What is Digg?247 Comments
- rnawky, on 06/25/2009, -5/+79CNN is ***** pro at Google Earth.
- mgenovese, on 06/25/2009, -8/+62Wow, really? They're killing civilians with axes, and we should sit back and not care?
http://threatswatch.org/rapidrecon/2009/06/unimagi ... - anotherjack, on 06/25/2009, -4/+42No government should ever attack peaceful protesters. No member of any armed force should willingly shoot or maim a peaceful civilian protester. If you are ordered to do so, you should refuse, if it means your life. Humanity and morality are individual qualities - we are only as humane or moral as our own actions. Our governments, armies, are only ever made up of people, and it is the individual people within those institutions who must bear responsibility for what happens under their watch. I repeat, no member of any armed forces should ever shoot or maim any civilian - while I realize that accidents can happen, these are not accidents.
- banderwocky, on 06/24/2009, -3/+40Holy crap. That sounds terrifying. I hope the Iranian people repay them in kind.
- ManUnitdFan, on 06/25/2009, -1/+34The Islamic Revolution happened. Yay, theocracy!
- wild, on 06/25/2009, -3/+30The Youtube comments scare me...
- soogy, on 06/25/2009, -0/+24Whenever I start to think Digg comments are getting out of hand, I just visit YouTube. It's like recalibrating my baseline for Internet stupidity.
- anotherjack, on 06/25/2009, -0/+24You got time? This cannot be a short story. I have summed it up to only the past 50 years. The very short version is that Russia, Britain, and the US had a lot to do with this - mostly Britain, but the US under Eisenhower indirectly brought this Govt into power. The Iranian theocracy defines itself as anti-Western and so has been painting itself into a smaller and smaller corner as it shuts itself off from the world, the present day, and the anything Western.
The Long version: The people of Iran have a long history of revolutions and takeovers. Look at the predecessors to the last Shah of Iran – governments in this region were constantly being overthrown by members of the same family, who were made to be opposed by skillful manipulation and their own wasteful idiocy. Whenever a key supply line or energy resource was threatened, the shady side of the "West" overthrew that ruler and put up a puppet king, shah, or dictator. By meddling in their affairs the US was indirectly responsible for the events that led to the current rule by Ayatollahs and clergy.
The last Shah of Iran was very into modernization and Westernization, which is what you see in those pictures. In the early 1950s, his minister Mossadegh wanted to nationalize the Iranian petroleum industry, which would distribute the profits among the people, which is the current situation for the citizens of Dubai - every natural-born citizen in Dubai got rich. This was a fearful prospect for the British, who owned the petroleum. They told the Shah to get Mossadegh to cut it out, but he would not, he argued forcefully, and a power struggle grew among many factions.
Eisenhower feared the British would intervene again and cause an instability that would lead to Russian control of the area, so he made the fateful decision to get the CIA to remove Mossadegh from power. Our govt admits this bit, and it always puzzles me how people can get so bass-ackwards. Then, heartened by all this international support, the Shah cracked down on dissent, so that at least 2000 prisoners were merely political “threats” of one kind or another.
The people of Iran, now very modernized and Westernized, educated and democratic in their thinking, were very pissed off at America for intervening for no ***** reason, and decided that they were very tired of being ruled from foreign lands by a succession of vicious and inbred idiots. Foreign governments had so often caused accidents or disrupted any opposition party, that eventually the only uncorruptable base from which to draw a support was the Muslim clergy. So the people rose up, threw out the Shah, and installed the Ayatollah Khomeni at the top and a different President just underneath him.
When the clergy are the rulers, it causes corruption and often fanaticism. Also, the suspicion of anything "western" ( which as you can see had legitimate roots ) led to a rejection of anything non-muslim, including secular literature, women's rights, and real newspapers.
For 30 years now the people of Iran have seen their revolution slowly boiled in a soup of hijabs and burkas and violent treatment of "enemies" within their own population and rules and rules and more rules, so that the difference between the oppression of the Shah and the oppression of the Ayatollah seems no different. They finally became genuinely sick of this government and for the first time, voted it out rather than rubberstamping the Ayatollahs pick.
