Do you see yourself in the face of an Iranian?

By Lisa Farrar Wellman

Protesting an election is pretty darn liberated of the Iranians, don’t you think? At first I watched their actions with a cynical attitude. They march in vain. Their elections are rigged. What’s the point? Now, though, I’m rooting for them. I believe in them. This is bigger than Mousavi, who is just as radical and untrustworthy as Ahmadinejad. If you spend 6.5 seconds on Twitter, you’ll see Iranians now calling for revolution, for the end of the mullahs and the Supreme Leader. They’re calling for workers to strike and citizens to refuse to pay their utility bills. Tweets ask for help translating first aid instructions into Farsi. Others offer advice on how to treat gunshot wounds and tear gas symptoms. This people held down by restrictions and fear is organizing itself using the latest in today’s technology and social networks. They’re demanding freedom from the oppression that has strangled their country for far too long.

Iranians fight today for what we already have and take for granted. They are freedom-loving people who are suppressed, ignored, mocked and refused. I can’t help but make some parallels to our own country though I certainly acknowledge, we’re not Iran.

The following may seem like petty complaints to normal people who don’t see socialism around every corner the way I do. This is how it starts—a few rights here, a few more taxes there and then our country is lost before we even realize it. If you read Smart Girl Nation, you probably agree with me. Pass on these concerns to someone who isn’t worried about our nation’s future. Keep them up at night with these thoughts.

1.    The government selects (not elects) a leader through a staged election. Aren’t we headed that direction with ACORN and the Obama administration’s complete takeover of the 2010 census?
2.    The government-controlled media only tells part (or none of the story). Hello. You know how I feel about our “journalists.” The latest move by ABC to actually move into the White House to report the news is just another step toward socialist propaganda. (ABC News even refused air time to any opposing advertisements so The Chosen One can explain his health care plan without the inconvenience of open debate).
3.    The real person (or people) in charge of the country pull strings like over-grown puppeteers. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is in charge of Iran. He sees Ahmadinejad as useful to his purposes so he keeps Ahmadinejad around. Much like George Soros keeps Obama around The White House—he’s a good public speaker and people are drawn to him.
4.    The Iranian government controls everything about everything in that country. I have a few choice words for you: GM, banks, executive salaries and health care. It’s coming. If you don’t think so, you don’t think.

Comparing our nation with Iran is extreme. I know that. With each passing moment I learn something new about Iran that turns my stomach and makes me so grateful to be an American. I make the comparison less for dramatics or politics but more as a cry in the darkness. Wake up, USA! Stand up now for what we have, for what we want. Let’s not be the sheeple Pravda declares us to be. We’re the United States of America, for crying out loud. We represent equality, justice and freedom to people across the globe. Yet right now, some Iranian students and grandparents are better symbols of those fundamentals than we are. Right now, Iranians are refusing to go quietly into night while we Americans roll over and let our leadership pin us to the ground again and again. What we’re not willing to fight for, we will lose. Let’s stop socialism here and now so our children and grandchildren don’t have to take to the streets one day to fight off a totalitarian regime.

A people is rising up, shouting NO, calling for real change (that word doesn’t belong to Barack Obama) and demanding freedom and rights. We need to hear their cries and recognize ourselves in them.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Hundreds Of Police On Streets Of Tehran (news.sky.com)
• Obama Walks a Fine Line in Response to Turmoil in Iran (usnews.com)
• Engaging Iran (news.bbc.co.uk)

Popularity: 1% [?]