# RIP Mohsen Amir-Aslani **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 4, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411 "2014-10-04T22:09:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/61 "2014-10-05T10:12:30Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Since I don’t feel like violating Pit rules > > بورینگ After going to google translate: lol. > [@elucidator](#): > > Revolution is the choice of desperate people, because all bets are off. Your children are at risk, your parents, those you love, everybody. The odds are seldom in your favor, and to win, you likely will have to abandon every shred of decency. Because if you are so desperate that revolution is your only option, the other guys already have abandoned theirs. > > We should not be quick to disdain people who cannot face such a daunting threat. Many a man will risk his life in a just cause, but his children? The moment of revolution is the moment when the Abyss stares into you. And I will not condemn any man because he trembles on the brink, and his courage fails. That was pretty… ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/62 "2014-10-05T12:01:45Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, and Libya don’t rhyme with cafeteria. > > Oh, you meant Syria. The outcome is still in doubt. Assad is not what one would call “in control”, and so long as he is not your point is noted but is not a refutation. I am afraid you do not know anything of the recent history of this region. The Algerians refute this idea, and so does even the Libya and the Egypt. Only Tunisia has support to this idea. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/63 "2014-10-05T13:13:53Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Well, one has to point out that part of the process came to be thanks to Britain and the USA helping to put the Sha in power. . Yep. And we can include the French when we expand our view to countries further west. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/64 "2014-10-05T13:18:55Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > …That was pretty… Well, fucked it up, I guess… ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/65 "2014-10-05T13:29:57Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > This has to be the most idiotic definition of government popularity I’ve ever seen… quite, “Sure she _says_ I was raping her but hey, she never wrestled the knife from my hand or put me in a choke-hold so she must’ve been into it” ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/66 "2014-10-05T13:51:59Z")
\*\*RIP Mohsen Amir-Aslani \*\*At first I thought: An RIP thread that _started_ in the Pit? That’s odd.Then I read some of the responses, and it looks like Ibn Warraq knew what he was doing when he placed it here. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/67 "2014-10-05T13:52:42Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Sadly enough, this isn’t the dumbest post on this thread but it’s still extraordinarily stupid. > > Velayat-e faqih in the 1970s not the 16th Century. > > Also there are no other Muslim countries rules by Velayat-e faqih. > > Perhaps you’re thinking of Saudi Arabia or Sudan, which are ruled by Salafists. > > The founder of Salafism, Muhammad Abd Al Wahhab(hence the slur Wahhabi) was an 18th Century figure. > > Beyond that, out of the 57 or more countries with Muslim majority populations I’m only about those three and arguably Pakistan, can be called “theocracies” to the best of my knowledge, and even that is somewhat questionable. > > If you wish to insult Muslims or Iranians please do your homework. > > Thanks All this for a cheesy one-liner pointing out the barbaric, anti-secular rule of _modern_ Muslim theocratic governments. Had I simply typed “cultural relativism” you probably would have applauded me for my “clear understanding.” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/68 "2014-10-05T14:53:23Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > That was pretty… > [@elucidator](#): > > Well, fucked it up, I guess… **Nava** ’s English skills are so proficient, it’s sometimes easy to forget that her first language is Spanish. Even so, I’d consider it risky to attribute her choice of words to her mother tongue. Be that as if may, in my estimation, you didn’t fuck anything up at all. I (and I’m sure many others) found your post to be powerful, compassionate, and moving. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/69 "2014-10-05T15:02:54Z")
I printed it out, framed it, and hung in my living room. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/70 "2014-10-05T15:40:13Z")
Oh, stop it, _you!_ ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/71 "2014-10-05T16:44:46Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > In the M.E., the evidence is that you are likely to end up with something worse, for the average person. No need even to invoke Iraq-- the process that put the mullahs in power in Iran was, let us remember, a revolution. That is the country we’re talking about in this thread. Yes. If you want to see the likely results of the Arab Spring, look at ISIS. Or, at best, Mohamed Morsy. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/72 "2014-10-05T16:55:14Z")
Re: Iran, everything I’ve seen suggests that the regime there is, as Frank suggests, broadly popular. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/73 "2014-10-05T16:58:04Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > Yes. If you want to see the likely results of the Arab Spring, look at ISIS. Or, at best, Mohamed Morsy. Yeah, but, Morsi was freely elected. So all the liberals who were tearing up saying “they want democracy just like us!” need to wipe their eyes and their asses. In the Middle East you aren’t getting away from Islam as the central driving force, culturally and politically. To, as I beat the dead horse, their obvious detriment. ---
