Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

1843magazine.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 169 posts

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#71

Post by 0x0 »

Mirioron wrote: post #67
complianceowl wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really want to visit Iran, as well. As an American, I love the look on people's faces when I tell them that. I also think it's important to distinguish between the government and the people. It can be easy to see them as one and the same, but that would be a mistake. Peter Santenello opened my eyes to Iran. I couldn't believe how pro-America so many Iranians are; the culture seems so rich, and the people so pleasan…

> I also think it's important to distinguish between the government and the people. It can be easy to see them as one and the same, but that would be a mistake. To a degree they are one and the same though. The government still requires the consent of the governed.

Tell that again to someone who lived under German occupation in ww2?

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#72

Post by maverick2007 »

gfodor wrote: post #64
maverick2007 wrote: post #9

All these politics and political games are such a shame. The Tehran that the author describes seems like a really vibrant city that I'd really like to visit and experience. But I never will for fear or something like this happening, becoming some tiny pawn in a much bigger game. And I wish that Iranians could come to the US and visit NYC or SF and see our culture. Then we might realize that the other side is somethin…

I can't think of any examples where people in the US have erroneously conflated the Iranian public and government in recent times. That seems like a strawman. The green revolution a few years ago had widespread support in the US. The recent pushback against the regime in the days following the recent soleimani killing should have led to more support from the public in the US. Sadly, since doing so would 'align' them…

I was mostly speaking from my own experience earlier in my life. I was raised on pretty much exclusively conservative media for the first 18 years of my life and I would've sworn up and down that every or at the very least the majority of Iranians not only hated the US but went into the streets and chanted "death to America". I'll admit that a lot of this naivety is the result of youth but I think you might be surprised that a lot of US citizens still believe what I used to.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#73

Post by Mirioron »

knodi123 wrote: post #24
derp_dee_derp wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

very clever propaganda indeed. our politicians do the same thing. Madam Secretary [0] was propaganda for Hillary Clinton Diary of a Future President [1] is propaganda for Michelle Obama [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_Secretary_(TV_series) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary_of_a_Future_President

Wow. Without some additional arguments backing that up, this looks really disgusting and misogynistic. I look forward to seeing some evidence that Diary of a Future President is a cynical piece of propaganda designed to aid the fortunes of Michelle Obama, in order to restore a bit of my faith in humanity.

How is calling that propaganda misogynistic? Not everything that's against a woman is misogyny.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#75

Post by hindsightbias »

vkou wrote: post #56
dmix wrote: post #3

There was a spy TV show produced in Iran and pushed heavily on the state run TV networks there that they used to help justify detaining reporters, very clever propaganda: https://apnews.com/c5348f244a6b484fa3678f39a12e3ceb I remember seeing a clip of an Iranian leader saying every journalist is a spy and if they aren't they should be because they "don't get paid enough". Gives you insight into their thinking, or what…

There was also a prominent spy show[1] produced in the US that seemed to be intended as propaganda for normalizing torture. That morally bankrupt practice was portrayed as effective, expedient, cathartic, and the only solution to all the bad men that will come get us, because they hate our freedom. If you're looking for ethical integrity, you should probably stop turning to spy shows for it. They are loud, dumb, and…

Not even spy shows. It’s weird to see Blue Bloods (an NYPD show) celebrating their 10th anniversary season. I stopped watching after the first episode where a cop tortures a suspect and his father (the police commissioner) lectures his daughter (a district attorney) about the differences between torture and enhanced interrogation.

And the commissioners whole schtick is principled, conservative law-and-order...

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#76

Post by dang »

Symbiote wrote: post #2

I don't have an economist.com account, but the byline suggests it's from 1843 Magazine, which doesn't require registration to read: https://www.1843magazine.com/features/trapped-in-iran

We've changed the URL to that from https://www.economist.com/news/2020/01/28/trapped-in-iran.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#77

Post by Mirioron »

0x0 wrote: post #71
Mirioron wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also think it's important to distinguish between the government and the people. It can be easy to see them as one and the same, but that would be a mistake. To a degree they are one and the same though. The government still requires the consent of the governed.

Tell that again to someone who lived under German occupation in ww2?

I have. I am from one of those countries. After WW2 we were occupied by the Soviets as well. My grandfather spent a significant chunk of his life in gulags. You can't lay all of the blame of a country on the government alone, because the government doesn't work without the people. It doesn't matter whether you're dealing with a democracy or autocracy. Bombs don't build themselves. Armies don't feed themselves. Deportations don't happen because an official wills it. Somebody has to execute the orders.

I am not saying that the government and the people are entirely the same, but I am saying that you can't just divorce them from one another.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#78

Post by Itaxpica »

adrianN wrote: post #25
wnscooke wrote: post #21

Serious question: is it only the political or military leaders who wish to see Israel wiped off the face of the earth?

Given that even in "civilized" western countries there are a few percent of the population who really don't like Jews, I doubt that only Iran's leaders want to get rid of Israel. The data also seems to suggest that antisemitism is more prevalent in Iran than in a lot of other countries: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/90093/1/MPRA_paper_90093.pdf A final analysis then shows the extent of Antisemitism in different cou…

There are ~230,000 Persian Jews in Israel, ~70,000 in the US, and under 10,000 left in Iran. As a non-Persian Jew who grew up with lots of Persian Jews, I can tell you that 300,000 left for a reason.

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#79

Post by aledalgrande »

Centigonal wrote: post #31
maverick2007 wrote: post #9

All these politics and political games are such a shame. The Tehran that the author describes seems like a really vibrant city that I'd really like to visit and experience. But I never will for fear or something like this happening, becoming some tiny pawn in a much bigger game. And I wish that Iranians could come to the US and visit NYC or SF and see our culture. Then we might realize that the other side is somethin…

Tehran is a beautiful city with a wide range of smart, compassionate, cool people. My cousin in Tehran introduced me to games like Counterstrike, Grim Fandango, and Battlefield, which got me into PC gaming, which got me into open source game scripting. We spent a few summers in Tehran, and there was this electronics bazaar called Paytakht[1] that I'd always beg my mom to take me to. They had everything from motherboa…

The wikipedia article linked above is something everyone should know and not forget about Iran and US.

US gov contributed to destabilizing the country because they wanted to keep a tight grip on oil.

This is how Iran looked in the 50s, before the coup: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=iran+in+the+50s&atb=v164-1&iax=ima...

Re: Trapped in Iran: My Summer as a Guest of the Revolutionary Guards

#80

Post by lostlogin »

armenarmen wrote: post #58
albroland wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This mirrors my experience when I visited: incredibly hospitable, polite, and outgoing people. As a US passport holder with no relation to Iran or Israel, it was easy enough to visit, although you are under the watch of your state-sanctioned minder the entire time as the author eluded to. Going through immigration on arrival, I was detained for about an hour while they presumably were examining my documents, but ever…

Yep, I get Christmas cards from my cousins in Tehran. They can eat pork, make and drink wine with no real issue. Iran has (for abrahamic faiths at least) probably the best religious tolerance in the region

I’m surprised at this. Have you spent time in Israel? I haven’t been to either but would have expected Israel to be better again. Thanks for the comment.
Post reply on HN