What’s going on in Iran, and why I think It should be important to us.
Posted by brittdixon90 on July 6, 2009
Be honest, you have no idea what it is going on in Iran and you could care less, right? You don’t read the news because its sad or depressing, right? Sadly, this is the attitude of most individuals especially my age and there are just some things I think we should pay attention to. You don’t need to know the details or spend hours researching it, but I think everyone should have a pretty good idea of what’s going on. Here’s my very brief synopsis:
During the second week of June the people of Iran voted to decide who their next president was going to be and to everyone’s surprise Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, the current controversial leader, was re-elected. The people of Iran started to protest the fixed election, condemning the oppressive government and their tyrant of a president. The protest turned into bloody riots as their OWN government incited lethal violence. Tehran’s University has been raided, people have been killed, shot, and arrested. Their media has been spreading fake news, and footage of the riots have been construed by the government in order to portray lies. Reporters and journalists have been suppressed and confined to hotels. The Iranian people are desperately fighting for their rights and more just government.
So why should this matter to us?
1. To me, it mirrors a time in our history, the civil rights movement. If you go to youtube and look at the footage of of the protest in Iran, it looks similar to the protests in movements when African-Americans were fighting for basic civil rights. Because of this, I think its important for us to support and emphasize with them.
2. Recognizes the rise of citizen journalism. The people of Iran have been using their resources to really capture the true moments of whats been going on. Through twitter and youtube we’ve been able to hear their out cry for help. Because of this, its tough to keep tyrannous regime alive. I personally believe citizen journalism will be the ultimate demise of this government because they can no long hide the truth.
3. National security. It is absolutely imperative to have good relations with nations to ensure national security. The president of Iran has actively spoken out against America and Israel. CLEARLY it would not benefit us at all to keep him office. Unfortunately we can’t really intervene either. But by supporting the people we’re telling the government that this is NOT right, and we’re telling the citizens of Iran that we support them, and we may not be there but we’re not oblivious to what is going on.
4. It should make us thankful. All we do in America is eat McDonalds and complain. (i’m just joking). Looking at what’s going on Iran should make us grateful we live in America. Sure we’re in a recession, sure California upheld prop 8 (makes me angry), sure we had an idiot as a president for 8 years, and sure us college kids will be in debt for the rest of lives. But we have come so far as nation not to be oppressed by our government.
The Bottom line: I really believe people should care and support this issue. I hope I provided you with some good reasons on why you should care. Check out this video for a more visual representation.
L-a Brown said
Sister, let’s talk fo real. Girl, I been readin’ the news about Iran for a long ass time (I’m a Journalism/PoliSci double major). I just want to say that parts of your analysis of the current geopolitical situation are seriously misguided.
1. The situation in Iran is not at all like the civil rights movement, although you aren’t far from the mark. I find more striking similarities to the student protest movements of the late 1960’s. You see, most of the protests in Iran are being led by university students of the next generation; indeed, these students are attempting to embrace Western and secular ideas, much like the university students of the American 1960’s were attempting to embrace more progressive philosophies from abroad. Let me be clear: this is not a movement of oppressed peoples rising up against a society that oppresses them because of who they are. This movement is a struggle for internal reform being lobbied by individuals who would otherwise be able to participate with full rights.
2. Girl you got that right!
3. Iran does not pose a legitimate security threat to America or her allies. Any nuclear weaponry obtained by the Iranian regime would pale in comparison to the technologies already possessed by America and Israel. Iran knows full and well that any nuclear strike would be met with a far superior retaliatory offensive (recall the Cold War era idea of “Mutually Assured Destruction,” only delete the part where America gets destroyed). Also, the world’s other major nuclear powers all understand the threat an unstable regime with nuclear weaponry will pose. As such, I feel that the UN will prevent any substantial progress in Iran’s nuclear program. You wanna talk threat? Girl, look at Pakistan. Pakistan is on the brink of political collapse and they got the Taliban all up in their eastern regions. Sister, for real, they already got nuclear weapons! Our first priority needs to be stabilization of that state.
