This comment below was posted on a comment section of another blog (I'm not going to provide a link to this blog but the blog is run by a Lebanese prof. at USC)in response to recent crack down on women and men and the new ordinance issued to hair dressers and barbers in Iran, which bans Western-style hair cuts. This is so revealing of the mindset of the ruling elite leading Iranians to the slaughter once again for their own parasitic survival:
In response to the post above, the passing of these laws to prevent Iranian men from embracing the gay/metrosexual culture IS apart of setting priorities straight. You see, a population obsessed with its hair and eyebrows is not ready to fight invaders in case they should come (but I highly doubt there will be attacks on Iran, thats a separate issue). These crackdowns are getting rid of the distrations. Iranian men must be ready to be militarized and fight for their nation in case of an attack. If they are all pretty boys obsessed with partying and being GQ, they will ceraintly not be ready for bloodshed. To Asad I dont know why you posted this article, are you implying sarcastically that the Iranian gvt doesn't have its priorities straight or has the wrong focus? If you are a) this is an Islamic Republic, whether you like it or not, so this law is consistent with the philosophy of the state. b) The gvt is promoting manliness amongs its men, thats one of the reasons Iran has not been humiliated by its neighbors since 1979. c) You always criticize the Lebanese for being self-hating and trying to look as Western as possible and getting plastic surgeries...now that Iran is trying to combat such phenomenon you are against it? I hate to break it to you, but these things have to be enforced, you cant just complain on a blog and expect people to change their ways.
This is the type of iron grip tyranny, which the Iranian population has to endure. Using force like an authoritarian and abusive parent is the only method that keeps them from being toppled,
"...Having failed miserably in management of the country's immense natural resources (like an incompetent son running the family fortune into the ground) the regime seems content to assert itself primarily through harassment of women. But the conservatives' attempt to reinvigorate the country's revolutionary zeal is failing miserably.
Khamenei is no Khomeini (ditto Ahmadinejad) and the young population (3 out of 5 Iranians are under 30) doesn't seem to care much about their parents' revolution. Even the lower middle-class, the regime's traditional source of support has had a bellyful of the men with beard. The revolution has been dead for some time. The regime has become pure bureaucratic repression." Tinoush Moulaie offers a comprehensive analysis of the ramifications of such miscalculation in an op-ed piece in Iranian. com: Here is the whole thing in full:
Have you ever heard of the
Darwin Awards? The Darwin Awards are given out, often posthumously, to individuals who improve the human gene pool by removing themselves from it in the most idiotic fashion. Think of it as awards given for eliminating the ‘idiot gene’ through the ultimate sacrifice, namely ones ability to reproduce.
Well, it seems to me that the entire ruling apparatus of the IRI are competing for winning the Darwin Awards. They have the greatest military arsenal ever seen on this planet amassed all around them. They see that this military machine is under the trigger-happy control of a cartel of lawless, gutless, and shameless loonies. And what do they do? They take a jackhammer to the only dam, which is holding back this military might: public opinion. Now, that’s what I call sheer stupidity!
I think they’re miscalculating. The world antiwar movement is doing its best to avert a flood of missiles and bombs heading toward Iran. Many Iranian nationalists have joined in with the same aim. But, this is not because there is any love between these groups and the IRI. The antiwar movement is doing it to avoid another Iraq, and Iranian nationalist are in it because they love their country and want to minimize further damage to Iran and her future. No one, absolutely not one of these groups is defending Iran, because of its regime.
One has to wonder, why at this critical juncture they have embarked on a campaign to harass Iranian women. Are they nuts?
Don’t these gentlemen (stretching the word here) realize that if the tide of public opinion turns, they are in deep trouble? When they treat Iranians, especially women, like that, they must be shovel-in-hands, hell bent on digging their own graves faster. They dodged a bullet with the Holocaust issue, and while they sat in their posh mansions in Iran, the average Iranian had to bear the shame of their words and deeds. Iranian nationalists and antiwar activists want to avoid another Iraq.
But, let’s not forget. Whether one likes what Iraq has become or not, Saddam and company have already checked out, via the end of a rope! Those holding the levers of power in Iran are taking stupidity to new heights. Don’t they realize what would be coming to them? At least, the Pahlavis had somewhere to run to. Where the hell are they going to run to? They’re playing Russian roulette with a ship packed full of Cruise missiles!
I remember in the early 80’s there was a story about a comment made by one of the Ayatollahs. I don’t remember who. The story was that he had wondered why the people of Iran were asking constantly when the mullahs are leaving. And, he followed by saying that ‘we (the mullahs) have no plans to leave’ and that should set people’s minds at ease.
Well, over 20 years has passed. And anyone with an ounce of brain can see that one way or another they (the same mullahs) are leaving. The generation of revolution has already turned against them or if they haven’t time is literally catching up with them (old age)! The regime has absolutely no support outside of Iran.
And inside Iran... well, we all know how that is.
The question is how, not if, Iran will change. Iranians would like to see a new government, while minimizing the damage to Iran. However, there is a limit. There is only so much of this mandatory moral bulimia that we can take. Yes ‘moral bulimia’ is an apt description. They keep shoving their morals down our throats and we keep purging it back out!By the way, the ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine isn’t working. On the one hand the moral police treat people like animals, on the other hand, Ayatollah Shahroudi warns against their heavy-handed approach. What do they take us for? Shahroudi, of all people, is grown soft-hearted!!!
Iranians are fully aware of exactly where Ayatollah Shahroudi’s sentiments lie. If he is so concerned about the heavy-handed methods of the police, the solution is very simple. He’s the head of judiciary. He could order their arrest and put them on trial.
What’s next? Khalkhali’s ghost will give a sermon on the dangers of rampant, extrajudicial executions!?The regime could learn a lesson from the old communist leaders. There are many theories given as to why Soviet Union along with its satellite nations collapsed.
One theory widely believed in those countries is that the new generation of the communist leaders realized that the gig was up. They knew that the system could not sustain itself and they decided to avoid a catastrophic end by accepting change and increasing the chances of their own survival.
Now, clearly things haven’t exactly improved, but at least most of them didn’t end up dangling from the end of a rope.
If the IRI bosses were smart, they too would realize that the gig is pretty much up. And, I’m not sure about their survival. I don’t know what Iranians would do with them, but treating women like they do is sure to make cause for very nasty forms of payback. Don’t treat Iranian women like that. We WILL remember it.
Read more!
ABF, for the promotion of human rights and democracy in Iran
