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Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by rayiner on Monday January 26, 2026 @06:26PM (#46773192)
The “Iranians that you work with” in the west are highly self-selecting. They’re like Cubans in Florida or Vietnamese—people who fled in the aftermath of the revolution and are extremely antagonistic towards the regime. My family left Bangladesh the year after the dictator made Islam the official religion. My dad is apoplectic about the Islamist parties being unbanned recently after the government was overthrown. By contrast many of my extended family, who came much later for economic reasons, are happy about that. The people who disliked the Islamization of the country and had the financial means to do so left while the people who were fine with it stayed.

My daughter’s hair stylist is Iranian (she was an accountant in old country). When Jimmy Carter’s wife died, she said “I’m happy she’s dead.” I’ve never seen anyone else say a negative thing about the Carters personally. Even die hard Republicans who think he was a weak President don’t hate him as a person. But this is not an uncommon sentiment among the Iranian diaspora.

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Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by dyauspitr on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @01:18AM (#46776159)
Do you mean doesn’t wear a headscarf?
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by tinco on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @02:47AM (#46776710)
Depends on what you want to hear. The Iranian family in my neighborhood whose father was a doctor fled after Islamist police cut their daughter to pieces in their own home for dressing inappropriately. That's the sort of non headscarf wearing Iranian elite you'll find with an opinion critical of the current regime. I don't know about ostentatious clothing.
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Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by tinco on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @10:21AM (#46781161)
There was no need for the 15 year old boy who told me this traumatic story of how his sister was killed in his own house to make that story up, because just the fact that they're a liberal family coming from Iran would have been enough information for them to get a visa to stay in The Netherlands based on political persecution.

This happened during Clinton, if you're counting history in US presidencies. And also it doesn't even matter if their sister really was killed. Islamic regimes like the one in Iran are despicable, and would have been even they didn't support goons killing girls for dumb religious regions.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by busterarm on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @11:47AM (#46782515)
The fact that the person you're responding to even still has a functioning HN account after their post history leaves me shocked and honestly appalled at the moderation of the site.

I've been told off repeatedly and threatened with all kinds of consequences by dang and I haven't come close to postings like this.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by dyauspitr on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @04:42PM (#46787346)
Here you have women putting away men for 20 years with fake rape allegations. Last week a man committed suicide in a very public case where a woman falsely accused him of molestation on camera. Potayto potato. I’m going to be downvoted for this because it’s crass but there is truth in what I am saying.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by FilosofumRex on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @07:57AM (#46779389)
yes, thank you for correction. it should say "women who don't wear headscarf...".

I could not edit it myself because HN banned me for exposing their Mossad propaganda, yesterday

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by sejje on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @08:31AM (#46779689)
Actually it's because you can't edit comments after a certain period.

That's true for everyone.

You're not shadowbanned.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by geraneum on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @03:23AM (#46777041)
> people who fled in the aftermath of the revolution and are extremely antagonistic towards the regime

Iranian who left Iran here. Do you have stats or reference for this critical piece of information?

It’s as if someone’s says, since Bangladesh is predominantly muslim, the majority aligns with what the Islamic regime does for ideological reasons and would try to undermine the account of atrocities.

But one shouldn’t believe this before seeing some polls, stats, etc.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by int_19h on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @03:56AM (#46777295)
Anecdotally this does seem to be true in US. I know several Iranians in US, from completely different social circles, but all of them strongly anti-clerical and not shy about it.

Also, as a Russian who left Russia, it's certainly a familiar pattern.

Note, by the way, that this doesn't really imply anything about whether those people are wrong to be antagonistic.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by MSFT_Edging on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @08:40AM (#46779770)
> Also, as a Russian who left Russia

I've noticed there's two distinct 20th century Russian diaspora groups in the US. Those who came here prior to the fall of the USSR, and those who came after.

In talking with the ones who came after the fall, life wasn't glamorous but got truly unlivable in the wake of the collapse.

In talking with the ones who came before the fall, they wanted to make money.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by busterarm on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @11:40AM (#46782376)
There's a group here, largely those expats kids in my experience, that swears they had things better back in Russia and ravenously consume Russian media. I used to encounter them a lot in Sheepshead Bay.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by MisterTea on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @12:19PM (#46783064)
> I used to encounter them a lot in Sheepshead Bay.

My friend is one but wasn't always like that. He was never critical of Russia or the USA and was pretty quiet until befriending some Russian dude in his apt building during the blackout of hurricane Sandy. Now he frequently criticizes and rants about capitalist USA then sings praise of Russia. We keep telling him to go back but he doesn't. He's unfortunately "that guy" in our group of friends now -_-

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by int_19h on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @08:49PM (#46789994)
Most immigration in 00-10s was economical, and yes, for that group of people it's often the case that they are very much still enmeshed in Russian imperial agitprop. It's common enough that there are memes about this: https://lurkmore.media/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%91%...

