Iran's Boldest, Craziest, Most Ironic Voter Today!
#1
Love.Love.Love.


[Image: tehran.jpg]

An Iranian democracy activist doesn't have any good choices today. Protesting seems to be off the table, and after the violence many activists suffered in 2009, it's not hard to understand why. Voting is an unattractive option, since the regime is clearly using today's vote in an attempt to boost their own legitimacy, and participating would help them out. But boycotting is never an effective choice, since it only ensures the activists will further marginalize themselves. And, even if candidates range on the ideological spectrum "from pitch black to dark gray," as Karim Sadjadpour told the New York Times, that's still a chance to effect some tiny change. The dilemma seemed to trouble even opposition figure and former President Mohammad Khatami, who first called for a boycott and then ended up voting, enraging some activists who saw it as a betrayal.

So you've got to hand it to the young man in this photo, who seemed to figure out a clever way to protest the election -- wearing the flag of his government's #1 enemy -- while still making sure his vote is included. It's a small but brave way to thumb his nose at the system without excluding himself entirely, as boycotters did today.

There are also some subtle, though perhaps unintended, cultural factors at play in this photo. Yes, the Iranian government regularly and consistently depicts America and all things Western as the most severe mortal threats to Iran. It's not enough to hate American foreign policy: Western music, Western literature, even Western hairstyles are treated as tentacles of the great American menace. And, yes, Iranian nationalism is a real cultural force, including among reformers and democratic activists, and that nationalism often includes a certain hostility toward the U.S., which is after all destroying their economy with sanctions. Wearing an American flag on election day suggests a rejection of the anti-Americanism that undergirds Khamenei's narrative of the Iran-West conflict, and that conflict after all undergirds much of the regime's legitimacy.

Or maybe he just thought it would be funny to wear a Toby Keith shirt on election day. Because foreign media in Iran are even more restricted than usual today, and because Iran's repressive laws and cruel security services make honest public discussion so difficult, we can't really know.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international...ay/253915/
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#2
It must piss us off that Iran is a freely elected democracy, reflecting the will of the people. There must be something highly threatening to us about that, too. It comes across as highly hypocritical, as well.
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#3
(03-02-2012, 02:12 PM)PonderThis Wrote: It must piss us off that Iran is a freely elected democracy, reflecting the will of the people. There must be something highly threatening to us about that, too. It comes across as highly hypocritical, as well.

In all honesty, I believe their choices are very limited but, yes, they get to vote.
I had a fairly close friend from Iran while I lived in New York.
According to him, the Iranian people LOVE the American people, they despise both their government and our government for making things so difficult.
This guy's tee shirt makes me kinda laugh/kinda cry.
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#4
I believe our own choices are very limited as well, but we still claim what a flag waving democracy it is.
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#5
(03-02-2012, 02:25 PM)PonderThis Wrote: I believe our own choices are very limited as well, but we still claim what a flag waving democracy it is.

True.
Ours is just put in a prettier package. Sad
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#6
(03-02-2012, 02:22 PM)Clone Wrote:
(03-02-2012, 02:12 PM)PonderThis Wrote: It must piss us off that Iran is a freely elected democracy, reflecting the will of the people. There must be something highly threatening to us about that, too. It comes across as highly hypocritical, as well.

In all honesty, I believe their choices are very limited but, yes, they get to vote.
I had a fairly close friend from Iran while I lived in New York.
According to him, the Iranian people LOVE the American people, they despise both their government and our government for making things so difficult.
This guy's tee shirt makes me kinda laugh/kinda cry.
My local Iranian friend here on the other side of this country has pretty much told me the same to the word. The majority are Persians too.

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#7
I too hate the Iranian government and distrust ours.
But the people are great.
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#8
I just thought of this. Why do we blame others (like the government) for our pain? In Egypt it is not a prehistoric society. They are as modernized as us in certain areas. If people work on issues that directly affect them instead of other countries issues, more personal feelings will be touched upon, instead of becoming a hard headed suicide bomber and pointing to an unknown agent.

When these groups of hoodlums burn a flag or take someone hostage, they do not know what they are doing. Most Americans don't even care about them and what they have to say. It's hard to forgive what they do.

The only way out is some strong diplomacy. We have to communicate with them. Not just the big leaders. The average person too. We can't hide behind our weapons. They have to see us as human.
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