,
Speaker 2: and you you, your answer was really poignant the way
Speaker 2: you were, like, you know, even though the knowledge, the
Speaker 2: knowledge is freaky and and unsettling to you and break
Speaker 2: and really breaks your world down and can lead you
Speaker 2: to like this place of like existential depression and and
Speaker 2: all these things like it's I love the way you
Speaker 2: phrase it, and I fully agree with it, which is
Speaker 2: that that you you have to view you get through
Speaker 2: the pain and then you uh kind of harness the
Speaker 2: power of the knowledge two to like, you know, help
Speaker 2: yourself and to help other people, like you're talking about
Speaker 2: and I I and I think that's really beautiful. And
Speaker 2: I also think, you know, you get like as you
Speaker 2: get older and as you settle in with stuff like
Speaker 2: you get you're like you just become more able to
Speaker 2: handle it as a person. I think you just like
Speaker 2: be become more able to handle like uncomfortable information and
Speaker 2: shrewths and things you be. You you like grow like
Speaker 2: your your capability of strength like grows to what you
Speaker 2: need it to be, and then you can do things
Speaker 2: like what you're talking about, like you know, be a
Speaker 2: uh a powerful, you know, a voice of something. And
Speaker 2: I think that's cool. So I agree with you. It's
Speaker 2: better to it's better to have known and gone insane
Speaker 2: than to have never known at all. I'm with you
Speaker 2: on that. I I I want to let I want
Speaker 2: to let you have your few seconds of that thing,
Speaker 2: of the of of the last few things you wanted
Speaker 2: to say before we get out of here.
Speaker 1: Okay, First of all, thank you so much. You didn't
Speaker 1: have to talk to me for I don't know how
Speaker 1: many minutives have been Thank you so much. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate you. Otherwise as well. I just want to per
Speaker 1: few seconds to the people who are listening to this
Speaker 1: live or on the if it makes, if it makes
Speaker 1: it to object or whatever. I know that there's a
Speaker 1: lot of news out there, you know. I wish I
Speaker 1: could talk about this more, but this is happening right now.
Speaker 1: It's not holding as we speak. There's people getting arrested
Speaker 1: and murders, and you know, IM portraying wrong. You don't
Speaker 1: have to take my word for it. You can do
Speaker 1: your own research, you can roll on, you can see
Speaker 1: whatever's out there. If you can spread the word, I
Speaker 1: would be personally grateful to you, even though we might
Speaker 1: never meet. I really appreciate you, and I know that
Speaker 1: you are going out of your way to help people
Speaker 1: that you have never met and you might never meet.
Speaker 1: But this, the last few minutes, has been my story,
Speaker 1: and that has been the story of a lot of
Speaker 1: people in your on and if your own are suffering
Speaker 1: a lot more, and you know, I don't know if
Speaker 1: the US is gonna intervene in your own or not.
Speaker 1: I can't tell you for certain it's that's good or back.
Speaker 1: At this point, as horrible as it might sound to
Speaker 1: some people, I'm okay with it because I know the
Speaker 1: government in Yourn will stop it nothing and it will
Speaker 1: keep on killing people. So I don't know that the
Speaker 1: people themselves might not be able to fuck that, and
Speaker 1: that's the only reason. That's the only reason. But forget
Speaker 1: about that. You know, you don't have to even think
Speaker 1: about the intervention. Just you know, aspective work. There are
Speaker 1: people suffering, and if you can't step the word, that
Speaker 1: would be very very grateful to you. And thanks again,
Speaker 1: While hey thank you, Armine.
Speaker 2: You have a good night Man.
Speaker 1: Good night to you too, Bless your brother.
Speaker 2: Oh that's a really good conversation. I thank thank you again,
Speaker 2: Thank you again, Arman for taking time out of what
Speaker 2: I'm sure is a really fucking stressful period of time
Speaker 2: for you to get on here and share your story
Speaker 2: with us for an hour.
Speaker 1: That was I I was.