However there was a smallish wave of political immigration after the 2011 protests and 2014 conflict with Ukraine, and a much larger one since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. And those people tend to be very anti-Russian-government for obvious reasons.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by rayiner on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @12:35AM (#46791471)
I really do not understand immigrants who still love their home country. I’m going to die 12 thousand miles away from where my ancestors are buried going back tens of thousands of years. After spending most of my life with ashy dry skin because I’m somewhere I’m not designed to be. All because my ancestors fucked everything up! Fuck those people.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by kelipso on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @08:26AM (#46795071)
Looks like you’re been spending a bit too much time online, probably mostly twitter. Go offline for a bit, bro.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by rayiner on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @08:42AM (#46795255)
I’m sure it’s Twitter, and not the fact I had to go to the airport with an armed escort the last time I visited, or that I had to cancel my most recent trip because they overthrew the government, again.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by busterarm on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @10:19AM (#46796469)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11340543

I haven't met him personally, but years of trading ideas with him in threads and I can tell you this is true. rayiner is among the best of us.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by kelipso on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @01:19PM (#46799423)
Poor guy seems to be going through some self hating racism crisis after reading too many twitter posts. He’s probably a nice guy and all but this online thing can get way too much.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by rayiner on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @08:41PM (#46804586)
I know you're just saying that because you've never met my parents. But consider that my dad packed us all up, left a country where we were rich, and moved us to the most stereotypical 1950s-style red-state suburb he could find.[1] But no, I'm sure it was Twitter...

Joking aside, we are on opposite sides of a sociological debate. Is Bangladesh a crappy country because of external factors, or because of the culture and choices of the people who live there? It's not crazy to ask that question, and stop pretending that it is. What's ironic is that most Bangladeshis (not the ones raised in the west) fall in the "culture" camp. My family is particularly negative on Bangladeshi culture--especially my mom (growing up as a woman in a Muslim country will do that)--but none of my views are remarkable in my extended family. Or even in Asia more generally. One of the greatest success stories in third world development is Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew adamantly believed that "culture is destiny" and that principle guided the incredible results he achieved in Singapore: https://paulbacon.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/z....

[1] I was at a cousin's wedding a few years ago, and I complained that I couldn't find anyone on Facebook because in our culture we don't have family names. Everyone has two given names, but goes by a nickname which is completely unrelated to either given name. My dad responded, "Bangladeshis don't know how to name their children." I reflexively tried to say, "no, they just do it differently." Then I stopped myself, because why the fuck should I whitesplain the merits of naming conventions to my father.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by jacquesm on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @04:02PM (#46801457)
I have, or rather, had, a friend that lost it. He was the nicest guy. Then 9/11 happened and both him and his wife got into this 'it's all special effects' (they worked in special effects) thing and there wasn't anything you could do about it. Intelligent, creative, very skilled. But on that subject they were completely dug in and any evidence to the contrary was dismissed. Their parting words were that I must be 'one of them' and we are no longer friends.

There are a couple of subjects that seem to do this to people, immigration is one of them, 9/11 is another. Then there are holocaust deniers and people who seem to - without any kind of prompting - find it in them to be defending the actions of the various strong-arm government components in the United States.

I have no idea if there is something in the water or not but it is very scary to see otherwise intelligent people completely lose it over such objectively simple things. Once dug in the only solution seems to be to dig further and to cut off all input to that might lead to introspection.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by int_19h on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @04:38PM (#46801942)
You are looking at this from the perspective of someone to whom "my ancestors fucked everything up" is obvious and self-evident. Many people don't see it this way.

FWIW when it comes to Russia specifically, I would broadly agree that the problem there is not just the government but the culture as a whole (although we'd probably disagree about the specific things in that culture that are problematic). It is not obvious, though, and I think it always behooves one to be careful when making sweeping generalizations like that and carefully rationalize them.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by rayiner on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @07:39PM (#46804043)
> FWIW when it comes to Russia specifically, I would broadly agree that the problem there is not just the government but the culture as a whole

You’re correct about Russia. And the same observation applies to the Indian subcontinent, where I’m from, as well. And, while you’re correct that each place requires a separate analysis, I would guess it applies to most places people leave.

People’s emotions and tribalism often make them romanticize the places they left. They attribute the good things about their society to the people and their culture, but externalize the bad things about their society. That’s usually self-deception.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by rayiner on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @06:58AM (#46778829)
> It’s as if someone’s says, since Bangladesh is predominantly muslim, the majority aligns with what the Islamic regime does for ideological reasons and would try to undermine the account of atrocities

That’s true. Bangladeshi people strongly supported amending the constitution to make Islam the official religion. Islamization of the country has accelerated since we left, and now it looks like the Islamist parties will get a seat at the table in a coalition government.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by throwforthings on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @09:43AM (#46780625)
My spouse (Bangladeshi) and I (not) went to a rally in Jackson Heights when the first protests were going on and we were surprised by how pro-Islamist the crowd leaned, from their signs and chants. We jumped on video with my in-laws at one point and they were even like "oh no you guys should leave, these young people are Islamists".

