If you haven’t had your head buried in the proverbial sand the past few weeks, you’d be semi-aware that there’s turmoil in the fertile crescent. Is it the fertile crescent? Maybe not, but you understand where I’m going with this, hopefully.
The big news is Iran’s recent election and I have to say, I’m getting my feet wet in this whole debate. I haven’t seen any lashing out on the internets yet, but I’ll give it time (if there’s any time to give it).
Here’s the scoop (in famous “As I Understand it…” speak): Iran’s kind-of a democracy. They had an election and it was the same old ignorant, bloodthirsty douche; versus an artist and architect who hasn’t been in politics for 20 odd years. He used to be Prime Minister of Iran (until Iran decided “fuck it” and the position was never spoken of again).
Mousavi taking advantage of the local peep-show.
The same-old-douche in question here is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the artsy, progressive newcomer is Mir-Hossein Mousavi. I’m not living in Iran (because I’m using a computer) so I can only go on what I’ve read, but it seems that this Mousavi guy is legit, so I’ll give him the benefit.
His positions and ideas seem to be on the level; but who knows?
If only their election were SEXY!
The protests on the part of the people of Iran come two-fold. The breaking point was the hypothetically fraudulent election in which Ahmadinejad came out with a staggering victory before the votes were even counted. The follow up is the fucktastic human rights violations and press bannings going on in the country right now.
Mousavi’s campaign color was green, and that’s why a load of the internet community (especially Twitter) is “going green” to show that even they can do the least they can do.
Because of Iran’s current ban on media coverage and journalism, we can only get information via social networking sites like Twitter…along with serious media outlets who just say “fuck that” and report anyway.
I must say, I haven’t seen a display of protest this encouraging since the Presidential Election of 2000.
…if you tack on enthusiasm, passion, actually fighting for something real, and an attention span that doesn’t come crashing and burning to the ground once the media stops giving a shit.
Other than those things, the comparison is 100% accurate.
I do think the effort on the part of we Americans to jump head-first onto the bandwagon is fairly noble, considering most (if not all) of us have no idea what the fuck we’re talking about.
This is Iran’s battle. It’s important that we let the young go-getters over there know that we’re behind them and fully support what they’re doing; but, what are you going to do when the 23-year old Iranian you’re following on Twitter is beaten to death by a hired army?
Will you go over and fight on his behalf? Eh, maybe you’ll wait for the next massive Middle Eastern Revolution. Can’t be too far off, right?
Pope and Ayatollah call for ULTIMATE Trading Spaces!
One of the things I haven’t heard much discussion about is the Ayatollah. Aside from the passive mentions of his/its recent speech, declaring his support for Ahmadinejad and condemnation for the protestors, there’s really no bloggings about his tyranny.
Could it be that we aren’t looking at the big picture? Unless the Ayatollah is dealt with, there can be no real freedom in the region.
Again, these are the words of an American citizen who really has no clue what’s happening over there, but when your country has a Supreme fucking Leader, you best believe that the President of said country is only a mouthpiece for Big Brother.
Ahmadinejad has already won; but he is not the head of the beast. He is merely the forked tongue.
The intelligent people of Iran know this. Most of them love their religion and want to keep it; but the more civilized of them recognize this and want to keep it seperate from their daily lives.
I can’t speak for any Iranians. I can only offer that in a country struggling to be free from religion, our passive Twittering is envied.
But perhaps this whole Iran Twitter thing is just another craze that will fade in the coming weeks. Maybe not.
Hopefully we are in this for the long haul. Hopefully we have the strength in numbers to keep them motivated while they inevitably suffer under the hands of their Supreme Leader.
Or maybe the MAC geeks on Twitter are just looking for another craze that starts with an “I.”
iPod. iPhone. iRan.
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