Can't We All Just Get Along?

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Can't We All Just Get Along?

By Tehran SoParvaz

Ever wonder how lucrative a bookstore can be?  I often do when I visit Westwood and see the numerous bookstores that line the two blocks leading to UCLA.  Nicknamed “Little Iran,” Westwood is smaller than we think.  However despite its small size, the amount of competing similar businesses is uncanny.  

The question becomes, “Why can’t Iranians just get along?”

Competing businesses are just the beginning.  The fact that Iranians often compete for the same dollars– as opposed to vying for a flux of new businesses– they go after the same businesses and usually compete against each other.  Iranians tend to go into similar businesses and open their businesses within close proximity of each other.  Many times new business owners are protege of old business owners.  Sometimes businesses in the same field in the same area are opened by members of the same family.  Once in a while they even open businesses out of spite.  The competition is fierce.  The business is not.

Many people say that competition in business is good.  However in the case of the Iranian businesses, competition is often stifling not allowing one business owner to succeed, spiting one another and vying for the same exact customer base.  Dealerships often cut prices in order to outsell each other.  Rug shops outbid each other.  Print shops steal business.  How many books can an Iranian bookstore sell on the same street with four others similar bookstores?  In that case, how many books can an Iranian bookstore even sell, period?

The competition does not stop there.  Iranians are notorious for competition amongst themselves outside the workplace.  Outdoing each other on everything from the house they live in to the car they drive.  Wedding reception prices increase more than the budget deficit.  UCLA and USC shine like a WWF match of Doctors vs. Dentists.  From careers to outfits, Iranians seem to be in constant competition with one another.

The question remains: why can’t Iranians just get along?

In China Town merchants often sell the same thing.  However unlike Westwood, China Town merchants rarely underbid each other.  The same garment at the same price at Shop 1 remains the same garment at the same price at Shop 10 and Shop 100.  Korean Dry Cleaners are the same.  In fact, they often refer you to fellow Dry Cleaners.  All of them pressing and cleaning shirts for the same price -- all the same distance away from one another.  Sameness is sign of togetherness.  They often proudly live in the same neighborhoods.  They often proudly do business with one another.  

Meanwhile Iranians who often claim pride rarely show signs of sameness.  They only show signs of similarity.  They often “reluctantly” live in the same neighborhoods.  They often “reluctantly” do business with one another.  The unity that they proclaim exists only on paper and in song.  This is why despite the socioeconomic strength of the Iranian community they are a relative babe in American politics.  With the amount of money and connections in the Iranian community, you would think they would be much stronger.  

Traditionally Iranians do not get along.  Don’t get mad at me– I am only the messenger.

Tehranis constantly look down at their Esfahani counterparts.  Esfahanis have a rivalry with Shirazis.  Shirazis stay away from Ghazvenis.  Ghazvenis dislike Bandaris.  Bandaris hate Tehrani and the cycle begins anew.    

It’s funny how a few hundred kilometers can make such a difference.  Yet we are all Iranian.  “Dahati” is a term used for people who live in the countryside.  Somehow it has come to mean “idiot” or “uneducated.”  “Dahatis” have an education we could not begin to imagine, living in conditions that many of us could not dream of surviving.  Esfahanis have their own accent; Bandaris have their own music.  These are things we should look up to not down upon.  True strength comes from the many differences that make up a whole.  A true athlete is one who is strong all over -- able to do many different things.  Iran is strong all over --  able to do many different things.

Maybe because I am Iranian mixed, I see things that many of you can not.  I can see how despite political, religious, and racial differences Iranians are much more similar in many ways than different. I can see how the word “community” is made up of two words “communication” and “unity.”  If we learned to communicate and unite, we would achieve all the things we truly deserve.  Iranians are great people who can be great as a whole once again if they learn to “just get along.”

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