On Oct 23, 2007, at 3:16 PM, Chris Doss wrote:
> I wish people would stop talking about the "regime,"
> as if nobody in Iran supported it. This "regime" stuff
> is a technique people use so as to be able to say, "I
> don't have anything against the Iranians -- I'm just
> opposed to the regime!" But the regime _IS_ the
> Iranians, or at least a lot of them. Probably most.
> Ditto Saudi Arabia by the way.
The state is identical with the people?
Iran is a managed democracy. The top leader is a religious figure, and religious bodies vet candidates for elections. (Yeah, I'm sure someone will point out that we have a version of that in the U.S. with money and the media. No shit. True. That's one of the reasons I have the politics I do.) Only Shia men can hold high office. Is that what the people want? Yes, within those strictly managed parameters. But there are no opinion polls in Iran and you can go to jail for "insulting Islam." So we don't really know what Iranians want, do we?
And Saudi Arabia? That's not even a managed democracy. It's one of the more repressive states around. What the hell are you talking about?
Doug