I'm on Twitter. I may have mentioned this in the past. I know I had my Twitter feed displaying on Bloop at one time before the great server failures, but I never got the gumption to put it back afterwards. If you've paid any attention to the news, you'll know that there is a huge controversy going on in Iran concerning their "democratic" process and the most recent election. Twitter has gotten involved in a large way.
Now, on the surface everything sounds extremely cool. "Resistance" vs. "establishment" sort of stuff. For the uninitiated here is a brief summary:
Iran had an election - the results of the election "appeared suspicious" - two of the three losers filed official complaints, and the third held an assembly for "peaceful protest". An investigation was started, and is still being performed (last I checked). At some point, the assembled protesters were asked by the government to disband. They did not disband. People died at the hands of the police/military. In an effort to curtail the obvious shitty press they would get, the government shutdown all communications avenues leading outside the country (I assume that this was to 1.] figure out just what the hell happened, and 2.] work out how to spin this to the rest of the world.) Enter Twitter - It seems that the only social networking site that got around all the restrictions was Twitter.com. Locals Tweeted their stories. News bites in 140 characters or less.
That should bring us up to speed with the basics. I'm not familiar
the whole story, but for this post, that's kind of the point.
In reaction to the goings on, an interesting phenomenon occurred in the Twitter-verse: Twitter went green. An overlay of green shading began showing up on more and more peoples avatars. This prompted the obvious question: what's with the green?
It turns out that the green is a way to "show your support for democracy in Iran". At least, that's what the re-tweeted message I saw indicated. However, looking deeper into it, the politician who lost AND started the protests had a campaign color: GREEN.
So, the "support for democracy" is really support for this one guy who is ultimately responsible for putting people in harms way and getting some killed.
I know, I'm making it look bad. Maybe he didn't organize the protests, but by allowing his campaign color to be used, he's supporting what happened. He still holds a good measure of responsibility because it's all being done in his name.
That being said, let's step back and look at the big picture (if we can) Twitter-wise:
No one knows what's really going on. Iran Government: still investigating the original election issue, and they aren't talking. People Tweeting: in the streets can only see men with guns shooting people - no motivations, nada, just soldiers/police with guns and an occasional group of people being shot- these people are Tweeting about the horrors of a riot from the middle of the riot how objective can they be?
OK. Since we only know the basics (and even that's sketchy), let's ask some "what ifs":
What if the election WASN'T rigged?
---Green opponent is responsible for senseless loss of life and delaying the political investigation into the inconsistencies of what happened.
What if the election WAS rigged?
---Green opponent is responsible for senseless loss of life and delaying
the political investigation into the inconsistencies of what happened.
What if something suspicious was going on?
---We don't even know if the election was rigged - but because politics was involved, I say OF COURSE something suspicious was going on.
What if the investigators are biased?
---They're politicians, of course they're biased. Did you expect fair?
This is the middle-east. It's fair if Allah says it's fair. Ask who's working for Allah.
So, who's working for Allah?
--- The Ayatollah Khamenei. Always has been, even back when his people held 52 U.S. citizens
hostage on an airliner for weeks when Jimmy Carter was president.
This election is none of our business.
The U.S. should steer clear.
Was there election tampering? Maybe. It certainly seems that way to the 3 losing candidates.
Did that warrant a protest before the investigations were done? No, but one happened, and people died. Do we know the details? Nope, but that doesn't stop some enthusiastic Tweeters from siding with the protesters.
What? NO, we're doing it for democracy.
Um...You've chosen the protest organizer's colors. You have, in a very symbolic non-verbal way, endorsed the protest, the killings, and are attempting to circumvent the election process by saying "the election didn't happen and this guy is our choice, because it's obvious that this is how people have REALLY voted."
Now, if the election was rigged: fine. You're right. I don't really care.
If the election wasn't rigged: fine. You're wrong. I still don't care.
I don't care? No, I don't. Not one wit.
Don't misunderstand: I feel for and relate to these people who've lost their lives believing that they've been duped by the politicians. It's easy to sit here in my office and look at atrocities, and be moved nearly to tears. But, it's stupid to throw in my oar with one side or the other when the information available is completely biased and possibly bald-faced lies. The only thing people on both sides are agreeing to is the body count.
You know what? Riots are dangerous, police use lethal force if they feel threatened, people might die no matter where the riot happens, and it's never ever good press.
So, what do I believe? Silly question, because it should be obvious, but sometimes I'm misunderstood:
I believe that we don't know the whole story. I believe no one outside of Iran knows the whole story. I believe that using Green to "show support for democracy" is a clever way to leverage world sympathy to a losing candidate. And I believe that a lot of people on Twitter have bought into it without thinking.
For what it's worth, I've heard an interview with the incumbent Iranian president. He was being badgered by a U.S. press reporter IN HIS OWN HOME IN IRAN. He was polite, resolute, and in all ways a competent example of leadership under fire. It may not have been war, but it was an attack. I don't know anything about his opponents, but I can tell you that this man is worth voting for. His opponents would need to be a damn sight more impressive to swing my vote. Of course, my vote isn't worth a hill of beans in Iran.
In response to the Green showing all over Twitter. I have decided to go with the flow. But, I don't look good in Green, so I've gone with Purple. I'm still supporting democracy. I made a choice to oppose the masses and be a voice of dissent.
Besides, I always liked that episode of Babylon 5 with the Purple vs. Green.
Loading...
