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Iran Cracks Down on Bloggers
Wired News is reporting that dozens of Iranian Bloggers have been met with harassment by the government and some have even been arrested for voicing dissenting views in recent history. The article takes a look at some of the bloggers who are fighting for their rights and how. From the article: "The Iranian blogging community, known as Weblogistan, is relatively new. It sprang to life in 2001 after hard-liners -- fighting back against a reformist president -- shut down more than 100 newspapers and magazines, and detained writers. At the time, Derakhshan posted instructions on the internet in Farsi on how to set up a weblog."
Sadly there will always be governments looking to restrict the speech of its people, I wonder how long it will take for google to move in an support those efforts?
GeekServ Unix Consulting Services (http://www.geekserv.com)
Iran is an example of how democracy and fascism are often compatible.
I'm sure CNN, my taxmoney and people-who-had-no-other-job will take care of this...
(...if the situation of weblogs in Irak threatens to destroy my country)
For Freedom, Democracy and JP Morgan and the Rothschilds. We have the freedom to blog without government interference in the land of Freedom, the Iranians deserve more than that. I say we aerial bomb them. 3 years from now they'll thank us for allowing them to blog for Freedom.
I for one would like to welcome our 2 year old audience, it is nice that children are taking an interesting in day to day events, even if they do have potty mouth!
GeekServ Unix Consulting Services (http://www.geekserv.com)
The cynic in me says that this story is a careful plant by the Bush Administration to get the Internets to support the upcoming invasion of Iran. Not, you understand, that this makes the story any less deserving of outrage--but you have to wonder about the timing.
Just saying...
Has anyone started up an adopt-an-Iranian-blog project, like the one that was done for the Chinese?
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
The Iranian blogging community, known as Weblogistan, is relatively new.
I call SHENNANIGANS!
Seriously, is there some sort of competition between bloggers to see who can come up with the latest "5 seconds of fame" painful, buzzwordy neologism? I want to know, so that I can find the organization responsible for keeping score and bomb them.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
...free and tolerant Islamic society we hear so much about!
(All religions are intolerant of each other, because each religion defines a mutually-exclusive lock on a God they believe exists (or in atheism's case, doesn't exist). Each religion fights over that lock, and therein lies the religious conflict. And all this fighting assumes their God -- or any god -- actually even exists; over 2000 years of non-proval of a god's existence sure paves the way towards a high probability that he/she/it does not.)
Is Capitalism Good for the Poor?
Are you referring to neoblogisms?
Boingboing has a guide to evading cesonsorware
Should be useful to Iranians, as the US firm Secure Computing is the company censoring Iran.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
I got my mail stolen, I am attacked using microwave weapons, psycotronic weapons and other advanced weapons and after 3 months of "Secret" police torture the army joined in and I am now also attacked regularly by directed energy weapons on aircraft.
So, what are the other effects of these energy and "psycotronic" weapons other than hallucinations and paranoia?
I hear that the private sector sells medicines that can render the body immune to such weaponry. You should look up SSRIs sometime.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
It's sure too bad we didn't give them control of the Internet, huh?
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
"The article takes a look at some of the bloggers who are fighting for their rights and how."
:D
Now, what exactly are those rights? I believe the only right you have in a state which is currently under the rule of Sharia ("Islamic law") is the right to remain *OBEDIENT* at all times.
This whole blogging business doesn't seem very obedient to me... so exactly what rights are they fighting for? A change of religion?
-pug
1. At flea market in Berryessa neighbor booth sells Shaklee pills and cleaning goops. I sell broken porcelain pieces at Berryessa flea market. The porcelain was broken after all the chases with goggle cops on highway 205. Nobody is buying broken porcelain even though it intercepts rays and keeps FBI from changing money in wallet from 10s to 1s. The good purpose of it is not known to all.
3. The neighbor says to me that I should open a Chinese restaurant. I do this in 2003's summer, and buy ovens and rent serving displays. I like to deep fry food, and I liked to sell deep fry food. I named the Chinese restaurant "The Krispy Kat" with my own name in the name. As soon as I leave thebusiness of flea market, the FBI follows and keeps my business low. Display place tooks back serving displays. I was sad and down then.
2. The landlord forgot to evict me I was still there. Then old friend came to town named Meyoung Sar. We did work together on fishing trawlers in Indian Ocean when young.
3. Sar wants me to not give up on restaurant anymore. He finds apartment building to be tored down for parking for truck parks. There are many good toilets in building. Sar does not want toilets wasted. We gain 15 toilet bowls, clean them with Lysol and use them to serve in buffet line. We then pay a lot of money for Ho-tie red fat man stattu and tape 2 dollars on his bellie. The dollars were not isotopic for bad luck. Restaurant gets new name too. On Friday we open THE HAPPY BOWL with large buffet served in white clean toilet bowls. We painted big smiling stool on sign up on ladder. We think customers will love us because porcelain protects food and protect persons too. Happy clean and safe we had pride.
