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The Perks of Having a Bush Cassette In A High School In Iran, Circa 1997
The following event happened about 23 years ago. Sorry for the high school dear diary language in advance.
Tyranny of the Righteous Path
Iran circa the Spice Girls heat. A high school in the suburbs of Tehran, Iran. As a high school kid, I usually found myself fed up with disturbing sermons and bizarre pointless rituals with almost no one to turn to. Even in the private company of fellow classmates, things were not that different. We were almost unanimously doomed to be brainwashed and programmed with the constant stream of the righteous path. Some of us felt lucky to be living in “God’s most beloved land”. Needless to say, The Iranian government does not completely approve of Western music. There are assignments for every single hour of your life. There is very little time to be wasted with trivial unnecessary West-influenced nonsense such as watching a James Bond movie, listening to music, or even hanging out in the city with your girlfriend. All three are punished with fines if you are unlucky.
During the summer before the school started, my cousin brought herself a few CDs: Two Bush albums (1994’s Sixteen Stone and 1996’s Razorblade Suitcase), Green Day’s Insomniac (1995), The…