The same Revolutionary Guard who fought against the oppression of the Shah is now chucking their own people off bridges. They forget that they are the beneficiaries of Iran’s own struggle to be a free self-ruled people. Soon, they will be the victims of another Iranian revolution, and I am sorry that they must suffer to be free, but I pray God that the West has no hand in this one. - borez, on 06/25/2009, -10/+30This used to be Iran, what the ***** happened:
http://funnytogo.com/pictures/iran70s/lifestyle.ht ... - fandyboy, on 06/25/2009, -4/+21"one *****"
An innocent teenage woman you cold hearted *****. - adremali, on 06/25/2009, -0/+16damn dude... needs a "graphic" tag.
- Stormwern, on 06/25/2009, -3/+19There's a middle ground between apathy and war mate.
- Bodhinature, on 06/25/2009, -0/+15Are you talking about the Shah? You might like to crack open a history book. The Shah was a secular dictator, installed by us after we overthrew a democratically elected secular leader. The Islamic Revolution is a direct result of that interference.
- udayd, on 06/25/2009, -0/+14oh yeah, most definitely NSFW
- anotherjack, on 06/25/2009, -2/+16No. I'm sorry. Our days of interfering with the way people have chosen to rule themselves is over. There are many more Iranians than there are members of the Revolutionary Guard or any militia. If they don't want this oppression, they must rise up and fight for their lives and the futures of their own children.
- Recluse84, on 06/25/2009, -1/+15This is ***** insane. Felt bad when she was asking the news guy to help them.
I dont think throwing rocks is going to cut it much longer when that kind of brutality is going on. - Cybird88, on 06/25/2009, -1/+14That is exactly what we should do. Iran is a sovereign nation and can really do what ever the ***** they want. That being said the things that are going on there are horrible and should be put to an end. By the Iranian people.
That would show the true power of democracy over tyrants, not America playing world police again. - JimmyRyan, on 06/25/2009, -0/+13Thats why I tend to stay here. The rest of the internets scare me.
- audiomodder, on 06/25/2009, -0/+13What happened Iran? You used to be cool.
- Ebacherville, on 06/25/2009, -2/+15let this be a lesson to all you anti gun people, Iranian citizens can't own guns, only security forces and police can.. this is what happens when the citizens cant defend themselfs!!
- dhughes, on 06/25/2009, -0/+11 I like the part where they rotated the map.
- ntombler, on 06/25/2009, -1/+12dude this is some heavy *****. It's a bit of a quagmire because we can't do anything to stop it. but i believe this is going to take a long time to pan out before anything substantial changes about the regime and brutality in iran. At this point, nobody but the iranian people themselves can do anything about it. All we can do is let them know we're behind them.
Long live freedom in Iran and the rest of the world! - depro9, on 06/25/2009, -2/+13All you have to do to get people to kill for you is tell them "you are going to die" & they will do whatever you want them to without question. Watch the documentary "flight from death" Let the people of Iran take freedom, U.S. involvement would only kill thousands more than would be killed without U.S. "help"
- proliance, on 06/25/2009, -1/+11The Iranians have been dis-invited to the US Embassy for July 4th celebrations. I'm sure this will clear things up.
- Cybird88, on 06/25/2009, -2/+12Please, go kill yourself.
- premiumballin, on 06/25/2009, -1/+10"Now they ask for help, the one time we dont want to they now ask for it.. well since they said Death To America, I guess we have to kill some bitches."
"the war is funny. nice entertainment"
This is where I become a misanthropist. - Cybird88, on 06/25/2009, -0/+9Hopefully the armies Iran decide not to shoot unarmed civilians and instead turn those guns on those who gave the orders.
- norman619, on 06/25/2009, -0/+9Not if they are not invited. If they do that w/o invitation they are technically an invading force. Iran is still a sovereign nation. This is an internal issue for the leaders of Iran and her people to work out for themselves. Rovolution is ALWAYS bloody and ugly. You can't and shouldn't try to sanitize it. This is the price opressed people must pay to gain freedom. Although this is very painful to listen to and watch the Iranian people will come out much stronger assuming they see this through to the end. I hope they get the freedom they are so vigorously fighting for.
