Crazy how quickly things can turn around.
It's really sad to see, my grandparents went on holiday to Tehran for their honeymoon in the '60s and it looked more like San Francisco than anything I could imagine today.
A shining example of why religious fundamentalism is not a path that any nation should pursue.
Because let's be clear; Iran was an Islamic nation, before the revolution. This was not a case of a non-Islamic nation being taken over by Muslims, this was a case of fundamentalism vs. secularism. The faith behind that shift really doesn't matter.
Just imagine the older generations feeling sorry for their children/grandchildren for denying them what they used to enjoy.
It's quite sad.
Whoa is that hair I see? Unacceptable!
So sad, what could have been
I really like this photo:
Even (sane) religious people agree with that statement. The church has no business getting involved in politics.
Unfortunately the situation the Middle East and North Africa finds itself is a weird mixture of corruption, extremism and historical injustices that won't see any resolution for a long time.
Fundamentalism is strong there become of several other intertwining factors that have caused it to spread like wildfire.
That is a very simplistic view of their partnership. It's not like the Western world doesn't criticize Saudi human rights violations. S.A. may be a promoter of wahhabian ideology along with Qatar and U.A.E., but at least they aren't plagued by massive internal conflicts (yet).
Last edited by mmoc438dc94cad; 2015-04-27 at 05:42 PM.
It is truly a shame when fundamentalism beats secularism, Religion and politics is not things that should be mixed.
Pre-Revolution Iran had major issues that needed sorting out and needed a revolution of some sort, it wasn't the idyllic place that these pictures make it seem to be.
Unfortunately they went doolally and replaced corruption with insanity.
For some unknown reason the CIA overthrowing the democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister at the request of Great Britain didn't go down too well and they thought we were hypocritical bastards, I can't imagine why, and they've hated us ever since. Iran could, and should, have been a shining beacon in that region, instead we and they fucked it up entirely.
Ironically, most religious people aren't interested in politics, but some individuals use it as a political platform or subjugation tool because of its effectiveness.
Which is why I'm idiotically optimistic about rebuilding relationships with Iran. I just hope Russia, China and the US don't rip this country apart to promote their geopolitical interests.
Last edited by mmoc438dc94cad; 2015-04-27 at 05:47 PM.
I don't know what y'all are comparing these to in your minds. Google imaging Tehran today gets you stuff like this:
'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
And there they lay I damn me eyes
All lookouts clapped on Paradise
All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
This is illegal here mind you, the police charged the last fools who decided to do this in a park. Because you know who does that in a park where people are supposed to have fun in the world? EVERYONE!
Yes we do our best, in our personal spaces we're not this backward society you see on TV shouting "DEATH TO AMERICA" and burning flags and those kinda nonsense. Still, we have a government popped right out of the middle ages who keep us down as a society.
People often forget that the first victims of militant Islam are Muslims. I think these pics serve to remind us of this.