4. Consumers in our business place where rare and few. There were many invisible policemen. Remember invisible police never eat on the job. If you open a restaurant and see invisible police standing on the tables remember they will never bring profits. There were a few visible police man always disguised as civilian. We had problem with John Ashcroft of FBI himself coming in to keep an eye on us. Sometimes he was in disguise of very thin black woman age .
22. Sometimes he was in disguise of black women who was age 22 but also thin. Oned day John Ashcroft came into store disguised as middle aged Polish man. I was unhappy that day and I punched him in the jaw and kicked him out. After that, FBI keep customers from coming.
6. We needed more businesses. Sar was a cook on fishing trawler, and knew beer too. Everyone liked his beer. Sar asked if I had liquor license. I told him yes I was over 21 and in California you are licensed for liquor if you are aged so. I was legal. We decided to sell liquor. We made also another change and removed the pu pu bowl from the row of toilets. No customer ever dished from it.
7. The restaurant got its third name of 2003. We change HAPPY BOWL sign so it says of the beer take out of the beer in case boxs. GET A CASE OF SARS AT THE HAPPY BOWL. Sar gives his named to the beer after his own name, on the beer boxs and bottles.
8. FBI total control of neighborhood at this time became, even more. They must if threatened anyone who came near because we got no customers. We got one customer who looked in window and saw as mistake that it was public bathroom with lots of bowls. We caught him after he used one bowl for one bathroom purpose but not as another bathroom purpose which was worse by a lot. He was not customer really. Strange for me, such a big scare didn't drove sleepy away EM waves. Invisible police sometimes dance on my car hood as I drive. I see less of them when I drive with both eyes closed.
When I sleep I see more. But I only see invisible police sometimes but only when red lights on goggle-rims tell me where they stand. This time he spoke in English. I could feel he was in terror. I see the cops from SF, even the cops I do not see. They harass me for what I know to be true.
9. This year fall
http://www.lessemf.com/personal.html Check out the EMF shielded baseball cap, much more subtle than tinfoil lining.
SSRIs are a class of antidepressants. He would want to look into psychotropic medication.
You say you want a revolution....
weblogistan?! Who comes up with this crap? And why is it perpetuated?
The masses are the crack whores of religion.
Relativism doesn't cut it here. John Paul II and Benedict have been very concilliatory to Jews. Compare that to Islam! Islam's relationship with other faiths is absolutely abysmal.
an ill wind that blows no good
These people would be helped by a project like Tor. http://tor.eff.org/
You guys are going to have to start killing those mullahs running things there. I recommend you start texting each other to get flash mobs at all the major TV and radio staions, and another huge mob wherever those mullahs meet. Rush the mullahs and stone them. You know it has to be done if things are going to change.
Good luck. If you succeed, the French will finish up that nuclear power plant. Count on it.
The latest Slashdot meme.
FIRE!!!!
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
What can those of us that are outside [overtly] restrictive regimes (such as Iran, China and Saudi Arabia) do to help ordinary 'net users there express their experiences and opinions to the outside world?
Young kids today! They don't know they're alive!
When I was young they used to torture us 5 times a day, and make us pay for the torture, On the weekend we used to have to torture ourselves. I was in a jail that was so small I couldn't turn round, and we only had thin cardboard walls and a paper roof.
And you tell this to the kids taday, and they don't believe it!
While the Shah and the US had some agreement (such as the idea that keeping left-wing fascism (i.e. socialism) and Islamic fascism out of Iran was a good idea), he wasn't the US's puppet. He tended to jerk the US around more than the US jerked his strings. Regardless, a very large and growing number of Iranians remember his rule as being very enlightened compared to the Islamic fascism which eventually took over.
You win today's "Baseless speculation" jackpot on slashdot! Your prize is a used Ouija board. You may also receive a job offer from Macrumors, they need help coming up with that sort of speculation. You need to learn how to speculate authoritatively though, and cite mysterious sources.
Try it this way:
See, it's much better when you do it that way!
. . . who are persecuted by their totalitarian government for exercising their natural rights than for the false bravado and excessive hubris of our own "dissidents."
What?
Isn't that right between Kerplackistan and Durkadurkastan?
Proud member of the American Non Sequitur Society. We might not make much sense, but boy do we love pizza!
that masquerades as a democracy. Democracy and Fascism are not compatible. One requires much personal freedom and choice and the other requires turning over control of much of society to the government and its leaders. Now a theocracy and fascism can be very compatible as both can revolve around a very strong and charismatic leader.
