Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran?
Just think, it wasn't too long ago that the headlines sung with tunes like "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran". But then what happened? Politics creates some strange bedfellows and Iran is no exception. In this case, after the protests began, the IRI government shut down news coverage and citizens took to the net; they twittered and posted videos, called CNN on shoddy coverage, and around the world, individuals organized proxies to help Iranians get information out. Avatars are turning green as a show of solidarity. Can you imagine what might have happened if Twitter had existed in 1989 for Tiananmen Square?
“We have no national press coverage in Iran, everyone should help spread [Mir-Hossein] Mousavi's message. One Person = One Broadcaster.” -- mousavi1388 on Twitter
The Iranian protesters provided the best reason why the internet should remain open and accessible for everyone (maybe our military will have full access someday). But the one post that got to me was:
"I saw a tweet that, with a depth of irony that is hard to fully grasp, pointed out the ridiculousness of CNN. As an obviously rigged election in one of the world’s most important countries was being perpetrated, America’s oldest 24-hour news network was reporting primarily about how confusing the new fangled digital TVs were.
"I had seen in 2000, the first presidential election for which I was truly cognizant, how legitimate claims of voter suppression were ignored by the mainstream media as conspiracy theory. As a native of Ohio, I saw similar legitimate claims from my home state brushed under the rug.
"If the media failed, the populace was complicit. There were no protests that rocked the stability of our government. No mass movements against the subversion of our democracy."
When 2004 exit polling didn't match US voting results, we were told "polls" couldn't be trusted. However a few months earlier, exit polls in Georgia didn't match voting results and polls were used as proof of election rigging, with the US willing to defend their right to fair elections.
What make Iran so compelling now is that we'll vicariously support others to do what most of us wouldn't do. But does that also include supporting CIA and NED destabilization programs in other nations -- or does that even matter?
"It took some years and considerable resistance but relentless economic persecution and 30,000 dead finally undermined the spirit of the Nicaraguan people. They were exhausted and poverty stricken once again. The casinos moved back into the country. Free health and free education were over. Big business returned with a vengeance. 'Democracy' had prevailed." -- Harold Pinter, Art, Truth, & Politics
There probably is more than two sides to this (and I'm not discounting the sincerity or condoning violence used against protesters).
"I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory.
"If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us - the dignity of man. -- Harold Pinter, Art, Truth & Politics
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