Post by asiaticdarkperson on Jun 16, 2013 0:23:25 GMT -5
Iran's clown-circus election of 2013 is finally over with. It was a month-long period where everyone in the nation was captivated by what was essentially a TV-show (more accurately "multimedia-show,") where you can participate to decide the outcome. It is apparent that no one in the general population knows anything about the presidential candidates other than what they see on TV, read in a newspaper, hear from a friend or a blog or facebook, etc. This means that the general population knows only a facade, and not a "real" person running for president. In fact, I suspect that there are no real people running for president, only actors portraying personages for the media. I saw all of Iran's presidential candidates on TV once or twice. I saw a group of weak men, completely unfit for leading any nation. I swear, Ahmadinejad is an awesomely cool son of a bitch compared to these assholes.
The new president of Iran is a moron. The people of Tehran, and other big cities with liberal/reformist majority populations, are appeased and glad about the election results it seems. The people in rural Iran, while generally tending to be much more in favor of the conservative/fundamentalist camp, aren't really too concerned with the national elections as much as with their local islamic council elections which coincides with the national election every four years. People in rural areas know even less about the presidential candidates than people in the cities. One 45 year old man, Kazem, told me that the people in his town will just "vote for whoever everyone else is voting for" and he also claimed that the whole area where he lives has been experiencing an unprecedented period of prosperity since ahmadinejad became president.
Ironically, the area has also been experiencing the highest crime rates in its history. Last winter, I am told there was a crime spree that included everything from break-ins to theft of thick electrical cables from the main power-grid, which apparently resulted in a blackout that lasted a couple of days. I'm personally no stranger to the magnitude of crime and corruption going on in the area, and I do believe that increased prosperity and wealth has brought increased crime and corruption with it there. Trespassing and theft were unheard of 50 years ago, but so was a life of luxury where you could afford not to work. Today, there is a whole class of people who don't work at all because their wealth and capital work for them. And then there is a large population of low-income doomed-to-be-peons low-class people whose only difference with the wealthy guys is that they were never afforded the opportunity to steal and swindle large sums of money from masses of unsuspecting, trusting, hard-working people. So naturally, to steal from the rich person becomes morally right. Maybe capitalism, rather than prosperity, is the real bringer of crime.
Compared to 50 years ago, the rural people aren't so much prospering more as they are in possession of more capital. They still eat the same food, and they live the same simple rural lifestyles, but now they have to buy fancy clothes, cellphones, 50 inch flatscreens, and countless other status-symbols to show off their capital. Fascinatingly, people don't spend as much time in each others' houses as they used to 50 years ago. In rural Iran, everyone's house was always packed to the brim with guests. In fact, all the houses used to leave their doors open all the time in rural villages and large get-togethers would constantly happen on the spur of the moment. Today, we hide our precious possessions behind closed doors, and we despise guests and neighbors.
The new president of Iran is a moron. The people of Tehran, and other big cities with liberal/reformist majority populations, are appeased and glad about the election results it seems. The people in rural Iran, while generally tending to be much more in favor of the conservative/fundamentalist camp, aren't really too concerned with the national elections as much as with their local islamic council elections which coincides with the national election every four years. People in rural areas know even less about the presidential candidates than people in the cities. One 45 year old man, Kazem, told me that the people in his town will just "vote for whoever everyone else is voting for" and he also claimed that the whole area where he lives has been experiencing an unprecedented period of prosperity since ahmadinejad became president.
Ironically, the area has also been experiencing the highest crime rates in its history. Last winter, I am told there was a crime spree that included everything from break-ins to theft of thick electrical cables from the main power-grid, which apparently resulted in a blackout that lasted a couple of days. I'm personally no stranger to the magnitude of crime and corruption going on in the area, and I do believe that increased prosperity and wealth has brought increased crime and corruption with it there. Trespassing and theft were unheard of 50 years ago, but so was a life of luxury where you could afford not to work. Today, there is a whole class of people who don't work at all because their wealth and capital work for them. And then there is a large population of low-income doomed-to-be-peons low-class people whose only difference with the wealthy guys is that they were never afforded the opportunity to steal and swindle large sums of money from masses of unsuspecting, trusting, hard-working people. So naturally, to steal from the rich person becomes morally right. Maybe capitalism, rather than prosperity, is the real bringer of crime.
Compared to 50 years ago, the rural people aren't so much prospering more as they are in possession of more capital. They still eat the same food, and they live the same simple rural lifestyles, but now they have to buy fancy clothes, cellphones, 50 inch flatscreens, and countless other status-symbols to show off their capital. Fascinatingly, people don't spend as much time in each others' houses as they used to 50 years ago. In rural Iran, everyone's house was always packed to the brim with guests. In fact, all the houses used to leave their doors open all the time in rural villages and large get-togethers would constantly happen on the spur of the moment. Today, we hide our precious possessions behind closed doors, and we despise guests and neighbors.