Iran calls itself a democracy but its obviously not. Yes the people get to vote on leaders but who can run isn't exactly open to public choice. Where is the democracy when the people you can choose to vote for are no one you would choose? Iran, as many countries of this type (dictatorships, theorcracies, etc) love to represent themselves to the world in terms that boast about freedom while at the same time providing none of it to their citizens.
Look at it this way, if you have to put the label in your name your probably not adhereing to that label's intent. A long time ago those lables meant something but today they are just words on paper (example : Islamic Republic of Iran )
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
"I got my mail stolen, I am attacked using microwave weapons, psycotronic weapons and other advanced weapons and after 3 months of "Secret" police torture the army joined in and I am now also attacked regularly by directed energy weapons on aircraft."
:s
all mail is now email, and the aircraft you talk about are called satellites.. dont worry, they wont hurt you unless you subscribe
which is totally what she said
Obligatory list of persian blogs
Wiki article
A few that I personally like.
Political blogs:
Brooding Persian
Iranian Truth
Eyeranian
Funny
Shirin
Negar
Lost in Texas
Ok fine this is mine sometimes I think I am funny
And a note on the numbers, I have no clue how they came up with that but I have a hard time believing any of it. Blogsbyiranians list any blog that Hossein comes across and it has a list of 100-200. My personal opinion is that there are about 5000 active persian blogs. Oh and cause I know someone will ask for it. some iranian porn
Vidi, vici, veni. (I saw, I conquered, I came)
Faith Freedom site of Ali Sina
TheReligionOfPeace
EuroJihad (in polish)
Cox & Forkum (funny drawings)
JihadWatch
PravdaOIslamu (in czech)
Saudi blogger
Egyptian blogger
Hizb-ut-Tahrir Islamic site
I just went to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam and the strongest things that stood out are:
- The first freedom to go for anyone before total authoritarian dictatorship is the freedom of speech.
- Repressing government are usually very very afraid of the spoken word.
- Anne Frank's diary and history is one of the strongest evidences of the Nazi oppression and attempt to bring certain races to extinction.
Look at the Mohamed drawings issue. The extremists didn't really care about depictions of Mohamed. What their problem with those depictions is, is the freedom of speech. They are afraid they'll no longer be able to brainwash free people into stupid theocratic thinking. They are afraid that they will no longer be able to engage humans into blowing themselves up in order to fulfill a focus group god'$ prophecies.
Makes me puke that we don't even want to keep the freedom of speech around in the US but it makes sense why it had to be legislated. Everyone who tries to control someone will attempt to take that freedom of speech away.
Neologistan! You missed it! Got the name for the blog. Now we need 180 ear-catching acts of linguistic vandalism to get the full Warholian 15 minutes! Woo hoo!
BTW, I agree with your sentiment. Just taking the painfully absurd route to get there.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
When you say "cracks down" you mean as in skulls and bones???
...is the same as America does. Just MORE X-TREME!
Our politicians and media monkeys argue over the 10 commandments being shown in public and the possible removal of "In God We Trust" from our money. Religion has been the supposed center of war over there for...how long?
We bitch and moan about Bush. Iraqis take arms against Saddam.
We talk about the latest (social) party on myspace. Iranians are detained for talking about the latest (political) party on myfarsi.
We need a Survivor: Iran. That would be KARAZAY to the X-TREME!
Now we just need more governments to follow suit. No longer shall we be subjected to the mindless twaddle that the bored lunatics of the world waffle on about.
I mean:
http://weirdforcesgathering.blogspot.com/
COME ON! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!??!
There are those who say that "well you don't have to read the drivel if you don't want to" and "at least it keeps them busy".
To those people I say "NO! You're wrong"... no argument though, that's about as far as it goes.
..CNN, BBC and other media go through a government censorship before they can air stories
Horseshit.
Make no mistake, we in the United States are heading down this same path. We might have this freedom now but it could be taken away with a simple majority vote. For anyone who thinks otherwise, we've actually already been down there and back, with a little thing called the Alien and Sedition Acts.
I have always wondered about this.
To me there is a world of difference between free speech (free expression of ideas) and speech which is primarily intended to cause actual damage.
FIRE! (in a crowded theatre) is a common counter-example to those who claim that speech should be free, but to me that seems like comparing apples and pears. You might as well say that speech shouldn't be free because someone might lie and get you accused of a serious crime.
I strongly support an absolute freedom to present unpopular ideas (Blacks are intellectually inferior, Hitler was right?), or the use of 'banned words' (nigger, bum, tit, wank?), but I can't see that I therefore am expected to support perjury in court, or an attempt to kill people by giving them incorrect directions.
All religions are intolerant of each other, because each religion defines a mutually-exclusive lock on a God they believe exists (or in atheism's case, doesn't exist).
