The Problem of Small Demands!

In my view, one of the fundamental problems of our society is that “the majority of demands that are raised and pursued at the operational level are very small,” and therefore even if all the demands raised and pursued were realized, no noticeable difference would be made in our surrounding environment and our standard of living. By raising and pursuing “at the operational level,” I mean when those making demands firstly, genuinely want to pursue certain demands, and secondly, genuinely believe that their demands are pursuable and can be realized, even if only partially.

To explain, sometimes demands are raised at the theoretical level, mostly with the aim of calling officials into question. For example, when a public official gives a speech and also allocates time for Q&A or for requests to be made, some audience members who harbor deep resentment toward the official in question may set aside caution and raise certain demands in a sharp tone. In such circumstances, such demand-makers themselves do not do this in the hope that their demands will be met; rather, from their own perspective, they seek to disgrace the official in question. Therefore, the demands they raise are idealistic and bold. For instance, they might say: “What difference is there between us and the people of Scandinavia that they should live in such and such a way and we in such and such a way? Are our God-given resources not several times greater than theirs? And so on...” If you disagree with the author’s claim that those raising such demands cannot themselves even conceive of or digest the demands they have raised, ask them a few simple questions about Scandinavia and the way of life of its people. Do you think they know the answers to those questions? Certainly, if someone’s genuine goal and demand were to make their life resemble the life of the people of the Scandinavian region, the very first steps would involve studying the quantity and quality of their life and how they arrived at those conditions. You who asked them about this, answer: “Have they done any study on this matter?” If they have no study or information regarding their goal and demand, then accept that these are not their “real goals and demands.”

In exactly the same way, when officials raise their demands, requests, and goals at the level of speeches (talk, opinion), they also behave in a highly idealistic manner. For example, they say: “We want our country to be the best country in the world, our people to be the most successful and happiest people in the world, with your cooperation, we will push the boundaries of science, we will become knowledge-based, we will solve all issues and problems, we will become ethics-oriented, we will become a comprehensive role model, and so on.” In such circumstances, such officials also usually utter these words with goals other than “pursuing demands and objectives.” That is, they themselves do not really believe that these ideals are necessarily attainable; rather, they raise such goals and demands mostly with intentions such as giving hope to the people, maintaining and boosting their morale, weakening the morale of enemies, and the like.

In contrast, both the people and officials, when they genuinely pursue demands for their realization at operational levels, their demands are very small and of little value. The same people who, in the realm of talk and protest, boldly tell an official, “Why shouldn’t we live like the people of Scandinavia?” when an opportunity arises, for example at the workplace, to genuinely raise and pursue their demands for realization, they only and exclusively raise short-term trade union and group goals; things like “our salaries should be increased,” “our working hours should be reduced,” “the evaporative cooler isn’t working, install an air conditioner for us,” “you haven’t given us our full paper quota, give it to us,” “give us loans,” and the like, that’s it! When city council elections come around, their entire concern is solely and exclusively that the candidate who is from their own clan and tribe gets elected so that they and their other fellow clan and tribe members’ financial situation improves slightly from what it is now, that’s it! And so on and so forth.

The real demands of officials should also be sought in the laws and regulations, and especially in the "incentive and punishment system" they devise. The very same officials who, when giving speeches, prattle on about becoming knowledge-based, progress and development, welfare, excellence, improving people's lives and the like, organize the reward and punishment system solely and exclusively in pursuit of trivial goals of the kind that increase the statistics of certain quantitative indicators ("increasing the number of articles," "improving the university's rank in rankings," "increasing admission to higher levels," etc.).

Please ponder for a moment the pomp and splendor implicit in this title: "Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution." Certainly, the members of this sublime council speak of very grand goals and ideals during speeches and television interviews, but what do you think would be the conclusion if a space alien were asked to determine, by studying the collection of bylaws this council has approved, what the main goal and demand of this high-sounding council is from the country's roughly 400,000 university instructors and nearly 1 million graduate students? Yes, solely and exclusively "increasing the number of articles and consequently improving the country's rank in this regard," nothing more!

Many (or at least some) university presidents and their vice presidents (here, especially research and financial-administrative vice presidents) and faculty members might be slightly pleased upon reading the paragraph above, but, with apologies, as far as this humble person understands and sees, the problem of "small demands" applies to most of them as well.

What kind of demands do you think are raised in a meeting held by a university's board of directors to approve internal guidelines (research grants, annual promotion, granting incentive base, advancement, etc.)? Usually, on one side of the demands are the university president and his research and financial-administrative vice presidents, and on the other side are the representatives of the faculty members' guild council. Both sides of the dispute, in speeches, interviews, classrooms, etc., speak of grand and sublime goals and ideals, but there, where it is time to influence regulations, the officials' efforts are solely and exclusively summarized in steering the regulations toward "extracting more articles from faculty members," and in contrast, the bargaining of the guild council representatives is also solely and exclusively aimed at steering the regulations toward reducing the pressure on faculty members (to publish articles, hours of presence at the university, etc.) as much as possible and increasing the privileges that are to accrue to them (salary, bonuses, rank promotion, incentive base, research grants, etc.) as much as possible. Sometimes the two sides of the transaction, in those magnificent meeting halls and despite their high-sounding titles, raise the aforementioned small demands so frankly and openly and insist on them that a newcomer who finds himself in such an atmosphere for the first time ... (let's leave it at that). Usually, the only tool the aforementioned two sides use so that they themselves, like the newcomer in question, do not become sickened by this situation is the tool of "jokes and irony," in which they cleverly wrap their small, quantitative, guild-related, financial, short-term demands. Other faculty members, although they generally speak of great things in the classroom, in practice, the pressure they exert on their students is mainly in the direction of "writing articles."

