> We don't have anything near as extreme in Western culture.

Of course we do. Just try to have a political debate in your work place (no, please don't) and you'd find out.

Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but I'm sort of under the impression that the Iranian concept applies broadly to most people. I agree with your counterpoint, but I think in America verboten topics are much more domain and context-specific.

I think it depends on how tightly we want to define the context. Social pressure with regard to how someone feels or thinks is obviously a human universal.