That is blatantly not true. Some religions do believe that their religion is meant for all of mankind (they are universalists). Those religions are a problem to others. Some religions however, believe that there are multiple ways to get to know God (or similar), and therefor don't see a point in trying to convince other people to believe their way (they are particularists). Some religions even don't care if other people know God as long as they behave well.
In the interest of not clouding the point (by the the smoke of a flame war) I won't name any religions that belong in any of the categories, but I'd like to point out that it is a floating scale. Some universalist religions have moderated their stance in the face of their neighbours not being to happy with their pushy attitude (or by becoming fat and tired, whatever).
Leaders across the authoritarian states of the M.E. use "issues" like those drawings as a way to vent the frustration of their own people toward "the west." They manipulate whatever-it-is as a sort of social "wedge issue" to keep people angry at someone else. That's what the cartoons thing was about.
Think Gay Marriage. Gay Marriage is something we should deal with, okay -- I'm for it, basically -- but is it among the biggest challenges for our society when compared to economic, environmental, foreign, and every other kind of policy in this country being run with only the enormous multinational business interests at the table and nobody from any other perspective having a voice? The monied interests behind the old Republican party discovered after the civil rights movement that they could patch together a coalition of fearful social conservatives and keep those fears yoked up to the party's economic interests. When the rank and file get upset, lo and behold, there will always be a distracting social "issue" to motivate them again. (Janet Jackson's bustier popped open -- OMG! OMG! Society is breaking down! Election cycle -- Oh No! Pass a bunch of anti-Gay-Marriage amendments, it's a crisis!)
It's all about preserving authority, not about the specific faiths involved. Authoritarian religion turns to demagoguery like this to release pressure.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
I can't believe I got marked troll for that!
GeekServ Unix Consulting Services (http://www.geekserv.com)
Welcome to the New Fascist Republic. U.S.A.
I deposited US$10000+ in a bank account after 9/11/01 and did not get a visit from the police/FBI/whatever.
Warnings about Iran's oppresive nature have been raised in the recent past.
This is so fascinating. Almost as interesting as the story about the Iranian blogger jailed for blogging that I submitting a FUCKING YEAR AGO!
Sure, you, my fine moderating friend will mark this as offtopic, thus I'm posting anonymously. But consider there is also insight in this. Slashdot is only publishing this now because it is no longer ignorable.
We also have some great fjords!
Defining Statistics and Social Research
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all& q=iran+hang+girl&btnG=Search
Does anyone expect they are concerned about any other human rights?
Sheesh people, wake up and smell the Sharia.
Hi Xiando,
On a serious note, please check in at a local mental hospital. You can have informal talks with the staff there and you may find that some of your paranoia can be helped with modern medicines.
i just read a basic fluff piece on iran on time magazine. there was a quote that went something like this: "The young people like mohammad khatami becuase he lets them wear baggy pants and pink viels, they arent bothered by him restricting speech." this from an interview with weathly iranians at a ski resort in that country.
always mosh clockwise
... why? Iran's entire "government" is based on radical Islam -- meaning, "kill everyone who doesn't believe in Allah." Not sure why this is news. This is how it is, and how it ever will be, with most Muslim countries.
Frammin' on the jim-jam, frippin' at the krotz!
Wait a minute, isn't this Iranian crack down on blogs in the same realm as the US Government illegally spying on its citizens?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
You can't blame a company other than Google for another countries censorship practices. Everyone knows it is the utterly evil Google that's responsible for all censorship and it's their responsibility to provide free speech to the entire world.
If it is Secure Computing providing the software to Iran's government I would sure like to see our government put some pressure on them. I'm not holding my breathe though. Google's a nice big target so they get lots of press when they shake their finger at them. Not so much, if they take the time to chastise a small fish like Secure Computing.
How can you make a comparison between a single Church (which, by the way, is exercising it's rights under the Constitution, something which they wouldn't be allowed to do in Iran because they're the wrong religion) and the entire government of a country?
It sickens me sometimes how far people will twist reality in order to demonstrate some supposed equivalency.
"The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
I think one of the real things the Iranian govt is scared of is the way blogs could spread radical/reformist ideas, I am pointing out the obvious, but the obvious especially true as about 75% (thereabouts I think) of Iran's population is under thirty. To use a sweeping generalisation what demographic of a population are more easily radicalised to a cause and use the internet/blogs a lot. Theres a lot of crap blogs out there, wouldn't mind those being shut down but in the case of something serious like Iranian Government reform I will "endure" blogs in this case.
On certain western nation(s) planning on doing a bit of statebuilding in Iran, I would say long term it s a bad idea, for a strong government to be formed, it has to be formed from within. The reasons (good or bad) for such actions is not something I will go into in this post. But it is my opinion that arificially created Govts do not survive more than a few years before they are either dismantled by the old guard or some new bunch of dictators. If the Iranian Govt are unsuccessful in shutting down blogos then there is always crapflooding as an alternative.
