FYM -- All Quiet on the Iranian Front

[melon]

Well, Justin Raimondo and Attila the Hun have really nothing in common, seeing as Justin Raimondo's over-riding political principle is being anti-war.

A tongue-in-cheek comment, but it appears that Justin's ideology goes far beyond being "anti-war" considering all the venom he throws at anyone who pursues gay rights. What that has to do with "war" is beyond me.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Very brave woman.

YouTube - Police Riot Beating Women and Man in Streets of Tehran

Indeed. and the way the police officer tries to retaliate reminds me of a knight from Holy Grail trying to keep his facemask from falling down. Uncoordinated twit

 

[sue4u2]

Absolutely fascinating coverage.

I'm riveted. I've just gone green in more than one way. I was trying to decipher how to open my server to get information out of Iran.
But it's way over my head but I would do it if I could.

This is history people, pay attention.

 

[deep]

one thing this has made clear

the Islamic Republic is more of a military dictatorship than a theological dictatorship.

 

[Tiger Edge]

Anderson Cooper said that twitter was scheduled to go down for maintenance yesterday but remained open since it is one of the big forms of communication between Iranians and the outside world. I too learned about most of this stuff through twitter, but reported on another site. Pretty amazing the age we are in now where the eyewitness account holds double the importance of regular reporting. I recall seeing #CNNfail as a topic trend on Saturday because of the lack of reporting. It should have been #MSMfail, quite frankly. Iran is still a top trend on twitter.

Anderson also interviewed an Iranian student who reported that people have been leaving their doors unlocked so that protesters have a place to run to and hide if they are caught in the brawl. It's fascinating what is happening over there. I wish I had the energy/time right now to really delve into the topic and learn all about it, but soundbites will have to do until later this week.

Admittedly, I don't know anything prior to Friday, so is Moussavi not as insane and radical as Ahmedinejad? (Woohoo, I spelled it right the first time around!)
Is he a better choice for peace or would he simply continue "being a threat?"

 

[anitram]

Admittedly, I don't know anything prior to Friday, so is Moussavi not as insane and radical as Ahmedinejad? (Woohoo, I spelled it right the first time around!)
Is he a better choice for peace or would he simply continue "being a threat?"

I honestly think it's same shit, different name to be honest. But he is really not the point here so maybe it doesn't matter.

I am not so sure that all this which is happening this week is going to result in anything either, but on the other hand, I'm hopeful that I'm wrong.

 

[Tiger Edge]

Looks like the people have gotten their message out loud and clear. A recount is going to be held.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran 'to hold election recount'

Whether or not it will make a difference is another issue.

 

[AliEnvy]

I am not so sure that all this which is happening this week is going to result in anything either, but on the other hand, I'm hopeful that I'm wrong.

I'm still a bit thunderstruck so this may not be as articulate or complete as I may like, but I believe the impact of this is MASSIVE regardless of whether there is leadership change in Iran or not.

American and Iranian millenials are not enemies and may have much more in common than either was aware. Who'd have thought that Twitter would serve a useful purpose and bring that into focus. Truly amazing.

This has also opened many eyes to the limitations of MSM.

 

[Irvine511]

I'm still a bit thunderstruck so this may not be as articulate or complete as I may like, but I believe the impact of this is MASSIVE regardless of whether there is leadership change in Iran or not.

American and Iranian millenials are not enemies and may have much more in common than either was aware. Who'd have thought that Twitter would serve a useful purpose and bring that into focus. Truly amazing.

This has also opened many eyes to the limitations of MSM.

great post.

 

[Tiger Edge]

When I was introduced to Twitter it was 2006 and a guest speaker came to our Intro to Mass Media class to talk about various social networking sites. Twitter always stood out in my mind. Half of me thought it was useful (much more user-friendly than RSS feeds), half of me thought it was going to be myspace 3.0. I was right, I guess. I wish I would have put my money on twitter. I would have been somewhat rich.

I was watching Star Trek last night and they were talking to some cryogenically unfrozen humans and explaining to them the future. They stated that television was a medium that died in 2040. While I don't think television is going anywhere, I think it's main use in the future is going to be purely for entertainment. There's no point in sitting through an hour of news coverage if you are only interested in one or two topic and can just as easily google it on your computer and read/watch it there at a moment's notice. I think news channels will become more opinion and less fact in the immediate future.

 

[bigjohn2441]

I was watching Star Trek last night and they were talking to some cryogenically unfrozen humans and explaining to them the future. They stated that television was a medium that died in 2040. While I don't think television is going anywhere, I think it's main use in the future is going to be purely for entertainment. There's no point in sitting through an hour of news coverage if you are only interested in one or two topic and can just as easily google it on your computer and read/watch it there at a moment's notice. I think news channels will become more opinion and less fact in the immediate future.

i think it's happened already.

the fact that shit celebrities do is covered on major "news" stations almost more than "real news" makes me sick.

the fact that we have "commentators" who pawn their opinions as fact and pretty much tell people how to think, and the fact people seem to eat it up, also makes me sick.

but biggest of all:

TOO MUCH MINDLESS REALITY BULLSHIT! no wonder people are getting stupider and stupider

 

[Tiger Edge]

It's only a certain population that is getting "stupider", but there have always been stupid people. Some women committed suicide when they learned Rudolph Valentino had died.
I think we're going to see the sort of prestige that Edward R. Murrow and his contemporary companions had shift over to the internet. Whether or not these individuals will be official is still up in the air. You can be a genius and never go to college either.
There is still real news out there on real channels with genuine investigation. But if you are looking at O'Reilly or Maddow for your news fix, you're stupid. You might as well be watching Daisy of Love on VH1.

