May 19th, 2006 by Atomictumor
I’m trying to think of something funny about Iran’s decision to enforce a mandatory dress code, complete with badges and whatnots marking non-muslims, so everybody knows who to throw a rock at. Its not easy.
I’m also trying like a son of a bitch to avoid Godwin’s Law in this discussion, but its hard to do.
I’m trying, additionally, to hope that the current US administration isn’t going to take everybody down with them in a mighty desert scrap to end all scraps. At the same time I ask myself “Damn. Them weird assed fundy muslims are f’ed in the head. Would a big ass kicking do them some good?”
The metaphysical questions get old at that point.
Heres whats going to happen. Iran is trying so hard to get the world worked up on their theocracy bullshit that W blows his stack and sends in the calvary (what little is left). Russia and China are pissed, because Iran is hooking them up on the back end. Nobody else is interested in getting involved. Israel will probably end up getting jumped by everybody in the area, and the US will start drafting to make sure they have enough kids to put in Iraq, Iran, and Israel. Afgani-what? No, they’re on their own, and the Taliban takes over. And all of a sudden you wake up and realize that you’re living in Russia circa 1984…
Weird times, man. My plan is to buy that deserted island I was talking about, and building a big assed DEATH ROBOT to protect me. In this day of fences and constant vigilance to keep out terrorists, I think its a sensible solution.
May 19th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
I almost called the title “Iran So Far Away”, but that’d be bad…
May 19th, 2006 at 4:19 pm
It’s a shame Iran has all that oil… otherwise who’d give a ____? Build a massive tunnel under the desert and start siphoning their oil I say.
For a guy who doesn’t think the jewish holocaust happend, their leader sure has been taking some notes.
Will that death robot run on oil, or just happy thoughts?
I was skimming disertations the other day and I was really surprised at the lunatic ravings of some religious folks. hindu and muslim stood out. well, that’s because I didn’t see a single christain acknowledgement section, but nonetheless it was straight up crazy talk. I sort of know some of these people, not all of whom are indian or middle eastern and they seem of the nice sort, but f-for- all if I’ll ever see them the same way. Perhaps these are coincidental, I only saw three total religious proclamations. I’ve seen christains do the same thing, but not ramble on about it for two pages repeating the same sentences way too many times. I’m not defending christianity, just that in the way that I’ve encountered it, it has alot less obsessive spookyness to it (but yes there are localized exceptions of that). I have nothing against hindus, muslims, christians, or spaghetti monsters, I love you guys all the same, it is just the surprising spookyism lurking in the subsurface that chills me to the bone and caught me a little off guard. Sorry for the rant, it is a bit off topic. I know two people from Iran, they seem nice, one gave me a twix bar once, but i haven’t seen their dissertations… admittedly a dissertation likely becomes a very personal thing for some folks.
May 19th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
The Iranians I knew in college were really nice people — but in perspective, that was 1981-1985, so they were the lucky ones that escaped before the Ayatollah Khomeni overthrew the Shah.
Thus, they were probably different from those who have grown up under religious rule.
Still, do not confuse Iranians (who are Persian) with arabs (a totally different species). The arabs I met in college were a disgusting lot… one, upon walking into a programming class where I was the TA, informed me that “a woman is not qualified” to teach that class. So, I excused him to go drop.
Mine was the only section. Just as well, I suppose, since those guys only showered quarterly.
May 20th, 2006 at 7:23 am
I have two Iranian colleagues currently in my department, both full professors. One of them travels back to Iran once or twice a year. I can’t say they are more or less “nice people” than anyone else, but they are accomplished and successful scientists. Both are quick to remind me that they are Americans, since both are naturalized citizens.
I’ve discussed the prospect of a US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, which are located in population centers, and both are opposed. Of course, both of them have parents and other relatives living in Iran so, unlike the Administration and its supporters, they understand the cost in innocent human life that such an attack would entail.
I also know an Iranian professor from a nearby University. Their daughter is a friend of our daughter from back in elementary school days, and we’ve socialized with them a bit ourselves. I realize that the plural of anecdote is not data, so I won’t generalize about all Iranians based on these examples. But the Iranians I’ve known personally have been human beings as much as any American, and I assume that Iran is populated by many people just like them. Neither they nor their country are threats to the US. Any attack on Iran, like the invasion of Iraq, would be unjustified, illegal under international law, and immoral.
May 20th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Oh, yeah. WRT the mandatory dress code? You’ve been played.
http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/another-fraud-on-iran-no-legislation.html
May 21st, 2006 at 10:34 am
Well, thats good, at least. I take it all back, turns out the whole administration is misunderstood. I was that way in middle school when I talked about exterminating people.