So I wake up this morning, eagerly coming to this site to see how the Straight Dope nation would pillory the sham “election” being held today in Iran.
I couldn’t wait to see how non-American Dopers, many of whom delight in chiding America for its religious issues, would boldly denounce the Iranian mullahs for running the country into the ground with religious diktats and crushing of dissent.
And today, these same unelected religious totalitarians will solidify their rule in an obviously one-sided vote. These hard-line clerics will have shut down liberal/reform media outlets, and will have barred reformist candidates from running. There’s no other way to describe it - it’s a sham “election” designed solely to put a cloak of “legitimacy” on the rule of totalitarians.
And yet, despite this hammer blow to the dignity of the Iranian people, I don’t see one fucking word of protest from you, the Straight Dope nation?
Pathetic. And you really think you’re fighting ignorance? Yeah, right.
I’m with you on this. I had been wanting to start a thread on this for the last few weeks, but simply never got around to it. From what I’ve been reading, it seems that the people there have pretty much given up hope. Hardly anyone protests anymore.
Usually I scream and yell when people boycott elections because they are making it easier for the other side but were there even any MODERATE candidates who passed muster with the ayatollahs?
In response to the OP, hell, YEAH, I’m pissed about it but I’ve pretty much given up hope, too.
That’s fine for American Dopers. What’s the excuse for those international Dopers, who are either well into Friday evening or have had all day to post?
Furthermore, we’ve all known about how the reformist candidates were barred, and about how liberal/reform media have been suppressed by the mullahs, for quite a while now. The board has had plenty of time to register complaints.
As progressive as this board purports to be, as much as it claims to support human rights, it ought to be up in arms over this “election.” It ought to be up in arms over the crushing of dissent. It ought to be up in arms over the attempt to solidify the rule of the few Islamic religious totalitarians over the many Iranian people.
The board is full of shit.
(Note: For all those folks who’ll call me an asshole for posting this, I won’t be able to respond until Sunday, as I’ve got to hit the road and go out of town this weekend. Gotta watch my Tar Heels pound Florida State this weekend.)
Iran has been a finely-balanced place for some time - about a decade, I suppose. Khatami held a great deal of promise and it is sad to see the reformers pushed into a situation where they pretty much have to boycott the elections. Their cause is not yet defeated. It may well be that the turnout is so low that any notion of electoral legitimacy is laughable (which is the hope the liberals are reduced to). But that would mean blood on the streets, with no guarantee that the forces of light - beleaguered as they are through the huge free-kick given to the forces of isolationism by the clod-hopperish “axis of evil” rantings coming from your foolish government - will survive, yet alone win.
What is the point of putting the Iranian election in the stocks? What do you propose should be done? What - if any - were the policy failures? If this is just a fucked up situation, can we learn anything from it? These would all be questions deserving of serious answers. But this thread is not.
You yourself say that you post this in the Pit, GoHeels, as a way of having a dip at “non-American dopers”. Yours is just pseudo-truculent wen-picking. This is you boldly denouncing me for what? holding fears? waiting to see what happens? hoping that the US policy will bear really unexpected fruit?
Your sincere concern for good governance for the people of Iran is quite undetectable in your post.
How incredibly stupid. Yes, this election is a problem. Why the fuck didn’t YOU start a thread about the election?
Instead, you decided to try to turn it into a jab at liberals. That’s the most ridiculously fucked-up smear I’ve heard yet, worse than december’s smears.
Theocracy is terrible whether abroad or at home.
The difference is, a thread about Iran’s theocracy isn’t going to do any good. We’re not going to invade them to change their system, and we’re not going to persuade anyone relevant not to go along with their theocracy.
Our attentions are much better focused on minimizing theocracy here in the US.
That said, if you’ve got something useful to say about the sham elections in yet another dictatorship, I’d be happy to hear them. So far, you’ve just given out mewling condemnations of your political enemies, turned a foreign tragedy into a furtherance of your petty domestic squabbles.
goheels, why haven’t you led the charge on this issue by posting about it in GD? Why are you traipsing around dealing in something so irrelevant as college athletics while you could be in Iran, trying to make a difference? Or at least leading protests in this country? Instead, you’re posting stuff implying that we’re pathetic because we’re not doing anything. You want us to deal with this so you don’t have to? :rolleyes:
(as an aside, I’ve been following this story nearly daily for about a month. IMHO, it’s up to the Iranian people to decide when they’re not going to take it anymore. They’ve got the desire and the means, but they seem to lack the will. Who’s going to provide that? I don’t think it can come from the outside)
Maybe we’re all too busy holding our breaths hoping nothing blows up. hawthorne expressed the situation beautifully. Iran keeps a very delicate balance between freedom and dictatorship, and no one wants to see the progress toward moderation in the last 10 years because some American jackass decided to run his mouth.
Iran deserves peaceful elections, and peaceful protests (like the mass resignations, the marches), and so far, they’re doing okay on their own. Not great, but it could be much, much worse.
The last thing I want in a moderate Islamic state is civil war, so I’m hoping the election process works, at least enough to form a stable government.
:rolleyes:
I read a lot of stupid things on this board, but only the things having to do with international relations actually frighten me.
China - Secular dictatorship - Trade partner and friendly relations with US/Europe
Turkey - Theocratic democracy - Member of the EU, ally of the US/Europe
Russia - Secular one-ticket democracy - Trade partner, friendly relations
Saudi Arabia - Theocratic dictatorship - Ally
Shall we discuss the recent political assassinations in the Netherlands and Sweden? Shall we discuss the definition of the word “delicate”?
With apologies to the first Doper who said this, read a book, I’ve eaten things smarter than you. Start with this one.
This is so stupid it makes me want to kick my dog. It seems you genuinely don’t comprehend the distinctly unpalatable irony of some arrogant whistledick with a chip on his shoulder pitting everyone who speaks out against the Christian Coalition Circle jerk engulfing America for not doing something he should have done himself.
There are two options. Either GoHeels was genuinely eager to discuss the Iranian election but, being too lazy to open a thread himself, pitted everyone else for not doing what he didnt, in which case he’s a hypocrite. Or he never had any interest whatsoever in discussing the Iranian election and was just itching to score cheap points, in which case he’s a sanctimonious asshole.
Pointing this out is not tantamount to whining “I know you are but what am I?”.
Feel free to print out this post, roll it into a tight cylinder and stick it into your rectum so you can break the vacuum keeping your fucking head up there.
My Iranian co-worker just got a call from her sister telling her that only 5% of the population turned out for the election. Which she was extremely happy about because she says it will force more positive change in the country.
I haven’t seen a report on washingtonpost.com and haven’t got time to look anywhere else right now for a cite of this.
Actually, my mistake. I thought it was the OP who said that (in which case my post makes perfect sense). Obviously, since you were adressing him, I’ll just go wipe this egg off my face.
