Iran

On the flight back from Detroit, the girl sitting next to me, who was going to Germany as an exchange student, got into a conversation with a guy who was also going to Germany, though that wasn't his final destination. He was actually just transferring there for a flight to Iran. This amazed me. He was Iranian by birth, and was apparently going there to visit family, which he'd do routinely. I found myself wondering how anyone could possibly want to go there, given their attitudes and proclivities, so I listened to the conversation somewhat. I didn't ask them to speak up, though I wanted to, because I wanted to know more about what Iran is actually like. Some of the things he said confirmed what I thought, and some of it surprised me.

For one thing, he was very casual about the idea of religious law being the prime mover there. He said that women would routinely be arrested and 'punished' -- he didn't expand on that -- for not wearing the full body coverings. The girl asked him how early in life they had to wear them, and he shrugged, saying that 'very little' girls didn't, but past that, yes. He added that visitors didn't have to wear them, though they were subject to being stopped and harassed by religious police.

On the other hand, he said that its a very family-oriented society -- you get to know people because of whom you're related to, and the personal connections are very important. You would do business with someone you didn't actually trust because they were a relative, even though you would prefer to work with someone you did trust. He said that this meant you could always rely on your family to look out for you and protect you.

I wanted to know what most people thought about the recent event with the British sailors, but they didn't talk about that.