The Iranian revolution.... first evidence of an abrupt tectonic shift in western culture

[dos pelos]

First,the obvious: there is a revolution currently underway in Iran.Next,it is driven by the permeation of Iranian society by western values.It is made possible by the rapid,decentralized social networking communications technology of twitter and youtube.MOST IMPORTANTLY; it was not recognized for several days by the large,bureaucratic,ossified ,organs of state propaganda we call the major news networks in the west.Political stripe notwithstanding.They all missed it.The political class of the west is even more obtuse.Obama today said "I recognize there is something going on in Iran".Asleep at the wheel.

Next,the people of the west.Sonnambulants.Even here on DU,TV zombies arguing about letterman or marijuana.Fat,cynical,lazy,over satiated,enervated is the state of the western political class,its media and the people.

Meanwhile,unrecognized,technological development permeating the rest of the world has,very abruptly,produced a political/cultural change.The ground on which a foreign political hierarchy presumed its existence has suddenly changed.What is happening in Iran,the development of a new social discourse,of a new and real journalism,will change the terms of political and social life here as well.

Just as the current political and "journalistic" establishment here was slow to recognize
the significance of what is happening in Iran,so it will be slow to recognize the consequences of such technological change in communications to its control over discourse,political life and the creation and sanctioning of "news".Kind of like how photocopied Samizdat helped undermine control in the old Soviet Union.Kind of like how the printing press led to Protestantism and undermined catholic control of Europe.This is just happening much much faster.An Iranian elite is falling.The same technological/social dynamic will shortly change an elite here.Heads up.

[grannie4peace]

1. i agree with your statement about du. it's frustrating. i'm sure

there a many smart peeps here on du who could help them . they need our support. what if we'd done obama that way. truth is truth & must not be denied!!!!

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

2. Things may change there

as well as here. But our masters will still be in charge. The top 1% or even the top .01% will not care a rats ass about any of this. Since they control the wealth, media, politicians and resources, this is really just re-arranging the furniture.................

[dos pelos]

5. Rearranging the furniture requires control

Control presumes deciding who talks to whom about what.That is becoming very rapidly and radically democratized.The hierarchies built on control of that are going to disappear.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

7. I think you give us little people too much credit

:) Really, how would we effectively change things to truly democratize the way we live? The avenues of peaceful change are blocked which force us to channel into the path that requires the use of force, which then justifies the state taking charge and hitting back even harder. This change will have to be DNA encoded and that's gonna take a Lonnnnnngggggg time!
edited for spelling

[NeedleCast]

3. Your Spacebar

Use it more.

[Born_A_Truman]

11. My old eyes agree..

:rofl:

[bstender]

4. bogus revolution

Your observations about the power and awareness of these communication methods are insightful, but I would like to challenge your subtext, namely, this technology is being exploited by outside actors to create unrest in Iran. Though is gaining some traction in Western media, the intended target, there is no indigenous revolution occurring in Iran.

[Odin2005]

8. Bullshit.

[readmoreoften]

14. Agreed. There are protests, but huge protests in Iran are not some unknown phenom.

I don't trust anything our media grabs a hold of and runs with, especially when its attached to photos that are supposed to make viewers go all dew-eyed. We've been infiltrating Iran through student movements for awhile. Personally I'm waiting until I hear from actual Iranian leftists before I bother trying to interpret the events and our role in them.

[cascadiance]

15. But what is NOT normal is the news blackout, etc. around this...

If this were just a "normal" protest, why shouldn't the Iranian government just let it run its course, and claim this is just the way things usually go there? As in most other acts of criminal action though, it is the cover-up that in many cases exposes the criminals.

I'm not saying which side is necessarily the one that's causing most of the problems, and if one is guiltless and the other the real problem one, or if there's problems on both sides. But I think the world is owed the chance to see what is going on there honestly if we want to believe the government is an honest entity we can deal with or if there are real problems that need addressing.

[bstender]

18. no, normal and understandable

this is not a normal indigenous protest. these media are helping foreign agents ignite a revolution by reporting unfounded allegations, lending the air of legitimacy and feeding that back to the streets. the USA would do exactly the same thing if in the same boat. (i know, it is hard to imagine the US as NOT the dominant media force) these major media are long-standing, unapologetic mouthpieces for hostile countries.

[cascadiance]

21. I guess then you felt that what happened at Kent State was a "normal" reaction to events there then?

How do you "know" that there are not a lot of Iranians that support this movement, any more than we might "know" that there isn't some sort of infiltration of other agendas going on over there.

Not knowing what's going on is precisely why we have to be careful not to endorse any one side, but at the same time, we have to recognize that this might be many in Iran's best chance at changing their system to one that is more democratic.

Sorry, but if the U.S. were to do "the same thing" and start brutalizing and killing its own citizens that demonstrate against the government, I'd have a BIG problem with that. Which is why I cannot accept Kent State as a "normal reaction" to demonstrations, even if you might.