Deposits of $10,000 or greater have always been reported to the IRS, not Homeland security, for tax reasons. This was implemented back in the Carter administration as a method of tracking mafia money being laundered.
this is obviously the fault of Bush! he's controlling Iran!
You sir are an Antiblogotarian.
-Rick (j/k)
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
I agree there is more than a little effort on the part of the U.S. government to censor dissenting views in this country. Also, paying off a credit card apparently sends flags to Homeland (in)Security. http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detai l&pk=RAISEALARM-02-28-06
I completely misread that title, and at first thought it said "Iran Cracks Down on Boogers". I was thinking, "man, those guys are strict!"
psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo
I think that one mistake we make, as occidentals, is judgind them by our own rules. but since we live in a different world than them, since we live in a different culture, with different values...different moralities we can't really be objective about right or wrong regarding how they live. Of course, I think hanging a rape victim because it dishonors the family is a crime, but in a country were honor as actually less value than money, who am i to judge what honor is worth.
How does one know that what they're doing is fundamentaly wrong? You can't judge a man if you havent walked a mile in his shoes.
The sharia was created after muhammad the same way that here, religious documents were created after the christ's death and yet hold no less value than the bible itself.
This is something I read from omninerd lately and I find it very informative, it really helps taking a step back and *trying* to be objective about it.
http://www.omninerd.com/2005/12/30/articles/45
Also, human rights is a very subjective thing. it varies from country to country. and yes, in some country, by our standards there are little to no human rights, but again, who are we to judge whether this is good or bad. They've lived this way for centuries and accept it. Here, we fought back for our rights and look where its brought us: increased violence, corruption and jerry springer. So again, who are we to judge. How do we know our way is the right way ?
I don't approve all things done in the muslim world but I certainly cannot go and tell them what they do is wrong because i have absolutely no clue what brought them into living this way in the first place.
That's my 2c about it.
If you look like your passport photo, you're too ill to travel. - Will Kommen
WeblogISTAN? Thats an English language joke on middle Asia states.
Seriously, if you think the two are in "the same realm" then you have become completely disassociated from reality. Seek the help of a mental health professional immediately.
... the "Censorship" icon wasn't attached to this story as it is with blog censorship stories from other countries. Could it be due to sympathy for those that are considered enemies of the U.S.??
. . . who are persecuted by their totalitarian government for exercising their natural rights than for the false bravado and excessive hubris of our own "dissidents."
What interests me is that, from the perspective of your own posting, you idenity with the totalitarian government.
Hey, just because many Muslim countries aren't tolerant it doesn't mean that Islam is intrinically intolerant. You have to separate religion and the practice of it. The problem isn't with Islam, it is with intolerant Muslims. The irony is that they are violating the Quran while claiming to uphold it. As it states: "There must be no compulsion in religion"
The article you so sarcastically linked to is a great argument for pluralism within Islamic societies.
Lest be honest for a moment.
99% of blogs are absolute crap. Total waste of time and resources. Not only blogards time but also your time and your resources.
So, Iran government is on the right path. Good job!
Frell those damn blogards. Frell them all!
I guess when you destroy any illusions that anti-truth-about-Iran trolls have about their silly little attempts at equivocation, you're a troll.
Don't mod me down because you refuse to recognize how repressive and corrupt Iran is. That's your ignorance, and has nothing to do with me.
Posted AC so you can't mod me down twice you sad fucks.
If the US government censors, please explain Michael Moore, Rush Limbaugh, David Duke, Pat Robertson, DemocraticUnderground, Free Republic, DailyKos, Louis Farrakhan, Anne Coulter, Al Sharpton.
And your own damn post.
Who wrote this crap, Jon Katz?
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Internet access isn't a human right.
Besides, this is iran.. no great loss anyway.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
BOTH communists and capitalists suck. Being an apologist for the American puppet is no better than being an apologist for the Soviet puppet. All forces of centralization and power whether religious, capitalist, or communist tend towards oppression, police states, violence and destruction. Lets do better than being apologists for communists, capitalists, or fundies of any stripe.
t =6613&num=27
"Kraj Majales (King of May)
And the Communists have nothing to offer but fat cheeks and eyeglasses and
lying policemen
and the Capitalists proffer Napalm and money in green suitcases to the
Naked,
and the Communists create heavy industry but the heart is also heavy
and the beautiful engineers are all dead, the secret technicians conspire for
their own glamour
in the Future, in the Future, but now drink vodka and lament the Security
Forces,
and the Capitalists drink gin and whiskey on airplanes but let Indian brown
millions starve
and when Communist and Capitalist assholes tangle the Just man is arrested
or robbed or has his head cut off..."
http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poem=0&poe
Tired of all the isms, don't exploit people as an employer, or a government, mmmmK?
