Millions of brilliant liars

Iranian blogger, ET, View from Iran:

"After the revolution, my friend tells his kids: 'Look, don't tell anyone at school that I drink vodka.' Later they got a satellite. Once again, he tells his kids, 'I know we have a satellite, but don't tell anyone at school that we have one.' When his kids are teenagers he discovers that they lie to him all the time, and most of the time he does not have a clue. 'How did you get to be such good liars?' He asks his teenage children. 'You taught us,' they answer.

Millions of parents just like K's friends. Millions of brilliant liars. That's what the revolution has produced.

When you first arrive in Iran, people tell you: "Don't trust your own brother." You don't believe them. How could these people be so frigging cynical? You might ask yourself.

Today some guy told me: "Adapt, don't conform." Iranians, he explained, conform. That's what makes them so frustrated and so depressed. "We have a history of conforming," he tells me. "I adapt. That's why I have managed to maintain my sanity here."