Somebody once said that if you lie to the government you can't help but lie to your loved ones. This is so true in Iran, and it is causing a sickness to spread through Iranian society. More and more, people are seeking psychological help and turning to prescription drugs to solve their growing desolation and societal schizophrenia that is caused by being forced to live two or more separate lives. One is your institutional life (work, school, religion, government buildings, public streets); second is your family life; third is the life with your friends; fourth is your love life. And perhaps there are others.
The best way to explain this is to illustrate a typical story here in Tehran:
So, I'm a young woman in high school. At home, my parents complain about the government, but then I go to school and listen to government propaganda. When I'm in public I wear hijab (covering) because it's the law and at school I pray, but at home and at parties I don't wear hijab and I barely ever pray. I tell everyone that I'm Shia Muslim, but I like reading about other religions and I don't really believe in anything. But I have a group of religious friends at school who really like Ahmadinejad so to avoid arguing I say I like him too. On the internet I use filter blockers to visit illegal sites that even my parents don't want me to go to, and I watch illegal satellite TV and buy black market movies. My Dad has told me that I can't date until I am ready to get married, but I have two boyfriends that I juggle around. They don't know about each other, but they probably have several girlfriends each anyways. My best friend wants me to hang out one night, but I have a date with her ex boyfriend so I say that I have work to do. When I'm out with my friends, I call my parents to tell them that I'm at the library studying.
There are millions of variations of this story, some less extreme than others. I hear these stories because people think that because I am a foreigner they can confide in me and I won't judge them. I met two lesbians who lived together. Not even their closest friends knew that they were in a relationship. It gets too risky. There is a fine line between the spheres of government and society. There is a fine line between the spheres of society and family. Here they all become blurred so that you can't fully trust anyone. This can cause a person to completely lose their identity and sense of self.
How long can you lie to everyone before you end up lying to yourself?
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