And I have a 100 times less respect for members of the American media who don't question the lies of the Bush administration because they are afraid they will lose access and that will hurt their ratings, than for the Iranian media who don't question the lies of the Iranian government because they are afraid of being killed.
1. Mussadegh was a fascist dictator who was basically a creation of the USSR.
2. He controlled the Iranian parliament, which voted to make the oil industry his personal property. The process by which dictators seize control of others' property for their own personal benefit is often called "nationalisation".
3. The Iranian people and their allies found it unacceptible that Iran had become a Soviet colony with a very greedy dictator. They helped an Iranian nationalist throw out the socialist dictator. Iran was thus able to hold the twin atrocities of socialism AND islamism both at bay for a long time.
"As I said before, these facts are important to understanding the current 'paranoia' of the Iranian authorities"
It is not paranoia on the part of Iran's current dictators. It is megalomania and imperialism. Look at their #1 national goal of exterminating the Jews in a distant country that has never lifted a finger against Iran. (This rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth antisemitism and demand for military aggression on the part of Iran is one where you really have to try hard NOT to equate them with Hitler....and it is not justifiable by anyone other than rabid antisemites).The current dictatorship there is not waging war against countries that want to take over Iran. They are waging war against people inside the country and outside the country who disagree with a certain narrow version of Islam.
I've done no name- calling: all I have done is point out the facts. I've forgotten no facts. However, I insist on "looking through" misleading claims and the repeated assertion that dictator is not a dictator just because he first gained power through a democratic election.
Does that concern you? Article about Bush hearing voices in his head telling him God told him to do it:
o ries/2005/10_october/06/bush.shtml
"President George W Bush told Palestinian ministers that God had told him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq - and create a Palestinian State, a new BBC series reveals."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/st
This attack in turn led to the death of over 30,000 innocent Iraqi civilians:
http://iraqbodycount.org/
Christian nut cases like Bush in my own country concern me far more than some pissed off Muslims half way around the world. 911 was a one off and the forces of repression in the U.S. are using it to fan xenophobia and torch the constitution. If we just stopped consuming more than our fair share of oil and stopped catering to Israel's every whim, poof, no more pissed off Muslims problem solved, then all you religious fanatics hearing voices of "God" in your head can maybe get some Thorazine and the rest of us sane people will then sleep more soundly.
Tired of all the isms, don't exploit people as an employer, or a government, mmmmK?
You're making the false assumption that I meant to say the U.S. government censors everything. Bullshit. Don't put words in my mouth.
I do not think the U.S. government is the worst country in the world when it comes to censorship. Not by a long, long, long shot. But it does do it in subtle ways. Remember the "Free Speech Zones?" How about the Patriot Act? (I know I just opend a can of worms right there, sadly, but it's true) How about that woman who was arressted during the President's State of the Union Address for wearing a dissenting t-shirt? How about every god damn senator who blames *insert common form of popular media here* and tries to ban/alter it every election year?
No, this is not as bad as other countries. No, people generally aren't being murdered or kidnapped in the streets for saying "I don't like the war."I'm not so daft as to compare this to Stalinist Russia, but there is censorship in America, and I think it's a rising issue. Just because I'm not afraid of seeing TV jerk-off pundit #647 or myself getting kidnapped by a spy because we said something not nice about the government on the Internet doesn't mean censorship doesn't happen.
Can anyone tell me what is insightful about this?
"If we just stopped consuming more than our fair share of oil and stopped catering to Israel's every whim"
The first statement assumes that we are not. This assumption is not true. We only use our fair share since we pay for what we use.
The second part of your statement, however, was an alarming bit of antisemitism, code-worded as Israel bashing. "Catering to every whim" means helping a country stand up to neighbors that want to wipe it off the map.
"...no more pissed off Muslims problem solved..."
So your solution is to allow the extermination of the Jews in order to make Muslims feel all happy. What do you do when they get all unhappy over cartoonists and openly-gay people? Do you then let them kill off all the gays and artists? What then? How many entirely outrageous demands (starting with the demand to wipe out the Israelis) do you give in to?
What God is talking into your head to tell you the idea that the extermination of an entire nation of millions is "acceptible" as long as it brings Muslims happiness?
On a serious note, please check in at a local mental hospital. You can have informal talks with the staff there and you may find that some of your paranoia can be helped with modern medicines.
And if they can't help you, at least you won't be here anymore.
