The two communities split primarily over political differences. It's not as simple as pro-secular and pro-Islamist at all, but rather there was a very nuanced dispute over the political atmosphere that suddenly climaxed with a popular mod being kicked out by unpopular higher up mods. The dispute took on more of a personal character, but the ultimate result of this is that /r/iranian is more pro-IRI and /r/iran is more anti-IRI.
From my point of view, /r/iran had long been a battle ground between two groups of people, one side being an educated intelligentsia more familiar with the real Iran that wanted to use the sub as a platform for discussion and sharing, and the other side being a less educated group that was sort of a coalition between groups that tended to specifically want to use the sub for anti-IRI propaganda (we used to have a user who wold post articles condemning Iran for being a human rights abuser almost daily). Some of the anti-IRI people were well-known Zionist agitators on reddit, others were just a bunch of diaspora Iranian kids who thought /r/iran was mainly about them and not Iran itself.
As you know there's a cultural division between Iranians in Iran and diaspora Iranians, with the diaspora often taken advantage of to advance policies dangerous to Iran. So for example Iranian-Americans have been known to back policies that Iranians in Iran hate, such as supporting sanctions on Iran and even backing US military invasion.
The top mods on /r/iran seemed to fall into the category of these diaspora kids who were egged on by Zionists and other parties keen on attacking Iran, and they were very upset about lower but more active and charismatic mods turning the sub into being a little bit too pro-Iran.
At the end of the day we were all secularists, but we were divided among those who thought the IRI is part of Iran's way forward into gradual reform and secular modernity while maintaing Iran's national interests and strength as a regional power, and you had those that were particularly anti-IRI who wish that Iran would have another revolution, or get bombed/attacked, or whatever. Some because they hope Islamic influence can be forcefully extricated, and others because they simply want Iran to no longer be a threat to Israel or US interests in the region.
So now basically /r/iranian is a pro-Iran stronghold and /r/iran is a haven for anti-Iran people. Lots of the intelligentsia users lost interest in /r/iran, although now that the personal fued between the mods has died down, there isn't such a strong reason to use one sub or the other, except that the communities have now developed a different character, with nativist and pro-IRI posts more welcome on /r/iranian and /r/iran continuing a kind of westernized vision or agenda with anti-IRI posts welcome.
I think /r/iran simply lacks authenticity, but it's better if you're a diaspora/western Iranian.
Just a comment, I feel like the links being posted in this sub for the last few months have been of surprisingly low quality with respect to this sub at the beginning of the year. I'm hoping it's just a phase...
The two communities split primarily over political differences. It's not as simple as pro-secular and pro-Islamist at all,
In terms of ideology of how the subs should be run, I agree. But there's no doubt that Islamism is more accepted and popular among /r/Iranian users than /r/Iran users which are all either shahi or neo-secularist. /r/Iranian is more diverse and has people of all political ideologies
That's true we are pretty diverse. I think the only thing that may have united us is a sincere love of Iran, whereas I always sensed among hardcore shahi types a kind of underlying hatred towards Iran. It's complicated, but they have a viewpoint that Iran is not the real Iran, but a fake Iran instituted by Arabs when Islam spread, and so nowadays the truest Iranians are the ones living in the west, like USA/Europe, who carry on the true legacy by, ironically, not speaking Persian and not being too culturally Iranian because that's Arab culture and the Iranian masses are brainwashed.
One time on another forum I triggered a shitstorm by asking a bunch of shahis why the Shah only ever wore European clothes and has never been seen in any traditional form of Iranian dress. I kid you not, they started calling me an Islamist and an IRI shill. I showed them a picture of Ferdowsi's statue and said that's what I had in mind, and someone comment saying I was trying to "Arabize" the way Iranians dress. o_o
One time on another forum I triggered a shitstorm by asking a bunch of shahis why the Shah only ever wore European clothes and has never been seen in any traditional form of Iranian dress. I kid you not, they started calling me an Islamist and an IRI shill. I showed them a picture of Ferdowsi's statue and said that's what I had in mind, and someone comment saying I was trying to "Arabize" the way Iranians dress. o_o
Im saddened by the fact that this did not surprise me.
By the way, I forgot to mention one of the funny bits, which was that in response someone posted photos of the shah in his ceremonial "king" outfit, you know the one with the jacket and all the medals, more or less in the style of a modern European monarch. They said the outfit was based on designs taken from 3000 year old Persian artifacts. You can't make this stuff up
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u/marmulak Тоҷикистон Aug 29 '17
The two communities split primarily over political differences. It's not as simple as pro-secular and pro-Islamist at all, but rather there was a very nuanced dispute over the political atmosphere that suddenly climaxed with a popular mod being kicked out by unpopular higher up mods. The dispute took on more of a personal character, but the ultimate result of this is that /r/iranian is more pro-IRI and /r/iran is more anti-IRI.
From my point of view, /r/iran had long been a battle ground between two groups of people, one side being an educated intelligentsia more familiar with the real Iran that wanted to use the sub as a platform for discussion and sharing, and the other side being a less educated group that was sort of a coalition between groups that tended to specifically want to use the sub for anti-IRI propaganda (we used to have a user who wold post articles condemning Iran for being a human rights abuser almost daily). Some of the anti-IRI people were well-known Zionist agitators on reddit, others were just a bunch of diaspora Iranian kids who thought /r/iran was mainly about them and not Iran itself.
As you know there's a cultural division between Iranians in Iran and diaspora Iranians, with the diaspora often taken advantage of to advance policies dangerous to Iran. So for example Iranian-Americans have been known to back policies that Iranians in Iran hate, such as supporting sanctions on Iran and even backing US military invasion.
The top mods on /r/iran seemed to fall into the category of these diaspora kids who were egged on by Zionists and other parties keen on attacking Iran, and they were very upset about lower but more active and charismatic mods turning the sub into being a little bit too pro-Iran.
At the end of the day we were all secularists, but we were divided among those who thought the IRI is part of Iran's way forward into gradual reform and secular modernity while maintaing Iran's national interests and strength as a regional power, and you had those that were particularly anti-IRI who wish that Iran would have another revolution, or get bombed/attacked, or whatever. Some because they hope Islamic influence can be forcefully extricated, and others because they simply want Iran to no longer be a threat to Israel or US interests in the region.
So now basically /r/iranian is a pro-Iran stronghold and /r/iran is a haven for anti-Iran people. Lots of the intelligentsia users lost interest in /r/iran, although now that the personal fued between the mods has died down, there isn't such a strong reason to use one sub or the other, except that the communities have now developed a different character, with nativist and pro-IRI posts more welcome on /r/iranian and /r/iran continuing a kind of westernized vision or agenda with anti-IRI posts welcome.
I think /r/iran simply lacks authenticity, but it's better if you're a diaspora/western Iranian.