 

[bigjohn2441]

. Some women committed suicide when they learned Rudolph Valentino had died.

natural selection at its finest.

But if you are looking at O'Reilly or Maddow for your news fix, you're stupid. You might as well be watching Daisy of Love on VH1.

i used to watch O'Reilly every night with my dad, but then i woke up from the spell and started thinking for myself. my dad still watches him though.

 

[Tiger Edge]

natural selection at its finest.

Just ignorance at the time. If you had never seen moving pictures before you jumped at the end of The Great Train Robbery when the bandit "shot the audience." Women fell in love with Rudolph Valentino as if he were really there. Infatuation was unheard of while love was very real. I feel sorry for them, but as you can see we as a species have grown up a bit since then. I doubt if the Jonas Brothers offed themselves anyone would follow suit.

i used to watch him every night with my dad, but then i woke up from the spell and started thinking for myself. my dad still watches him though.

I don't think it's a big deal to watch it if you realize that you are just getting your ego stroked and are not really learning anything. Like I said, for entertainment value.

Anyway, back on topic, twitter is going nuts right now. Reports of students in Tehran being told to flee their dorms, the army coming in to disperse protesters and various protests taking place in Toronto and LA.

 

[deep]

There's no point in sitting through an hour of news coverage if you are only interested in one or two topic and can just as easily google it on your computer and read/watch it there at a moment's notice. .

True, T V is not very good. PBS News hour might be the best T V source.

Printed news that has an editor with some accountability is better.



There are a lot of things I don't know.

I try not to have an opinion on everything.

I remember once hearing the question, "Do stupid people know they are stupid?"

I thought sure they do. The answer was no.

People are getting stupider these days,
by only seeking out the couple stories that interest them.
And when they go to google they tend to end on sites that validate their already formed bias.

I take the time to read entire newspapers. How else can one become reasonably informed or a wide variety of events?

I am rarely stunned or surprised by 'big events' out of nowhere.

 

[onebloodonelife]

I'm riveted. I've just gone green in more than one way. I was trying to decipher how to open my server to get information out of Iran.
But it's way over my head but I would do it if I could.

This is history people, pay attention.

from my twitter: another way to help: set up proxies. VERY easy & necessary. (Edit: apparently tiny url.com is blocked here... ) Go to http://blog.austinheap.com/ He's the guy who's been distributing proxies to Iranians on the ground and has very simple instructions on his site.

I've got my university's connection running proxies now.

Anderson Cooper said that twitter was scheduled to go down for maintenance yesterday but remained open since it is one of the big forms of communication between Iranians and the outside world. I too learned about most of this stuff through twitter, but reported on another site. Pretty amazing the age we are in now where the eyewitness account holds double the importance of regular reporting. I recall seeing #CNNfail as a topic trend on Saturday because of the lack of reporting. It should have been #MSMfail, quite frankly. Iran is still a top trend on twitter.

They did indeed. Amazing moment in and of itself. Unfortunately, CNN continues to fail, even in their coverage because they're publicizing the Twitter names of sources in Iran, something that people on Twitter have been fairly diligent in not doing.

If you all aren't on Twitter, I'd highly, highly, highly suggest signing up and getting an account just to watch #iranelection. Seeing people around the world helping to spread information is beautiful.

The BBC went green in support of the protesters: BBC - Homepage

The State Department also just asked Twitter to delay their maintenance again today: State Department to Twitter: Keep Iranian tweets coming Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - State Department to Twitter: Keep Iranian tweets coming � - Blogs from CNN.com

 

[Tiger Edge]

The BBC went green in support of the protesters: BBC - Homepage

That's awesome. I've been meaning to change my avatar since last night to something green in support (as are many on livejournal/twitter) but fell asleep way too early. When I get home...

 

[VintagePunk]

Can someone please explain this whole following-world-events-on-Twitter phenomenon to me? I went to the main page and clicked on #iranelection, and then refreshed the messages for maybe about half an hour. I saw a mostly a few messages being repeated over and over again (change your avatars to green! CNN should stop publishing names of Iranians using Twitter! Let's all set our locations and timezones to Iran!), but little that was really substantially newsworthy. Was I doing something wrong, or was it just a slow news period I caught?

 

[AliEnvy]

You can bet the State Department is paying close attention to the volume of green avatars or anything else that resembles solidarity with Iran.

I would say it's the ability for people using Twitter to instantaneously influence raw opinions and potentially shape events in real time that is newsworthy.