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
In my previous response, I realized I was quite rude, and wanted to take the time to apologize. Re-reading my original post, I did come off the warong way unintentionally. I do believe the U.S. government censors things, but not in the way my original post stated. As far as I'm concerned, all 1st world nations use censorship. Austrailia, Canada, Germany, France... Obviously, it's not as bad as, say, China, but I still consider it censorship. However, my original post did not convey this very well, and my response to you was demeaning and angry, which was wrong.
A few months ago Hossein Derakhshan made a visit to Israel. This means he probably won't be going back to Iran in the near future.
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
"Paying for something does not equal morality, I could pay a "fair market rate" to have someone killed, that does not make murder moral"
Which has nothing to do with the fact that we are using no more and no less of our fair share of oil.
"of Israel is in violation of literally dozens of U.N. resolutions regarding it's occupation of the Palestinians territories:"
A nice list, presented on a site of self-hating Jews. Many of these were issued during a time when the UN was under the leadership of an actual card-carrying Nazi (tm). They are attempts to get around the facts that repeated attacks against Israel from the territories forced Israel to retailate and occupy. Ongoing attacks invite a continuing Israel presence. Just like we'd STILL be engaging in a total and brutal occupation of Japan since after WW2 if the Japanese did not have the decency to surrender and cease their aggression.
Very few of the resolutions in the list are reasonable at all. There are several that actually condemn Israel for striking back at terrorist bases in southern Lebanon after those bases launched attacks into Israel. This, accompanied by a complete lack of resolutions against the groups in Southern Lebanon launching the attacks, shows a strong anti-semitic bias in the UN.
Here is one that is typical in its bias toward the aggressors and its hatred of Israel: "Resolution 497: decides that Israel's annexation of Syria's Golan Heights is null and void and demands that Israel rescinds its decision forthwith."
It leaves out the consideration that Israel was forced to move into Golan after Syria used it to launch attacks. Syria still does not recognize the rights of Israelis to exist, and is basically dedicated to a war of and aggression against the Israelis. To turn over the Golan to the aggressive and genocidal regime in Syria would be a very bad idea. Would you give something to someone who is out to kill you, especially if it would help him do that?
" No, what I'm suggesting is that the mess Israel is in is none of our affair in the U.S. and we ought to stop supporting Israel with out tax dollars, period, end of story."
Certainly: the idea that we should get out of the way of the announced new Holocaust and not get upset as it happens. They're only Jews after all. "Nothing to see here, move along....and Elie Weisel, shut your damn yap."
The problem is not with Israal. It is with rabid mad-dogs in the Muslim world who riot and kill just because the Israelis exist.
You'd make a lousy psychiatrist. Those are classic symptoms of a schizophreniform disorder, possibly classical paranoid schizophrenia. SSRIs don't help in schizophrenia, unfortunately. There haven't been any good new drugs for the condition for decades (as far as I'm aware).
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
Yeah, you're right. I wasn't thinking seriously, just trying to be funny, so I didn't do my homework.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Might as well nip this in the bud before too many other people waste a reply on this. You're right. You wouldn't use SSRIs.
Someone else already addressed this. I was just trying to be funny, and didn't do any fact-checking on what kind of drugs you'd actually use.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
http://www.regimechangeiran.com/ (which points to http://regimechangeiran.blogspot.com/ )
How dare those evil Iranian thugs steal the thunder from deserving white rich kids like us. Bastards!
Just because not *everything* is censored, that is proof to you that *nothing* *ever* gets censored? What kind of logic is that?
Wow, and you guys wonder why you don't get elected...
1. Parent poster is obviously swedish :)
2. Newsflash: mentally disturbed people found in every country! Movie at 11.
3. What are the effects of those psychotronic weapons of yours? Insanity?
4. They force you to post on Slashdot?
5. You haven't seen nothing yet, just wait until they send their cyborg polar bears at you!
Jokes aside, as a norwegian citizen I hope the POT (yeah funny acronym for english speakers but it's the acronym for Politiets OvervåkningsTjeneste; the police intelligence services) monitors xiando.
Has Slashdot turned into moonbat central?
"Maybe if Israel didn't build a giant apartheid wall deep into Palestinian territory in flagrant violation of international law"
There is nothing illegal about building a wall to keep out an invading army. And, since the aggression comes entirely from the Palestinian territories, there is no reason that Israel should waste its own land trying to solve a Palestinian-created problem. The Palestinian government asked for this wall through their actions, and now they have it. It is caused 100% by Palestinian actions, so let it be on "their land". It is not an apartheid wall any more than the barriers at San Quentin are. Both are built to keep violent criminals away. If they had stopped attacking Israel years ago, there would have been no wall.
"Didn't kill Palestinian civilians at 4:1 ratio to Israelis deaths as I documented before"
As documented before, almost all of these deaths are a direct result of the Palestinian "human shield" strategy. If they had stopped their war years ago, there would be no war deaths.