4. a. Sister, let’s get real about Prop 8. When the peoples of a state vote democratically to institute a policy, it is REDIC to assume that a court should intervene.
b. Girl, you need to watch the way you talk about our former president. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of Mr. Bush, but we all need to realize that several important decisions needed to be made in the wake of 9/11 and beyond. We cannot fairly place all the blame on him – where was the congressional oversight? Why weren’t the Democrats doing more to force a more moderate policy? The problems America faces are attributable only to the failures of all parts of government to respond with a thorough and cohesive policy.
The bottom line: girl, your commentary is thought provoking, but you need to be sure you do your homeowork before you run your mouth about things you don’t fully understand.
The dash has spoken.
brittdixon90 said
Sorry it took so long for me to get back you, I wasn’t sure how to respond to this since you were trying to insult my intelligence throughout the whole response.. But thanks for the feedback and thank you for reading my blog. I enjoyed reading your response (when I wasn’t being insulted) and here is my reply.
1. In my opinion the people of Iran are fighting for their rights, their right to be able to have a fair election and a sound democracy, the civil rights movement was all about fighting for their rights. I didn’t say its the exact situation and I said that if you look at the visuals, it looks similar to protest that were going on in the civil rights movement. It mirrors a time in our society where the government was not being fair. It doesn’t have to be within the exact same circumstances to be similar. And in a sense, this a movement of oppressed people rising up. When you live in a place where the government is manipulating, and cheating its citizens they are being oppressed, in my opinion.
2. thanks
3. I would agree that Iran doesn’t pose as much as threat as they did in say, 2003, but they still pose a pretty legit threat, still today. When you have a society constantly chanting “death to America” “death to Isreal” I think we should probably watch our backs. Now you, being a poli science major could probably get into more detail into that, but I can’t. I think we could both agree that we want the leaders in other nations to be fair and democratic because it could effect our international relations. But that’s just what I think. Thank you for informing me about Pakistan though. But the point of my blog post wasn’t to critically analyze who is more of a threat, the point was saying we should care about the leader Iran because it CAN ultimately effect us.
4. a. Ok.. Thanks. lol. This point was just saying, yes we have a lot problems here in America that we don’t agree with, But at least we know when we vote it’s counted! (i hope lol) I wasn’t trying to make an argument about prop 8 at all!
b. Uhm I’ll say whatever I want about our former idiot of a president. Him and his administration sent us into a spiraling recession. And again, I’m not trying to make an argument about president bush or 9/11 this is so irrelevant. Oh and I think you meant “Ridic” if ridiculous was the word you were abbreviating for
The bottom line: I never claimed to be an expert on Iran. I wanted to let my readers know about it and its up to them whether they want to research for themselves later. I could go on a whole spiel like you did, but guess what, no one would read it. the point of this was to give MY insight on why I think people should research it further. Most of what you said was completely irrelevant to my post. Your spiel on Pakistan, prop 8, and Bush were very informative but you act like I made a substantial argument about them lol.
Thank you “dash”
L-a Brown said
Girl, I apologize if I came off as speaking down to you. Sometimes I can get a little worked up over issues of geopolitical stability and electoral democracy, but girl I don’t think you’re stupid. As I said, I find your commentary very thought provoking. Very few people can articulate ideas and opinions with the depth of analysis I see in your blog. We sistas need to stick together ’cause the world is still out to keep a sister down! I was merely trying to create an open dialogue over critical issues. Indeed, I accept many of your responses and original propositions as legitimate points of discussion; however, I will stand by my assertions as well. I respect your commentary because the world needs strong, smart, and savvy black women leaders. Girl, we’re the next generation of Michele Obamas and Condi Rices!
I look forward to your future posts.
The dash has spoken. Again.