19th
I hope I don’t come across as more of a prick and asshole than usual here but I’m not sure what we’re seeing in Iran.
I agree that we’re seeing a lot of young people expressing their anger and resentment and desire for change. These brave souls - and I think they are nothing if not brave and a also little righteous - are risking life for the pursuit of liberty and happiness. I sit here, comfortable in my western lifestyle and struggling to remember how long it’s been since I felt the hot passion for justice burn so hot I needed to do something. Needed to march, scream, protest, fight. It’s been a long time.
But we’ve got a double dose of observational bias - actually a triple dose - acting here. First off, we’ve got our own prejudices coloring what we see. Then we’ve got the media choosing what to show us, framing their narratives in ways that are compelling and speak to their audience. Finally and most significantly, we only see the young people who are expressing their anger and resentment.
We don’t see any of the young people who think things have been hunky-dory under the mullahs, who think the regime is swell. Are they a small minority? Or are they, to repurpose a hideous moniker, a silent majority? We don’t know and really can’t know. We can’t know because Iran isn’t open. Which, depending on the answer, might be very ironic. If the protesters represent a relatively small and vocal minority, it would be in Iran’s best interests to show us that. But that would require them to be an open and free society. And who’d be protesting then?
What I see in the streets are young people, most of them under the age of 30, who want change in Iran. They want to listen to popular music and go to movies and be more Westernized. They were born after the Shah’s regime and they see government under the mullahs as oppressive. They want a freer, more secular government. They’re willing to die to end the oppression. From my vantage point, after 30 years following events in Iran, this is a real sea change. I believe it’s going to become a bloody mess before everything is over, and I think in the end the religious extremists will win. But this is as much a cultural revolution as a political one. The courage of this young person is deeply moving. I wish them well.
via trapesemusic