"Rather, they are part of the presence Israel maintains in the West Bank to sustain the settlements there.""
The settlements are only reasonable. By refusing to call off its war, and dedicating themselves to eternal aggression, the Palestinian government has basically said that they aren't fit to govern the territories, ever. Most of the people still support extermination of the Israelis: it would be suicidal to create a brand new nation of people that are decided to atrocity. Why not let more civilized folk have a chance to live there? You can be sure that the US would have settlements all over Japan if Japan (like the PLO) had refused to call off its entirely unreasonable and unjustifiable war.
"The Israelis have only created their own very serious problem by killing thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians and occupying Palestinian territory in flagrant violation of international law."
Thanks for the antisemitic lies. There were two or three in that statement alone. A more correct version is: "Israel has created none of the problem. The entire source of this is the Palestinian national goal of extermination of the Israelis and elimination of the nation as a whole. The Israeli occupation of Palestine is entirely justified and legal until the aggressors (the Palestinians) completely surrender and stop their one-sided aggression."
"Israel is the terror state"
Heil Hitler!
"I will say one good thing about Israel at least they had some sense and elected the moderate Kadima party into power and not the Zionist nut case Likud party that got it's ass kicked"
I see this as your satisfaction with Israel moving more toward the ideas of appeasing aggression and refusing to fight back. However, isn't this less satisfactory than having the Israelis just march themselves all into the ovens and save the Palestinian aggressors the cost of the bullets?
"that should be an effective deterrent from Iran's HYPOTHETICAL nuclear weapons."
Iran is within a couple of years of building these weapons. And, unlike Israel, Iran's stated goal is attacking innocent countries with them. Israel with nukes is of no danger to anyone: they aren't aggressive at all.
"not the [b]Zionist[/b] nut case Likud party "
Typically, those who moan about so-called "Zionists" are antisemitic.
This is all part of a fight that has been pretty much a one-sided fight of good (Israelis who just want to be left alone) against evil (Palestinians who want to invade the Israeli homeland and exterminate the people there). No matter how you try, you can't justify the Palestinian side. There is just no justification for it, just as there was no justification for what the Nazis (of a similar mindset) did to Jews and wanted to do to Jews).
The problem is with the Palestinians. There's be no walls, no bombs dropped on terrorist base camps in civilian areas, no bullets fired at war criminals that happen to miss and hit children instead, if the Palestinians would just give up the idea that they have to wipe out the Jews and learn to live in peace. If you announce your national goal as a horrific crime against humanity, don't be surprised if someone builds a defensive security wall on your territory. It is all your fault if it happens.
(The wall, by the way, is anything but an apartheid wall. It has been a just AND justified non-violent attempt to deal with unceasing unprovoked Palestinian aggression. Since the wall has been built, the terrorism has been significantly reduced. If you value peace and abhor violence and terror, then you should support this wall.)
In US it is not allowed to freely speak about why USA is doing bad things
... not only to speak, but ever to THINK!
against (for example) Iran now.
It is not allowed to discuss why Iran is considered as EVIL by US goverment.
Discussion is not banned oficially, you say, but try yourself, YOU TRY to ask that
question to your goverment.
You won't do that? Because you believe to your goverment?
You may trust it, but you have no right to believe in it, it's no god,
it makes mistakes, and you allowing them to happen.
It is common in the other parts of the world to treat Iran as a prey of US' politics,
but it is uncommon inside the USA to think so.
"In US it is not allowed to freely speak about why USA is doing bad things against (for example) Iran now"
... not only to speak, but ever to THINK!"
Where do you live? The US has the least censorship of any country in the world. The media is/are filled with very harsh criticism of the US administration and its policies. Want to go to the top of the bestseller lists? Do like Michael Moore and write a very negative book.
Also, it is your opinion that the US is doing "bad things against Iran", and it is highly debatable. Iran''s announcing it plans to exterminate an entire nation, and will use nuclear warfare as part of the effort is a very "bad thing", and, IMHO, trying to prevent this is not "bad".
"Discussion is not banned oficially, you say, but try yourself, YOU TRY to ask that question to your goverment."
It is not banned, or even hindered.
"It is common in the other parts of the world to treat Iran as a prey of US' politics,
but it is uncommon inside the USA to think so.
It is only common in places where the people are poorly-educated and are victim to government-controlled media. Once you learn the facts, you will see that Iran (with its nuclear war and extermination plans) is the true aggressor.
The Iranian leader is one of those who is like Hitler. He seems to be quoting the german leader directly when he speaks of the need to wipe out the Jews. Like Hitler, he is working on building nuclear weapons in order to carry out his "final solution".
Sorry, it is quite reasonable to get concerned when someone announces their intent to exterminate you and use nuclear weapons to do it.