- method7670, on 06/25/2009, -0/+8Very well said. That couldn't be put more accurately without using 100 pages to explain each single issue.
- method7670, on 06/25/2009, -0/+8I guess you haven't been paying attention to the fact that they have blocked everything in Iran.
I haven't even spoken to my family in a week with this going on. How exactly do you think they are going to get real camera footage in and out of Iran right now? - Cybird88, on 06/25/2009, -0/+8That why the Koran has been twisted to create a extremists? Yes, the bible has been used the same way as well.
- takeo1775, on 06/25/2009, -1/+9Theres not enough love in the world.
- massrox, on 06/25/2009, -2/+9Isn't this the kind of situation where the UN should be deploying peace keepers or something?
- chameleon789, on 06/25/2009, -0/+7In my experience, everywhere you go on the internet you can find something to be scared of if you look hard enough.
- norman619, on 06/25/2009, -0/+7No memeber of the armed forces should ever stand against the people in situations like this.
- ogre2112, on 06/25/2009, -3/+10You don't know what the hell you're talking about, little man.
- Lionhart, on 06/25/2009, -0/+7Someone needs to go back to history class. They overthrew an autocratic monarchy. The only people that overthrew a democracy in Iran was the CIA in the 50s, who installed the Shah. We have a real habit of ***** things up over there.
- ajwinder, on 06/25/2009, -1/+7The Basij, and yeah, they're highly to blame. They're also paramilitary thats endorsed by the government, and they're HIGHLY loyal to "the cause". The military itself doesnt get off scotch free here, keep in mind, but they've also had a lot of members joining the protesters after hours. They're a mixed bag while the basij are just hands-down crazy.
- rabidjester, on 06/25/2009, -0/+6Are you a bot?
- method7670, on 06/25/2009, -0/+6So does every other potential Miss America
- method7670, on 06/25/2009, -0/+6Each passing day this situation gets worse and worse.
Having family that you cannot contact is one of the most sickening feelings. - Cybird88, on 06/25/2009, -0/+6Been like that throughout history.
- udayd, on 06/25/2009, -1/+7with obama and two other wars going on, i would have my doubts (though i think this would have been the excuse that bush was looking for).
if we do anything, i would imagine that we do it covertly like we did in afghanistan during their fight to overthrow the soviet union. that is, if we haven't already started something. - MindStalker, on 06/25/2009, -0/+6Yep, though I would certainly welcome the UN in running a re-election if the government allows it.
- collution, on 06/25/2009, -0/+6I was about to make a comment about us (the US) being too broke to help (tough I know), but then I saw that image. Damn, that is just ***** unreal man. Definitely graphic.
- JimmyRyan, on 06/25/2009, -0/+6Yeah. Were "falling" for it. How dumb are we?
- MindStalker, on 06/25/2009, -1/+7From what I understand, its not the Iranian Military or Police that is doing this. A certain religious sect is being armed by the leaders to put down the demonstrators. Most of these guys don't have a moral problem with hurting these civilians. The Police are stuck in the middle, trying to protect all sides and are generally getting screwed there.
- thcobbs, on 06/25/2009, -1/+6Just about every person in the military who's seen combat LOVES peace.
But they also know that sometimes, the only way to make people stop doing bad things is to put a bullet in them. - poxonyou, on 06/25/2009, -2/+7You mean how there was a tiny elite and a brutal ruler? You can find rich people in pretty clothes in many otherwise poor countries. The only chance the Iranians had for a normal democracy for the past 50 years was Mossadegh, but he decided to nationalize the oil so the money could be used to help the people of Iran instead of British Petroleum, so the US and UK decided to kick him out and put the king (shah) back in power. For numerous reasons, much of the population, except perhaps elites in nice clothes, hated the shah. Many different groups fought to overthrow the shah, not just Muslims. He was overthrown. Iranian people have overall been better off than they were under the shah, but that isn't saying much. The young people want more now.
- thcobbs, on 06/25/2009, -0/+5Don't fool yourself... we already are.
My guess is that its more on the cyberspace front... taking down firewalls, opening up communications, etc. Getting information to and from these people is the best way we can help them. -
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