It seems to be true across the Muslim world. My father is from North Africa, and any time we've been back there over the past decades it's very clear a large swath of the youth are embracing the more religious political movements.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by rayiner on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @11:27AM (#46782153)
I have family around Jackson Heights and one is reposting stuff from Jamaat-e-Islami (the main Islamist party) on FB.

It’s very odd. I saw lots of younger Bangladeshis supporting the overthrow of the Awami League government (the most secular of the parties). I wasn’t sure if it was people who just didn’t realize it would leave a vacuum for Islamists, or or people who wanted that. It seems there’s some of both.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by selimthegrim on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @11:54AM (#46782624)
My boss was a BNP supporter and regularly used to tell me that Chhatra league was as bad or worse than Shibir.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by rayiner on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @12:31PM (#46783243)
Growing up with my militantly secular dad, I've always been shocked to even meet BNP supporters in the wild.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by selimthegrim on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @12:47PM (#46783479)
He always told me he didn't support any one party outright but he also told me Pakistan was a great country so I could put two and two together. He also called Prothom Alo communists.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by BeetleB on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @10:08AM (#46780996)
I agree that actual studies would be good.

All I can do is throw my anecdotes into the pool: I mostly have met two types of Iranians: Those that fled in the 80's post-revolution, and those that come to the US for university (90's, 00's, and 10's).

All of them have been anti-regime.

I have met a few that came for other reasons (not education and not the 80's stock). Yes, those are either pro-regime or neutral.

My guess is that what rayiner says is correct: The majority of the Iranian diaspora in the US is self selecting and not representative of the full population.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by geraneum on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @07:05PM (#46803669)
> The majority of the Iranian diaspora in the US is self selecting and not representative of the full population.

My guess as well. As an Iranian outside of Iran, I see that my folk in Iran are way angrier, more disappointed, braver and determined against this injustice than I (we outside) am. It’s common sense.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by Der_Einzige on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @04:02AM (#46777341)
How come they blame carter instead of REAGAN over this shit?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_October_Surprise_theory

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by tgma on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @04:31AM (#46777605)
President Nixon was an outspoken friend of the Shah. It was Carter administration that stabbed him in the back and negotiated with Khomeini in the first place. The hostage crisis happened about 9-10 months after Khomeini was in power and only towards the end of that crisis you could argue Reagan was in the picture at all. The love for Islamists by the Democrats in power never ended and Clinton, Obama, and Biden all were desperate in appeasing the Mullah regime. It's the ousting of the Shah and appeasing the Mullahs that garners the hate.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by cess11 on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @04:56AM (#46777772)
Clinton using executive orders and legislation to keep Russia and Iran from cooperating on defense was a desperate act of "Mullah" appeasement? It was the iranians that called for the Negev summit?
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by tgma on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @01:07PM (#46783829)
Yes, it is all relative. It is appeasement compared to war and much heavier sanctions that ended up being necessary. Clinton and even Bush II administrations were hoping internal change would come up during Khatami era and hoping for him to be Gorbachev. Regardless of Bush II harsh rhetoric, the real animosity only really started after Ahmadinejad was installed in Iran. You are correct that Clinton was still not as friendly as the other two, who very explicitly played into their hands.

In any case I was simply responding to OP's "why" question and that their theory on blaming Reagan allegedly vs Carter on a narrow point, highlighting that particular case is temporally much later, and has no relevance to the underlying reason Carter is hated over there.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by cess11 on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @01:58PM (#46784591)
Fine, show some quotes from "Mullahs" where they acknowledge this supposed appeasement.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by tgma on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @06:40PM (#46788797)
I don't think them acknowledging anything in public is either necessary or relevant to the discussion. None of this is germane to the original question posed and I have no intention to change the narrative in your head so I'm out of here.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by cess11 on Wednesday January 28, 2026 @01:57PM (#46799967)
What "narrative"? You made a claim about "desperate appeasement", and if that was true, I imagine that iranian politicians and twelver clergy would brag about it incessantly.
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by rayiner on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @07:01AM (#46778854)
> After 12 years of varying media attention, both houses of the United States Congress held separate inquiries and concluded that credible evidence supporting the allegation was absent or insufficient
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by kvgr on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @09:50AM (#46780718)
"People who were fine with it stayed" surely you must be joking right?
Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by y-c-o-m-b on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @12:13PM (#46782952)
> But this is not an uncommon sentiment among the Iranian diaspora

Iranian-American here, I have never heard a single Iranian badmouth Carter or his family in my entire life. This is the first time I'm hearing of it.

> extremely antagonistic towards the regime

On the other hand, this point is very accurate, I can confirm. There's a reason we left, after all. To my earlier point: this is consistently the direction of our anger - towards the regime - not the Carter administration.

Re:Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, document... by johnmaguire on Tuesday January 27, 2026 @12:58PM (#46783662)
> The people who disliked the Islamization of the country and had the financial means to do so left while the people who were fine with it stayed.

You say it yourself, the ones who "had the financial means to do so left" - so it's very disingenuous to then state "the people who were fine with it stayed." What about those who couldn't afford to leave?