**Author:** ![JesterX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JesterX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JesterX)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/74 "2014-10-05T17:15:10Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Yeah, but, Morsi was freely elected. So all the liberals who were tearing up saying “they want democracy just like us!” need to wipe their eyes and their asses. > > In the Middle East you aren’t getting away from Islam as the central driving force, culturally and politically. To, as I beat the dead horse, their obvious detriment. Oh come on… Morsi was elected democratically but he almost IMMEDIATELY went the opposite of democracy as soon as he got into power. And it was bogus anyway because even if he HAD gone full democratic, the Egyptian military remained autonomous and independent ready to throw him out the second he did anything to threaten them. Egypt was NEVER a real democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/75 "2014-10-05T17:33:27Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > Re: Iran, everything I’ve seen suggests that the regime there is, as Frank suggests, broadly popular. That’s a stretch, I think. More accurate to say that the theocrats have a genuine constituency - traditionally among the urban poor and pious bazaaris. It’s not a thuggocracy like the former Hussein regime in Iraq, where you would have been hard-pressed to find any constituency outside of maybe Tikritis. But that is a far cry from “broadly popular.” Indeed Iran is a very young country demographically and it appears that distance from the 1979 Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War is breeding greater disillusionment with the powers that be. We’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/76 "2014-10-05T17:59:01Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > That’s a stretch, I think. More accurate to say that the theocrats have a genuine constituency - traditionally among the urban poor and pious bazaaris. It’s not a thuggocracy like the former Hussein regime in Iraq, where you would have been hard-pressed to find any constituency outside of maybe Tikritis. But that is a far cry from “broadly popular.” Indeed Iran is a very young country demographically and it appears that distance from the 1979 Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War is breeding greater disillusionment with the powers that be. We’ll see. It will only be a young country for another generation, though. They have a below-replacement fertility rate now (by some estimates, lower than America’s.) I might well be wrong about the regime’s popularity though. [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2127.html](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2127.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/77 "2014-10-05T18:00:03Z")
Whether or not the regime is popular, of course, goes without saying: no one should die for religious heresy, and no one, whatever their crime, should be sentenced to die by slow strangulation. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/78 "2014-10-05T19:47:24Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > **Nava** ’s English skills are so proficient, it’s sometimes easy to forget that her first language is Spanish. Even so, I’d consider it risky to attribute her choice of words to her mother tongue. > > Be that as if may, in my estimation, you didn’t fuck anything up at all. I (and I’m sure many others) found your post to be powerful, compassionate, and moving. You used longer words than me, but “moving” is basically what I meant. My family kind of made a custom of taking up arms against our governments for about 150 years: it was after centuries of putting up with those governments using our laws for toilet paper, it was because things had gotten to explosion point, and it was time and again because _none of the uprisings ever solved anything_, not for any longer than it took for the ink to dry on the peace treaty. If “we don’t like the government” was enough reason to grab down Pa’s gun from the mantle, there’s parts of Spain that would have been razed down to the ground by now… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/79 "2014-10-05T20:51:11Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Since I don’t feel like violating Pit rules > > بورینگ [Moderating] **Ibn** , while I appreciate the note you sent me explaining your meaning here, we do ask that posters use English on the boards, as we can’t moderate what we can’t read. No warning issued, but please avoid doing this sort of thing in the future. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/80 "2014-10-05T21:29:53Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > [Moderating] > **Ibn** , while I appreciate the note you sent me explaining your meaning here, we do ask that posters use English on the boards, as we can’t moderate what we can’t read. No warning issued, but please avoid doing this sort of thing in the future. > [/Moderating] My mistake, and that makes sense. I won’t do it in the future. For the record, I didn’t type out “fuck you” or some similar phrase in Farsi. What I actually said in the post in Farsi was “boring”, as a joke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411.md?page=5)