1) that Irandefence dude is Osonloor, he is a Turkish dude that is extremely anti Persian and goes all over the internet trying to convince people that Iran is dominated by Turks. His new strategy is to say **** like that to make Parsi look dumb and racist. He got banned thankfully.
2) My source is more credible than the CIA world fact book. The CIA web site is good for GDP, literacy rates etc... where there is only one official number that can be updated regularly using one source. Since 1970 every source on the world wide web gives out the Persians are 51% number. The most RECENT research was done in the 2000s however and it shows the Azeri and Kurdish languages disappearing while the Persian language is gaining ground. That map I gave you was used in the national geographic.
I even gave you an example about how my grand father spoke a diff language as his mother tongue but me and my father had Persian as ours. I had this Kurdish Iranian dude in my football team and for 4 years I had no idea he was Kurdish. One day his phone rang and it was his grand father and he started speaking Kurdish with him. We were all surprised. He explained after that his grand father doesn't speak good Persian so all the family is forced to know some Kurdish!
3) that mini skirt thing was an example to show how quickly things change. And you are right. Before the 20's Iran was like Afghanistan and that's another example of how things change. I never said Iran was always liberal. Back then Iran had a policy like Ata Turk's Turkey. Women would be stopped in the streets and their hijab would be torn into pieces. By the 70's Iranian women were wearing sexier clothes than women in Europe. Then bammmm, revolution happened (which wasn't meant to be an Islamic one but that is for another discussion).
so you see, the Iran of 2010 isn't the Iran of 1990. In the past 20 years the post revolution kids have reached adult hood. They are mostly anti Islamic Republic and are very Western and liberal. The whole "green rev" was the first sign that Iran will change.
4) Every tribe in Iran (except arabs), including the Azaris, is Aryan. We all consider ourselves Aryan and in all my life I have never heard a Parsi say "we're more aryan than you."
Aryan has nothing to do with skin color but it's all about culture and it's unique to Iran. The geramns stole that word. The first Iranian king 2500 years ago said "I am king of kings, king of the Aryans." That is why a black Iranian from the south and an East Asian looking Iranian from the North East proudly calls him/herself Aryan.
5) Yes, Persians might have a superiority complex but that is completely normal. My ancestors conquered every territory from India to Asia minor and Egypt. We invented everything from the Guitar to the postal system. Of course we are proud and sometimes it gets too much but you can't blame us. We also over do it because we're constantly under attack. The Arabs hate us (despise us in fact) for being Parsis and the Iranian govt wants Iranians to forget their history and only talk about the post Islamic history. In the beginning of the rev they were destroying Iran's ancient sites (like how the Saudis did in the past). In the West our culture is also under attack (300 and the Prince of Persia are some easy examples).
My guide in college was a Canadian-Iranian who was vehemently anti mullah. He used to literally froth at the mouth talking about the revolution. He too was a reconverted Zoroastrian. It is really fascinating how the Iranians are reviving their original religion after 1000 years.
Are Zoroastrian festivals celebrated in Iran today?
