In 1984, while still living in the United States, I wrote a book :”The Best of Washington: The Social Register of the Most Influential People and Establishments in the United States” after having conducted polls, interviewed approximately 20,000 people from all walks of life and religiously observed and followed major social, cultural and political events in America. One of the major findings of the research ascertained that social status in America is deeply and profoundly established upon the magnitude and “elasticity” of the financial power of an individual. Academic credentials and lineage did not necessarily play a major role in adhering social prestige to the persona and social rank of a citizen. Money came first! Today in 2004, the name of the game remained virtually unchanged.
Photos from L to R: #1.From an
Empress to an actress. The late Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiary,
former Empress of Iran. After divorcing the Shah and loosing her throne, she
starred in a motion picture directed by the Italian filmmaker Franco
Indovina who died in a plane crash in 1972. She was considered by many as
one of the prettiest women in the world. From an Empress to an actress.
#2. Grace Kelly. From an actress to princess.
Princess Soraya Esfandiari Bakhtiari, the second wife of the former Shah of Iran, who was renowned for her beauty, was born June 22, 1932, to a German mother and a father who was a member of Iran's powerful Bakhtiari family. She met Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in Tehran, Iran, in 1950, and married him on Feb. 12, 1951, following his divorce from Egyptian Princess Fawzia, sister of King Farouk. In one German television interview, she described their first meeting as ``love at first sight.'' After they failed to have children, the shah divorced her in 1958. Though she lost the title of empress, the shah conferred on her the title of ``royal princess'' at the time of the divorce. Pahlavi later married a French-educated architecture student, Farah, who became empress, bearing four children during their two-decade-long marriage. The shah died of cancer in 1980 after being swept from the throne by the Islamic revolution. One of the shah's daughters, 31-year-old Leila, died in London in June from a drug overdose. After the divorce, Soraya traveled extensively in Europe, aspiring at one point to a movie career. She settled in Paris in the mid-1970s, living in a luxury apartment near the Champs-Elysees. The princess also lived briefly in Mexico after Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979 amid concerns for her safety. The story of her divorce inspired French songwriter Francoise Mallet-Jorris to write ``Je Veux Pleurer Comme Soraya'' (I Want to Cry Like Soraya). She also published an autobiography in 1991, ``Le Palais des Solitudes'' (Palace of Solitude). Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.
Foreigners
are astonished and confused to see, for example, a former judge, a former
prosecutor, a former speaker of the house, a former senator advertising a
product on TV, working as a TV anchor or a radio/TV talk show host. To them,
those Americans have lowered the social and intellectual level of prominence
and respectability
in a civilized society. Foreigners are strongly convinced that Americans “will
do anything for a buck”. In Europe and almost 98% of the world, it is
unconceivable that a former judge will leave the bench to become a TV show
host such as Fox News judge Napolitano and TV Court Catherine Crier,
or a former prosecutor and noted lawyer such as Nancy Grace who stopped
practicing law to became a TV commentator and the host of a talk show. Equally
astonishing to them is to see the former speaker of the house, Tip O’Neil
advertising a product on TV, doing commercials and allowing the commercial
director to take pictures of him, getting out of a buried trunk and flashing
the endorsed product!! The worst illustrative and living example is Ron
Reagan Jr., who instead of embarking on a meaningful profession in
politics and public service, he is doing dog shows on Animal Planet!
The most important factors, foreigners take into consideration, in their
assessment and evaluation of the primordial qualities and “values” of a woman
in a professional and cultural society. The findings are as follows. They were
the results of interviewing approximately 300,000 persons from various
countries.
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