Clerical errors? (Updated in the comments.)
With a couple of Iranians (who quite sensibly left that country some years ago) as colleagues, I've generally steered well clear of commenting publicly on the current hoo-hah. Taking a mild interest in, or having views on something doesn't necessarily confer any sort of right to either sound off about it, nor to abandon a commonsense, "Actually, it's none of my damned business" policy when it comes to poking these things with virtual sticks. Nevertheless, some of you kindly sent me links anyway, once it became clear that - through a combination of ineptitude and enforcement - the traditional media were feeling a bit sidelined by all the smartarse, black ops-style new media skullduggery going on. "Look at all the clever young tech-savvy people, with their IP proxies, and their re-hashed Beijing workarounds for thwarting the Evil!"
Do me a favour.
I'm living in a country with an unelected Prime Minister, and the most disgruntled electorate imaginable right now. Add in the two terms served in the White House by the Shrub, and perhaps you'll begin to understand why I regard democracy - and uninvolved, directly unaffected people banging on about it - as a bit of a bad joke. (And don't even get me started on the current U.S. president's failure to carry through on most of his pre-election promises, even if he is a dab hand at fly-swatting. Nice one, Baz.) Sorry, but being able to mouth off a few grumbles in the blogosphere, whilst the usual hired thugs overstep the mark, and ignore (in this case) the Iranian security forces' command structures, doesn't represent a "triumph" for popular protest. What it does is to give succour to the Rumsfelds, Cheneys, and Kissingers of the world, who would like nothing more than a whisper of an excuse to say "I told you so", and kickstart another round of interventionist, regime-change adventuring, courtesy of the pokenose West. Never mind that, irregularities notwithstanding, the right man probably won anyway, as Ballen and Doherty suggest: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061401757.html
As for Twitter... Well, in terms of numbers and take-up, it's actually running a poor second in Iran to that notorious LinkedIn alternative for unambitious teenagers, Facebook:
http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/06/17/data-online-iranians-turning-to-facebook-during-crisis/
Don't get me wrong - every time I hear the term "Supreme Leader" with reference to Khamenei (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8108661.stm), it's hard not to stifle a chuckle. When poor old Lindsey Hilsum of Channel 4 News trotted it out five times in a row the other night, it conjured up memories of a Dalek-related Dr. Who drinking game. And this is where I came in. Those two Iranians I mentioned at the top of this entry left the country because, following the '79 revolution and the fall of the Shah, their families no longer wished to live somewhere presided over by a bunch of ranty, self-important, deluded clerics. One can hardly blame 'em.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
Do me a favour.
I'm living in a country with an unelected Prime Minister, and the most disgruntled electorate imaginable right now. Add in the two terms served in the White House by the Shrub, and perhaps you'll begin to understand why I regard democracy - and uninvolved, directly unaffected people banging on about it - as a bit of a bad joke. (And don't even get me started on the current U.S. president's failure to carry through on most of his pre-election promises, even if he is a dab hand at fly-swatting. Nice one, Baz.) Sorry, but being able to mouth off a few grumbles in the blogosphere, whilst the usual hired thugs overstep the mark, and ignore (in this case) the Iranian security forces' command structures, doesn't represent a "triumph" for popular protest. What it does is to give succour to the Rumsfelds, Cheneys, and Kissingers of the world, who would like nothing more than a whisper of an excuse to say "I told you so", and kickstart another round of interventionist, regime-change adventuring, courtesy of the pokenose West. Never mind that, irregularities notwithstanding, the right man probably won anyway, as Ballen and Doherty suggest: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061401757.html
As for Twitter... Well, in terms of numbers and take-up, it's actually running a poor second in Iran to that notorious LinkedIn alternative for unambitious teenagers, Facebook:
http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/06/17/data-online-iranians-turning-to-facebook-during-crisis/
Don't get me wrong - every time I hear the term "Supreme Leader" with reference to Khamenei (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8108661.stm), it's hard not to stifle a chuckle. When poor old Lindsey Hilsum of Channel 4 News trotted it out five times in a row the other night, it conjured up memories of a Dalek-related Dr. Who drinking game. And this is where I came in. Those two Iranians I mentioned at the top of this entry left the country because, following the '79 revolution and the fall of the Shah, their families no longer wished to live somewhere presided over by a bunch of ranty, self-important, deluded clerics. One can hardly blame 'em.
Have a good weekend, everyone.