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed getting to talk to you and hear
Speaker 2: your perspective on things. I was just thinking about how
Speaker 2: five and a half years ago I was taking phone
Speaker 2: calls about Diarryie Aing and the Lazy River and now
Speaker 2: we're into geopolitics and gotten good for it, glad for it,
Speaker 2: glad for it.
Speaker 1: No, that was.
Speaker 2: That was really powerful. I have you got it? I
Speaker 2: need a second. I need a second after that.
Speaker 1: Hmm.
Speaker 2: Yeah. You know what I was thinking too, is like, dude,
Speaker 2: who's I think? I was saying, It's like that that
Speaker 2: guy Arman that we just talked to, who had like
Speaker 2: this powerful story and this great character and this all
Speaker 2: this stuff, like you know, he was working at Subway,
Speaker 2: and uh, I was thinking, I'm like, dude, I think
Speaker 2: about this now, like if I'm at subway or whatever,
Speaker 2: I'll just be like looking at the like whoever's behind
Speaker 2: the count I'll be like, what's what's what would my
Speaker 2: hour long conversation with this person be? You know, we're
Speaker 2: we have this weird crossing where I buy a sandwich
Speaker 2: from them? What what would an hour long conversation with
Speaker 2: them be? Like? You know, you just know, you never know.
Speaker 2: Do I have anything else to say?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: If I do, I think we'll call it there. Thank
Speaker 2: you guys for listening to this. Uh yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 2: don't know. I've been getting I don't know, I've been
Speaker 2: thinking about that. We don't we don't usually talk about
Speaker 2: like uh intense geopolitical things or you know, domestic political things.
Speaker 2: I think about them a lot. I like talking I
Speaker 2: like talking about the with my friends and family. I
Speaker 2: will I don't. I I think in the certain in
Speaker 2: certain situations, I'm you know, I like talking about them
Speaker 2: on the podcast. But uh yeah, I appreciate Arman for
Speaker 2: uh sharing his story with us, and I'm sending blessings
Speaker 2: to him and his family and Iran. Maybe I'll go
Speaker 2: there one day. I was I made that video in
Speaker 2: Iraq and uh, the whole you know, the whole thing.
Speaker 2: I think and and by the way, this is not
Speaker 2: me throwing shade to anyone because I'm I'm like this.
Speaker 2: I was like this before I actually went there. But
Speaker 2: I was like Americans, I think just have a thing
Speaker 2: where like all they just view all countries in the
Speaker 2: Middle East as the same. Like I there was a guy,
Speaker 2: so I passed by a guy at this office that
Speaker 2: I make my videos out of, and he was like, yo, lil,
Speaker 2: I liked your Afghanistan video, and it was like, at
Speaker 2: my gut, my gut instinct was like, it's Iraq, not Afghanistan.
Speaker 2: And then I was like, you know, a year ago,
Speaker 2: I would also, I think not have enough information where
Speaker 2: I knew the difference, you know, because you start out
Speaker 2: six years old, you don't know what a country is.
Speaker 2: Then you find out what your own country is, then
Speaker 2: you find out what Minnesota is, and then at a
Speaker 2: certain point you have to manually move the needle on
Speaker 2: your own ignorance. Ah. But yeah, yeah, I'd like to
Speaker 2: go to your on someday. I think that that would
Speaker 2: be it'd be interesting. I mean, I every every every
Speaker 2: time I go to a place, I'm always feeling like
Speaker 2: I'm meeting lots of lovely people and learning more about
Speaker 2: the things that we have in common. Very it's nice, Okay,
Speaker 2: I think I said. I think I'm ready to stop talking.
Speaker 2: Thank you guys for listening to the Therapy Gicle podcast.
Speaker 2: Let me know in the comments what you think about
Speaker 2: this one. I'm curious to hear people's thoughts on this conversation.
Speaker 2: Get bless see you again soon goes on the line.
Speaker 1: Taking your phone calls every night ever, goes to and
Speaker 1: was teaching you a loud.
Speaker 3: In the memorial, an expert