Andrew Sullivan: The Revolution Will Be Twittered

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hso9PcLbXtE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fandrewsullivan%2Etheatlantic%2Ecom%2Fthe%5Fdaily%5Fdish%2F2009%2F06%2Fthe%2Drevolution%2Dwill%2Dbe%2Dtwittered%2D1%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded

Mock not. As the regime shut down other forms of communication, Twitter survived. With some remarkable results. Those rooftop chants that were becoming deafening in Tehran? A few hours ago, this concept of resistance was spread by a twitter message. Here's the Twitter from a Moussavi supporter:

ALL internet & mobile networks are cut. We ask everyone in Tehran to go onto their rooftops and shout ALAHO AKBAR in protest #IranElection

That a new information technology could be improvised for this purpose so swiftly is a sign of the times. It reveals in Iran what the Obama campaign revealed in the United States. You cannot stop people any longer. You cannot control them any longer. They can bypass your established media; they can broadcast to one another; they can organize as never before.

It's increasingly clear that Ahmadinejad and the old guard mullahs were caught off-guard by this technology and how it helped galvanize the opposition movement in the last few weeks. That's why they didn't see what those of us surgically attached to modems could spot a mile away: something was happening in Iran. If Drum is right, the mullahs believed their own propaganda about victory until reality hit them so hard so fast, they miscalculated badly and over-reached.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/the-revolution-will-be-twittered-1.html

[AlexanderProgressive]

1. Sullivan should wait for confirmation that Ahmedinejad stole the elections

Before talking about revolutions.
Maybe he stole them. Maybe not.

[TheBigotBasher]

2. Look at every major poll there.

He stole it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_presidential_election,_2009

[AlexanderProgressive]

4. Your link says "The opinion polls in Iran have been considered unreliable."

That's not good. Plus the polls for June are all over the place in that graph. Some have Ahmedinejad up, some have the other guy up.

[PM7nj]

6. Even if it wasn't stolen, Iran could use a good revolution. nt

[Pisces]

3. Andrews blog has had the best information on the elections. He has not been biased in any way!!

He was commenting on the use of technology to galvanize the people. Maybe you should watch the night video he has on his blog of the people chanting on their roofs. It is incredible. The MSM is bullshit. Get the real news directly from the people on the front line.
THese people are protesting knowing they could be killed or arrested. I am amazed at their bravery.

[struggle4progress]

8. Hmm. Sullivan recently posted a comment lauding rightwing wacko Krauthammer:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/because-they-panicked.html

which suggests Sullivan is still the rightwinger he has always been

[Bucky]

10. Pssst

We're you aware that ad hominem attacks don't actually disprove someone else's arguments?

[struggle4progress]

11. In assessin th'usefulness o'commentators, I consider it appropriate t'regard whom they approve:

I'm happy to tell you exactly when I decided Krauthammer was an unreformable rightwing liar: sometime after the looting of the Baghdad museum, the US military released a report indicating that thousands of artefacts remained unrecovered -- and Krauthammer thereupon dutifully wrote a column saying that only ten pieces were still missing: the column was a nasty sneering attack on anyone who was still concerned by the looting of the museum. Unfortunately, it was not an exceptionally dishonest column by Krauthammer's standards

Political arguments should be closely tied to facts, and a commentator who is willing to lie sometimes to score political points is an unreliable source. Someone who promotes such a commentator is an equally poor source, I think

[jefferson_dem]

5. "Truism by now, but worth saying: ..."

"Iran protests make it hard to deny Twitter's unique capacity to harness real time events"

twitter.com/peterdaou

Indeed.

[jefferson_dem]

7. 10:05 PM ET -- Twitter goes dark?

10:05 PM ET -- Twitter goes dark? I noted earlier that Twitter was the only major social network still operating in Iran. Now something has changed. All of the Iran-based Twitter users I've been reading haven't posted for at least 30 minutes or so. The reasons are unclear. Some on Twitter are claiming there is a complete electricity shut-down in Tehran. One Iran-based Twitter user, @tehranelection, last posted an hour ago: "I have to shut down for a bit, the police are looking for satellites." Will update as soon as I hear more.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

[Bucky]

9. Apparently the Council of Experts reads Andrew Sullivan or the HuffPo.

Twitter Akbar!