WideningGyro

A final rest for a great soul

Absolutely. I'm actually hoping I can use this convo as a springboard to talking about materialism/idealism, I think if done more as a "this is why we often end up disagreeing" rather than "here's why your opinions are shit", it could be really productive (again, I have a lot of faith in this guy over most libs I know).

Not yet. He shared an opinion piece by a diaspora Iranian middle east expert he follows (and who he assured me is "on the left"), which I'm in the process of writing a response to. I should say that my friend is neither stupid nor a bad person. He is just in the liberal academic mind-prison, and I'm taking my time to talk to him about this because he has potential, and could definitely be radicalized.

The opinion piece kind of does the first two of your bullets. It is a sort of scolding of what he sees as "the left" having a superiority complex about our influence on Iran, that our intelligence agencies should have any power to dictate a vibrant and politically active country like Iran. He essentially just concludes that CIA/Mossad influence and western sanctions don't dictate what happens in Iran. And it is actually problematic to even suggest it, since that takes away the agency of Iranians. He hilariously tries to back this up by referring to 1953, saying that "Iranians were active participants" in the coup. As if that legitimized it, or was evidence of a mass movement for regime change. Absurd. Applying that logic to the bay of pigs shows how ridiculous it is. The author essentially want people to sort of "leave Iran to the Iranians" which in some ass-backwards way means not talking about western influence and meddling.

I'm in the process of writing all this to my friend, making sure to be very measured and careful. I want him to see how brainwormed this sort of western academic coverage really is, but without spooking him or making it too adversarial. The answers in this thread has been really helpful.

~~That's very in line with the usual CIA/regime change MO. But what are the documentation for this? I'm not trying to be obnoxious, but I need something to back up these claims to my friend.~~

EDIT: nevermind, I just noticed a bunch of comrades supplied me with links

I'm not sure I follow, assuming the reports of widespread unrest and protest are true (and I emphasize that I don't know to what extent they are), then wouldn't that be the people trying to topple the government from the inside? I don't think my friend believed the notion that what is happening is only Western meddling, but at least in part an organic movement. And I don't know what to believe, which is why I'm asking.

The thing I have trouble buying is that Iranians who are genuinely fed up with the theocracy and want to topple it can't imagine anything better to replace it than a monarch directly funded by the great and lesser Satan. Even if he is pinky promising to be a "transitional figure".

Can someone here help me understand the situation in Iran, or point me to some good resources on the situation? I had a drunken conversation with a lib friend who is much more well-informed on Iran in general (and has traveled there extensively in the past). I suggested that the protests and calls for reinstating the Shah are part of a Western (mostly Israel)-influenced color revolution. His take is that the public's distaste for the regime is so great, the economic and humanitarian situation so grave, and the political system so ineffective and controlled that the average Iranian doesn't see any other way out than the one offered by the West.

I'm pretty uninformed and my own take was mostly just vibes and assuming the situation followed the usual regime change playbook. I'd love to understand it more.

Oh no, how will I now access the Matt Christman Show Without Matt Christman?

Nobel prize winning physicist discovers a mysterious "pre-Big Bang" signal. Once decoded it turns out to be an ear-splittingly loud "SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME"

Isn't that r/asksocialists or something? I dunno, the only non-hobby or DIY sub I fuck with is r/TrueAnon

I once had a heart-to-heart with my sister, who is a kind, intelligent and perceptive person, who set me on the path that led me to communism, but is now a comfortable suburban lib, and I tried to explain this to her- the gravity of climate change. She looked at me and just said "I have two kids. I need to believe that things will get better." There was such a pleading, desperate look in her eye that I just had to drop it. If I'm right, she's going to have to face it someday anyway, and if I'm wrong - well, then the future is better than I can imagine right now.

Same with my parents, who are at their best well-meaning libs. There's just no point in trying to get them to understand what's happening. They'll be long gone by the time everything truly breaks down. I don't really feel like I have the right to force the realization that the world they've inhabited all of their life won't really be there for their grand-kids.

Looks amazing! I have to ask, what's up with the beans in the first pic?

I had a desktop background with the word "removed" as a teenager (don't know if anyone here remembers Maddox, but this was his influence). Then my older sister saw it and (verbally) beat the shit out of me until I removed it in shame. I owe her a lot.

I also don't have a totenkopf or did 18 years in Blackwater.