Many (or at least some) students might be delighted upon reading the paragraph above, but with apologies, as far as this humble person sees and understands, the problem of "small demands" applies to most of them as well.

What do you think, if, for example, academic associations found the opportunity to present their demands in a letter to university officials, what requests would they emphasize? Is it anything other than their priorities being certain guild-related, short-term, quantitative, financial demands (things like printers, rooms, budgets, and even "paper quotas!")?! Why go far afield at all?! Don't you agree that if it were possible to collect and categorize all the demands raised by all students, the most frequent and most popular requests would be things like "Professor, don't tire yourself out!", "increasing holidays", "making exams easier", "reducing course units", "reducing tuition", "increasing loans", "deferring loan repayments", "improving the quality of cafeteria food and reducing its price," and the like?

Many teachers may not have disliked reading the paragraphs above (especially the paragraph concerning faculty members), but as far as this humble person sees and understands, the problem of “small demands” applies to most of them as well.

Incidentally, teachers are one of the truly oppressed classes in society (alongside many other oppressed classes), who have, in any case, raised and publicized their demands from time to time. Let them judge for themselves: has the central theme of their demands been anything other than “salary increases,” “becoming permanent employees,” “payment of arrears,” and the like? Has anyone ever seen teachers, even once, prioritize demands such as “increasing the effectiveness of the public education system,” “strengthening course content,” “pursuing the goal of increasing students’ interest in learning and studying within planning,” “taking students’ talents into account,” and the like? I do not know; perhaps it has been so and this humble person is simply unaware.

Many students (or at least some of them) may have felt gratified reading the paragraph above, but with apologies, as far as this humble person sees and understands, the problem of “small demands” applies to most of them as well. Since their situation is very similar to that of university students, I will refrain from repeating it.

Many people whose connection to the education system was severed very early on may have felt pleased as a result of reading the paragraphs above, but with apologies, as far as this humble person sees and understands, the problem of “small demands” applies to most people who are always on the scene as well.

Yes, the majority of our people (including the groups previously mentioned), despite asking God in their prayers for the healing of all the sick, the settling down of all young people, the resolution of all the afflicted’s problems, the pride of the Muslim community, the progress and development of the country, the preparation of conditions for the reappearance of the Imam of the Age (aj), and the like, at times when a real demand could truly be pursued (even in a limited way), focus all their efforts on demands that, with apologies, are extremely trivial.

Suppose, tomorrow morning when we wake up, all our real demands have been fulfilled; what do you think our situation would be like? Would we be better off? Let us pursue this supposition in more detail.

First, let us suppose each of the above demands has been fulfilled separately. For example, suppose right now, as you are reading this text, the number of our country’s articles is 200,000 instead of 55,000, and our country’s rank is third in the world instead of sixteenth. Do you think it would have any effect on the state of me, the writer, and you, the reader? Suppose the president of the university where we are active (whether as an official, a faculty member, an employee, or a student) has succeeded, by implementing a stricter system of reward and punishment, in extracting a much larger number of articles from each faculty member and graduate student, and thereby improved the university’s rank in ranking systems; would we be better off? Conversely, suppose the student union representatives have succeeded in reducing the pressure on faculty members and increasing their salaries and benefits; would we, as a result, be closer to the lofty ideals and goals they talk about in speeches and interviews? And so on and so forth. Certainly, with the fulfillment of each small, quantitative, guild-based, material, short-term demand, a few individuals’ situations will become slightly better than before, but what about the state of society? What about the state of those compatriots who, every day before our eyes, bend waist-deep into trash bins? What about those who sell tissues at intersections in the winter cold and summer heat? Will the fulfillment of these small demands have the slightest effect on the desire for “the pride of the Muslim community”? If, by an impossible supposition (which is not impossible to suppose), all our small, quantitative, guild-based, material, short-term demands could be fulfilled together, would we be even a tiny bit closer to the “conditions for the reappearance of the Savior of the End Times”?

Now let us suppose that all the small demands of all of us were met together; how much do you think our condition would change? Reflecting on this supposition brings up another aspect of the problem of our demands, which needs to be addressed on another occasion.

Many readers who agree with the general thrust of the above (i.e., the problem that exists in most of our demands) may consider the main aspect of the problem of our demands to be other things, such as "being selfish (everyone only thinks of themselves)," but for me, the most important characteristic of the general demands we actually pursue (whether the people or the authorities) is their "smallness" (read: pettiness). How is it possible for an 80-million-strong nation, the majority of whom pursue very small desires, to be transformed? Desires that, even if all of them were realized at a level of 200%, would still make no noticeable difference to the condition of society and the people.

I hope this text will prompt potential readers to reflect and create deep, transformative questions in their minds.

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The Problem of Small Demands!

Author: Vahid Ehsani

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