[bstender]

23. specifics do matter

I have a big problem with police brutality as well, but it is nonetheless quite normal. i've been brutalized myself and witnessed sickening violence by police against 100% peaceful protestors here in the good old USA on _several_ occasions.

we dont really know anything for certain, you are correct. but there does seem to be a consensus that the initial demos, and counter demos were universally peaceful. the first serious violence occurred when a small group tried to burn a police barracks. i consider it almost necessary for the police to respond violently to soemthing like that, even while i wish they could find a better way to deal with it.

i too think Kent state was abhorrent btw, from what i know of it. not sure how fair it is to compare the two, as that was an internal debate and peaceful as i recall. whereas these events in Iran are a case of foreign incitement to insurrection, probably which would typically include agent provocateurs to stoke the flames...i dont think any US cops would hesitate to beat, incarcerate or disappear anyone remotely connected to anything of the sort, and they would be applauded for doing so.

the US govt is conservative as hell, as well as most of the people. there's a voice for liberal values, but most of our rhetoric about 'freedom' and 'democracy' is not matched in actual practice, and most people are fine with that. it's interesting to see such widespread criticism in the US of Iran's actions to these protests while their own government routinely preemptively arrests, quashes communications and pens in demonstrations and beats demonstrators, not to mention holds people without trial and tortures them. you would expect them to say, well, these Iranian protestors had it coming to them! (of course, most people have no clue how protestors are handled in this country as the papers are great at publishing the police dept. press release after each demo explaining the situation. and they never connect the dots when the police depts. routinely pay off the damages the victims win 2 years later)

so, no, i dont condone it, but consider it unremarkable. certainly not a Stalin purge though the rhetoric was getting there.

[cascadiance]

25. I think that the important thing is not to accept it as "normal"...

Even if we see it happening routinely in other places too. Once we "accept" that its normal and minimize events like this in other places as "common", how do we get back any sense of civility again.

Back in the 60's and earlier too, there was many who thought that the radicals then were also subjects of foreign incitement for their actions of protests too from the Soviet Union and other foreign communist entities then. Whether or not this was the case, does that justify them taking violent action against all of the protestors?

We also had some stupid fringe elements of the protests against the WTO in Seattle that started trashing windows of businesses as well. Would that justify police brutality against all of the other well-behaved protestors, or threaten execution of those that continued to protest in that scenario?

Yes, I think police do have a difficult job in making sure that crowds don't get out of control, and to be firm with those that get out of line. But when you see people get shot and killed like what happened in that Oakland subway last year too when they went over the line, then you have to ask why they are getting away with that. And if if is systemic in and wide spread, then there is more institutional culpability in those using those methods. And if they are keeping out the press, or brutalizing them (and yes I even put up a youtube of Amy Goodman's arrest during the conventions), then you have to ask why they are going that far.

I think the media wants us to believe that most Americans are conservative and that we liberals are "fringe" elements, and to some extent they facilitate that with their propagandizing them so much. But I think there's a lot more out there that question the conservative status quo than we are lead to think.

Had we not had outside world contact for those protesting in Iran, it might have been a Tiamenan Square situation or a Stalinist purge. I think the visibility did hold Iran back to some degree. They seem to be backtracking on doing things like recounts or other investigations.

[Bok_Tukalo]

6. Happy people don't revolt

And Americans are very, very happy.

[SpiralHawk]

26. Americans are not happy, they are uncertain just now

Profoundly so in my experience and observation.

[RainDog]

9. how is the move to a moderate theocracy from a hard-line one "democracy?"

I mean, I'm all for a move away from the hard-liners because that makes room for greater reforms.

however, I think it's a gross misstatement of the political situation in Iran to claim their elections were about "democracy."

China went through mass demonstrations and ended up with economic reforms but not democracy. much of the complaints in Iran at this time have to do with economic problems for the lower middle class.

[timeforpeace]

10. Or you might just be reading too much into it.

[deaniac21]

12. The revolution is getting no backing from the US. The mullahs

will CRUSH them, if that is what it takes.

[readmoreoften]

13. So instead of "the ossified state propaganda" they get cable news, astroturfing, paid bloggers,

and the whole all-pervasive corporate propaganda permeating every corpuscle of the political body? Lucky them.

[Kaleko]

16. Yes, access to ALL information via any media already available to the rest of the world

would put Iranians on par with our so-called free societies. That's a big step forward from a repressive theocracy into a more even playing field. The fervent desire of gazillions of young Iranians to join the global community, however flawed and shackled it appears to jaded Westerners, is palpable. It is electrifying if you watch their marches and the gatherings of millions upon millions more closely with an open heart.

[bstender]

17. Amazingly relevant story!

Proof: Israeli Effort to Destabilize Iran Via Twitter #IranElection

http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/06/proof-israeli-effort-to-destabilize-iran-via-twitter/

[anonymous171]

19. When in doubt, blame the jews.

Worked for Ahmadinejad before.

[bstender]

24. um, the story is about how 1-3 anonymous persons created a worldwide bogus revolution!

but when confused, assume the story is about 'persecuting the Jews'

[Fumesucker]

20. Samizdat also existed in cassette form..

Protest songs could sweep from one end to the other of the Soviet Union in a matter of days or weeks without ever getting any airplay at all.

Now it takes but hours.

The Singularity approaches..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

[cascadiance]

22. Copy machines, radio, cassettes, etc. were the technologies that helped with samizdat in its days...

Arguably Guttenberg's printing press also helped in its days bring the masses more access to information on the world too, which had its effect on governments of its age too.