Like Eastern Europeans in 1989, the Iranians are blowing it by taking to the streets.

[Karmadillo]

Don't they know they should stay at home? Don't they know they should express their discontent by making phone calls or sending emails to their elected leaders? Don't they know that at all costs, they shold STAY OFF THE STREETS? That way lies madness. Look what happened in Eastern Europe when people took to the streets. DISASTER. The same end lies in store for the Iranians. If they don't reign in the chaos before it's too late, they will reap the whirlwind.

It's not too late to salvage the situation. They should follow our lead. They should cool it. Look what cooling it got us. We earned a trillion dollar Wall Street bailout that might eventually lead to some unspecified good for the working class at some unspecified lagging point in the future. We got health insurance reform that might one day be amended by as now unidentified elected leaders to end up as something really good or at least something better than what it is now. Our armed forces, at least some of them, are going to withdraw from the Forever War: Iraq by a date at some point in the future and there will be a similar withdrawal of at least some of our forces from the Forever War: Afghanistan at some point similarly in the future. All that Pentagon money will then be available for domestic purposes or at least for different weapons and different wars. And by following the course of keeping a low profile, we managed to get all of this within less than a single year. Given our inexorable momentum, we might even be able to prevent Social Security and Medicare from being completely gutted. It's that possible!

But we've only been able to achieve what we've already achieved and what we might possibly achieve at some point in the future by learning the lessons of history. Don't. Rock. The. Boat. Never ever ever never. Be patient. Listen to authority. Wait and wait again and time and tide might eventually bring you what you need or at least something that's not as bad as it could be. Rock the boat, disrespect elected leaders, and all bets are off. Unspecified rewards at some unspecified point in the future may vanish.

Don't let it happen, Iran. Do as you're told. Let your leaders lead while you follow as directed. Trust. Have faith. Stay inside. Embrace Civil Obedience as if your life depended on it. DON'T take to the streets. Please. You have too much of something I can't identify with any certainty at this point in time to lose.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6969094.ece

December 28, 2009

Is this Iran’s Berlin Wall moment?
Robin Wright

It is time to start wondering out loud whether Iran’s uprising could become one of those Berlin Wall moments.

This is not yet a counter-revolution. And the new “green movement” is a coalition of disparate factions — from former presidents to people who have never voted at all — who view the issues through vastly different prisms. Yet the pattern of public outpourings since the disputed election six months ago is setting historic precedents.

The opposition has proven it has the resolve and resilience to sustain its risky challenge, despite the regime’s ruthless use of force, mass arrests, show trials and reports of torture and rape in prison. In the escalating political showdown the opposition has the momentum.

Just as important, the emergence of people power is also setting a new precedent in the last bloc of countries ruled by authoritarian regimes. Thirty years ago, Iran’s revolution redefined politics throughout the Middle East by ending dynastic rule and introducing Islam as a modern political idiom. Iran’s uprising is doing it again — this time by taking to the streets to demand an end to dictatorship as well as calling for fundamental rights such as free speech, a free press and respect for the individual vote.

But the green movement is far more than simply sporadic eruptions. This is the most vibrant and imaginative civil disobedience campaign in the world.

[sam sarrha]

1. Islam means.."Submission".. to Allah and his Oligarchy of self appointed representives..the form of

Islam in Iran is traditionally influenced by Sufism, but by definition it seems totally incompatible with Islam.. i believe what mainstream Islam would see as capital Heresy .. is an attempt by the Iranians to protect their culture from the more Orthodox Arab style day to day subjugation of it's followers.. using the term "Submission to Allah" literally.. as our own fundamentalists insist that the "Word" of the bible is also to be taken literally.. please note i did not use the term 'Extremist', but Fundamentalist.

if the Iranians cant throw off its Theocratic Dictators they might as well just die in the streets with dignity.. the Iranian people have a wonderful open loving culture. they openly seek western ideas and science. this is why there is a crack down on them. they do not toe the fundi line of traditional Islam. some of the most wonderful, intelligent and educated people i have ever met were Iranians.

http://www.bmf.org/sufi/
"snip...It is not something that belongs to any one religion. It is the Essence which has been filtered out from all four religions by Wisdom. It is the Essence which has analyzed and sifted right from wrong, extracted the clear Filtrate that is the Truth, and out of that Truth distilled the Power that resides within all created lives-the Power that is God. It has ascertained and extracted the qualities, the tendencies, the awareness, and the intelligence of all these lives. And understanding clearly their characteristics, their intelligence, their actions, and their behavior, it scrutinizes and comprehends them through Wisdom, and from this understanding of all of creation it gives praise to the Glory of God.
"Sufi" is to bestow Compassion on these lives, to bestow Love, Kindness, Compassion, and Mercy on all creations. ...snip"

http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/islam/blfaq_islam_sufi.htm
"snip...This, however, was uncommon. Whereas mainstream Islam tended to be rather scholastic in nature, Sufism focused on personal peity, which was easier for many Muslims to accept and live by. Although the Sufis tended to integrate beliefs and practices which came from outside Islam, those beliefs and practices were integral in the cultures to which Islam had been transplanted...snip"

[Odin2005]

2. +1

[sam sarrha]

4. I'm a Carroll type Aspi... pm me about the Autistic Pride symbol,

[snagglepuss]

3. Very interesting. Thanks for posting. nt

[snagglepuss]

5. K & R. Brilliant post. "Embrace Civil Obedience as if your life depended on it."

"Unspecified rewards at some unspecified point in the future may vanish."


"DON'T take to the streets."


"Please. You have too much of something I can't identify with any certainty at this point in time to lose."


I'm bookmarking this. :applause:

[sam sarrha]

6. when Palin gets elected as Psychotic Narcissist for life will you hit he streets..>Link>>

or live happily under Fascist Dominionism..?

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=palin%27s+3+part+religious

[David Zephyr]

7. I like the way you think.

K&R

[Jenny_92808]

8. And I did not speak....

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me

[aquart]

9. Yes. An entire generation is dying for it.

Glad you're happy.

[sam sarrha]

16. it... what?, why am i happy, ?? got a limk..?

[leftstreet]

10. K&R

[Vidar]

11. K&R.

[Hannah Bell]

12. another thing they have in common with e. europe circa 1989 = US covert ops.

our leaders want *us* to stay home, correct.

but they're more than happy to encourage the citizens of unfriendly gov'ts to take to the streets.

[Karmadillo]

13. Of course. They know what an effective tool it is.

nt

[madinmaryland]

14. Are you suggesting that they keep their powder dry??

:D

[sam sarrha]

15. the Fundamentalist Oligarchy is a

statistics will vary in a brutal dictatorship.. 'i support this brutal murderous government, who passes out 2 day permits to slaughter women in the streets with sniper rifles during demonstrations, in case they are listening, and i support a Representative democracy too...' or something like that.

the government is only protected by a small group of mercenary thugs,.. 80-90% of the population doesn't like them. the thugs know they are in trouble.. their torturing of innocent people is sealing their tomb.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/16/ballen.iranian.democracy/
"snip...Nearly 80 percent want the right to vote for all their leaders, including the all-powerful supreme leader, while nearly 90 percent chose free elections and a free press as the most important goals they have for their government -- virtually tied with the top priority of improving the Iranian economy...snip"

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/12/28/griffin.sayah.iran.future.cnn

[Karmadillo]

17. Bingo! It's the one true path.

nt