# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/81 "2014-10-05T21:48:44Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > Yes. If you want to see the likely results of the Arab Spring, look at ISIS. Or, at best, Mohamed Morsy. Wrong ISIS grew in Syria, where there was NO overthrowing, Assad is still in power. A better lesson is look at what happens when regimes are not overthrown such as in Syria, it does NOT always result in instability. I take Libya, Egypt, Tunisia over Syria any day. According to the Economist’s Democracy Index, those former countries score much better than under their old regimes. Syria is ranked dead last in region. It is false that these nations are less democratic. Mohammed Morsi was elected, unlike Bashar Assad. ---
**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, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/82 "2014-10-05T21:51:12Z")
It was not even in the Farsi it was just English in the script. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/83 "2014-10-05T21:57:38Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Emphasis added. You see, there are degrees of unpopularity and Frank would have us think that it’s simply a binary situation. But for the word “popular” to be meaningful, it must mean that the most people prefer it. A government that stuffs the ballot box cannot be said to be “popular” in any meaningful sense of the word. > > It may not be so unpopular that people are willing to start a revolution, but that’s not the same thing as being “popular”. Are you sure you know what the word “popular” means? Because it doesn’t mean “overwhelmingly popular” or “most popular”. Red Hot Chili Peppers is a popular band, but they aren’t beloved by over 50% of the population, for example. The iPhone is a popular phone, but it doesn’t have 51%+ of the market for cel phones. Popular doesn’t mean “most people support it”, it just means a lot of people support it. ---
**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, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/84 "2014-10-05T22:11:35Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > It was not even in the Farsi it was just English in the script. Unfortunately, I can’t read or write in Farsi if my life depended on it and my spoken Farsi is perhaps slightly better than my Russian. I just used google translate. ---
**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, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/85 "2014-10-05T22:16:48Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Are you sure you know what the word “popular” means? Because it doesn’t mean “overwhelmingly popular” or “most popular”. Red Hot Chili Peppers is a popular band, but they aren’t beloved by over 50% of the population, for example. The iPhone is a popular phone, but it doesn’t have 51%+ of the market for cel phones. > > Popular doesn’t mean “most people support it”, it just means a lot of people support it. Answered [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736359) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/86 "2014-10-05T22:23:50Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Answered [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736359) No, not really. I quoted the post I was commenting on. Now you seem to be confused over what the word “popular” means AND over what is being discussed. I’ll ask again: are you sure you understand what the word “popular” means? It weird because sometimes you seem to and sometimes you don’t. For instance, in the post I quoted, you said that unpopularity has degrees, but you don’t seem to make the same allowance for popularity. ---
**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, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/87 "2014-10-05T22:33:25Z")
Let’s not hijack this thread about that when there is a perfectly good thread devoted specifically to that topic. I’m not going to reply to any further posts on that subject in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/88 "2014-10-05T22:35:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Let’s not hijack this thread about that when there is a perfectly good thread devoted specifically to that topic. I’m not going to reply to any further posts on that subject in this thread. Yeah because by now maybe you’ve figured out that don’t really know what the word “popular” means. Not sure why you’re being so idiotic about this, but there it is. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/89 "2014-10-05T23:35:41Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Yeah because by now maybe you’ve figured out that don’t really know what the word “popular” means. Not sure why you’re being so idiotic about this, but there it is. Or, you could go to the other thread and clarify the word to your heart’s content. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/90 "2014-10-05T23:39:11Z")
I could, yes, but I choose not to. I’d rather see **John** defend his comments where he made them. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/91 "2014-10-05T23:44:15Z")
OK I get it. Going for the title, are you? You’ll prolly have to work the judges a bit; “worst thing in the thread” is a pretty low bar to dive under… ---
**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 6, 2014, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/92 "2014-10-06T00:09:28Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > It was not even in the Farsi it was just English in the script. > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Unfortunately, I can’t read or write in Farsi if my life depended on it and my spoken Farsi is perhaps slightly better than my Russian. I just used google translate. It sure does look just like the English word “boring” written in arabic script. ---
**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 6, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/93 "2014-10-06T01:40:31Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It sure does look just like the English word “boring” written in arabic script. It’s been awhile since I used google translate so I could have made a mistake and my father never taught me Farsi. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/94 "2014-10-06T04:29:26Z")
No, you are right about its being Farsi/Persian script rather than Arabic; most of the letters do look like typical Arabic _naskh_-style script, but the final “g” character is a Farsi/Persian letter, not an Arabic one. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/95 "2014-10-06T04:34:23Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Well, fucked it up, I guess… > [@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. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > I printed it out, framed it, and hung in my living room. > [@elucidator](#): > > Oh, stop it, _you!_ I hate you guys. I think the word I was looking for was poignant, but it’s one of those that I can write but not pronounce and which I’m never sure if it means what I think it means. Specifically, [definitions 2b and 3b](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poignant): it made a strong impression and was apt and to the point. And poetic too, so there 😛 (that one I know what it means). ---
**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 6, 2014, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/96 "2014-10-06T05:44:36Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > No, you are right about its being Farsi/Persian script rather than Arabic; most of the letters do look like typical Arabic _naskh_-style script, but the final “g” character is a Farsi/Persian letter, not an Arabic one. OK, Persian script instead of Arabic, but it’s a transliteration of the English word, not a translation. ---
**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 6, 2014, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/97 "2014-10-06T05:52:26Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > OK, Persian script instead of Arabic, but it’s a transliteration of the English word, not a translation. Well, no more using google translate when drinking for me then. Anyway, I already promised Miller I wouldn’t be posting stuff not in English anyway. Does ruin the joke though. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411/98 "2014-10-06T09:13:14Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Heresy isn’t a crime, it is a duty. If there is such a thing as the Truth, it will survive criticism. Doubt is as holy as faith, as a prophylactic against self-righteous fanaticism. Well said. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mohsen-amir-aslani/700411.md?page=4)