 

[Tiger Edge]

Well:
- Iranians have government controlled television
- Iranians with satellite television are having their homes invaded and satellites being taken down
- Yahoo, Gmail chat and various other social networking sites are being removed, including Twitter
- People on twitter have been exchanging messages with Iranians via proxy servers (servers that are not based in Iran and are therefore unblocked) providing them with mutual information.
- @ProtesterHelp is one person who is telling the Iranians what streets are safe, what exactly is happening, which dorm rooms are being invaded
- Iranian twitterers are trying to stay anonymous while giving the twitter universe (and then us) moment by moment updates as to what is happening. It is much easier to tweet a message about the army entering a college and assaulting students than it is to get a hold of Al Jazeera on the phone and give them an interview.
- The U.S. State Dept has asked Twitter to postpone their maintenance updates so that twitter can remain an active source for communication between Iranians and the outside world.

It's starting to become important because just a few hours ago foreign reporters were banned from reporting in Iran in addition to them sending out the army to shut the protesters up. The police are apparently somewhat unarmed and for the most part, supportive of the protesters. It is radical groups, Ahmedinejad supporters and the army that have been assaulting and killing protesters.

You're not behind. I just found out about this Twitter Revolution today myself. It's best not to watch #iranelection but to just follow one reputable source. I'm following @ProtesterHelp. A few hours ago they were giving tips on how to stop bleeding from a gunshot wound and instructions on how to build an impromptu gas mask from a 2-liter bottle.

 

[Tiger Edge]

You can bet the State Department is paying close attention to the volume of green avatars or anything else that resembles solidarity with Iran.

I would say it's the ability for people using Twitter to instantaneously influence raw opinions and potentially shape events in real time that is newsworthy.

It's not so much solidarity with Iran as it is solidarity with those who seek free speech. I don't think there are very many non-Iranian people endorsing/supporting Mousavi, but there are many people who support the right for Iranians (especially young Iranians who are the main protesters) to peacefully protest what they believe to be an unfair election. They should not be attacked in droves or shot at.
Whether or not the State Dept is "watching us" is irrelevant.

 

[VintagePunk]

You're not behind. I just found out about this Twitter Revolution today myself. It's best not to watch #iranelection but to just follow one reputable source. I'm following @ProtesterHelp. A few hours ago they were giving tips on how to stop bleeding from a gunshot wound and instructions on how to build an impromptu gas mask from a 2-liter bottle.

Okay, thanks.

#iranelection seemed impossible to follow, given the sheer volume of messages, and the fact that many of them were repeats didn't help.

 

[AliEnvy]

It's not so much solidarity with Iran as it is solidarity with those who seek free speech.

True, and closer to what I meant.

Whether or not the State Dept is "watching us" is irrelevant.

American public opinion with regard to a disconnect between Iranian government and 'will of the people' will have a major impact on foreign policy in the Middle East. So hardly irrelevant.

 

[Tiger Edge]

The 10,000 or so American twitterers (I'm still not sure on the right verbage) who are vested in this on twitter are of little consequence. I'm sure the State Dept is better off watching physical protests than what those online say. I'm not sure if you meant your message to come off as a "beware" or as a "this is an interesting turn of events in the information age."

I took it as beware so that explains my response to you.

 

[corianderstem]

- The U.S. State Dept has asked Twitter to postpone their maintenance updates so that twitter can remain an active source for communication between Iranians and the outside world.

I saw that earlier - interesting.

Thanks for the updates you've been giving here, I'm finding it very helpful.

And to your later question, I think - think - that the word for "Twitterers" is "Tweeters." Or maybe not. I know "tweet" has somehow become part of our language with this whole Twitter thing.

Don't ask me why - I'm annoyed in general by Twitter, but with this situation I'm coming around to see why it's a good thing.

 

[Diemen]

The BBC went green in support of the protesters: BBC - Homepage

Apparently the BBC homepage was already green for a while.

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

 

[VintagePunk]

Don't ask me why - I'm annoyed in general by Twitter, but with this situation I'm coming around to see why it's a good thing.

 

[AliEnvy]

The 10,000 or so American twitterers (I'm still not sure on the right verbage) who are vested in this on twitter are of little consequence. I'm sure the State Dept is better off watching physical protests than what those online say. I'm not sure if you meant your message to come off as a "beware" or as a "this is an interesting turn of events in the information age."

I took it as beware so that explains my response to you.

Nope, not beware or watchdog warning. And as a turn of events in the information age, the State Dept should be interested in its influence on various demographics and potential impact on future events.

 

[Tiger Edge]

In that case,

Like I said before, I thought Twitter was stupid for a long time. I joined about a month ago to follow some celebrities at work while I was bored shh NOT ASHTON KUTCHER OR DEMI MOORE but these past couple of days it has become more of a vessel of information than entertainment for me. I still think it's mostly stupid, but the fact that you can choose who you want to follow (and your anonymity, unlike facebook where you have to read status updates by that annoying guy from high school you friended).

 

[corianderstem]

...unlike facebook where you have to read status updates by that annoying guy from high school you friended).

I was in that boat until I discovered the magic of the "hide" feature.