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The Shah himself was uncomfortable in the role of the martyr. His character favoured acts of heroism. He wanted to be a winner, as he had been at the school sports tournaments at Lucerne. His European education prevented him from understanding the psychology of his own people. He did not know that the Persians instinctively suspected and disliked the strong, the winner and the hero. They obeyed Reza Shah but never loved him: now they loved Mohammad-Reza Shah but did not wish to obey him. The Shah's almost pathological dislike for what he saw as "filthy politics" prevented him from understanding the necessity – not to say the legitimacy – of flattering at least a part of popular prejudices. (p. 70) (it) |
