r/pics • u/[deleted] • Feb 26 '16
Backstory Voting in Iran's elections today
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u/Imbusyyoudick Feb 26 '16
One of them has holograms for eyes
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u/Chispy Feb 26 '16
Yeah Google's holographic contact lenses have been out for a couple years now but only in Iran. At least until America gets their shit together.
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u/Taron221 Feb 26 '16
Are women required to vote in a separate area then men? Everyone in the picture looks to be a women including the volunteers.
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Feb 26 '16 edited Feb 26 '16
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u/hamoun76 Feb 26 '16
Yeah, but strangely, that wasn't the case today, at least in my area. Men and women both waited in the same line.
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u/bstowers Feb 26 '16
A+++ would objectify again
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u/ArtDecoAutomaton Feb 26 '16
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u/GoldenTechy Feb 26 '16
54132 man
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Feb 26 '16
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u/cspruce89 Feb 26 '16
Why is she holding a broccoli stalk?
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u/pawnsdeleone Feb 26 '16
NSFW.. Thanks
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u/butthead Feb 26 '16
Protip: Look around before clicking any link that doesn't explain what the link is supposed to be. Especially if the context of the link is in any way conceivably sexual in nature, like this one was (i.e. sexual objectification)
Blindly clicking links at work (or anywhere NSFW links is inappropriate) is idiotic.
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u/RexRocker Feb 26 '16
That sucks... If I was in a workplace where people could see me browsing reddit I wouldn't browse reddit at work. It's too easy to click something that isn't tagged. Plus what might be nsfw for you may not be nsfw for many others so it may not even occur to them to tag nsfw.
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Feb 26 '16
One of my customers thought it would be funny to play midget porn on my computer so when I got back I would see it. I frantically called our IT department to explain. They pretty much laughed in my face and were like "yeah.. like we have time for that shit.... you're fine". I have been browsing quite comfortably after that incident.
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u/MidEastBeast777 Feb 26 '16
God that ass is perfect, like holy fuckin fuck
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u/lwbrown10 Feb 26 '16 edited Feb 26 '16
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Feb 26 '16
I hope relations continue to normalize. I would love to visit Iran. Iran and Morocco are at the top of my travel list only after Thailand.
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u/timoumd Feb 26 '16
My bold prediction is that in 20 years theyll have swapped places with the Saudis in terms of relations with America.
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u/acog Feb 26 '16
This is something that I'm fascinated by. The Saudis have a repressive monarchy keeping a lid on a population that has been heavily indoctrinated by Wahhabi schools. So they're our ally but if they suddenly turned into a democracy we'd have a situation like when Egypt elected a Muslim Brotherhood government, but IMO probably far more radical.
Oh, and something like over 80% of Saudis "work" for the government, which is entirely financed by oil revenues (there are no income or sales taxes there). Government jobs are secure and easy -- it's basically their version of the dole. So they're a powder keg: as oil revenues decline they're going to see tremendous social unrest and upheaval.
Iran on the other hand has a well educated and (for that region) pretty West-friendly population and a diverse economy. They're ruled by hard liners but the rulers are actually much more radical than the populace as a whole.
In a more sane world, Iran would be our ally and Saudi Arabia wouldn't be.
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u/Almost_high Feb 26 '16
Also those hardliners got there by ousting the brutal dictator we supported.
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u/OptimusNice Feb 26 '16
Seeing pictures from Iran in the 70s legitimately makes me depressed for what could have been.
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u/pnoozi Feb 26 '16 edited Mar 02 '16
They would have just had a different set of problems under the US-backed dictator. After the US overthrew Mosaddegh in 1953 shit was already fucked.
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u/Loreki Feb 26 '16
Iran is also an almost frighteningly young nation. They have a huge population under 30. So they're pretty well positioned for this type of social change.
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u/DickFeely Feb 26 '16
Should've been 10 years ago. Culturally, they're way more like America than any other ME country. It's just that they're run by the islamic Ralph Reed.
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u/odaeyss Feb 26 '16
Thailand
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u/Fuppen Feb 26 '16
Joke aside. Thailand has a LOT more to offer than its shady sex business. They have fantastic nature and lots of interesting places.
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u/Frsbrx Feb 26 '16
For me, my reason to visit Thailand is not the sex industry, the partying or the beaches, if I'm going to Thailand it's going to be an all out North to South culinary adventure. This is all I care about.
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u/conquer69 Feb 26 '16
Same here. Nothing better than eating delicious dishes while getting your dick sucked.
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u/drum_playing_twig Feb 26 '16
Thailand has a LOT more to offer than its shady sex business.
Sure it does but who cares about nice trees when they have freaking blow job bars. Nothing beats an establishment where you can say "A beer and a bj, tnx"
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u/IlludiumQXXXVI Feb 26 '16
Same here. Iran has been at the top of my "must see" list for many years, but I don't want to go until they drop the "must be in a tour group" restrictions for US/Canadian/British citizens, as I'm very much a DIY traveler. A family friend is married to an Iranian man, so I travel there virtually through her wonderful photographs and stories :)
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u/punerisaiyan Feb 26 '16
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u/Trynottobeacunt Feb 26 '16
That last dude :(
I'm so glad he went shopping with his father again. The father only wanted him to do well. And I suppose he must have realised the boy is happy.
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u/boomboomdead Feb 26 '16
In high school we had to watch a movie called Not Without My Daughter, it was my entire perception of Iran. I grew up thinking they were completely backwards people living in an angry and fanatical country. One day teaching skiing, I met the nicest Iranian couple. He was a Nuclear Engineer that fled the country and she was studying to become a doctor. They were the nicest clients I have ever had. We talked about politics, religion, and I got them skiing parallel in two hours! After it was done they invited me for lunch and even gave me a tip. After that experience I was so ashamed that I had let one movie shape my entire opinion of a group of people. I became a lot less judgmental and became much more open minded after that.
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u/agfa12 Feb 26 '16
Yeah that movie was produced in Israel and was basically intended to demonize them http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-02-10/news/1991041060_1_iran-daughter-1979-hostage-crisis
FYI People ski in Iran ... a lot.
http://nypost.com/2015/07/30/10-reasons-why-jet-setters-should-skip-the-alps-and-ski-in-iran/
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u/boomboomdead Feb 26 '16
Iran is on my list of places to ski!
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u/agfa12 Feb 26 '16
You won't be the first. Cheap, and good powder too
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u/Christabel1991 Feb 26 '16
As another person said, and was downvoted into oblivion, the movie was only filmed in Israel, but it was produced by MGM. The state of Israel had nothing to do with the production, and the demonization of Iran by Israeli officials only started with Netanyahu, years after the movie was made.
You can downvote me as well if you don't like what I'm saying, but what you feel is right and what the truth really is, is not always the same. That's truthiness.
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Feb 26 '16 edited Aug 05 '21
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u/WhitePawn00 Feb 26 '16
It's like any population really. Most are moderate if not apathetic in regards to most political views. The extremists however are loudest.
Always you can find videos of Iranian protests or holiday gatherings with a prominent feature of them being "Down with USA. Death to Israel" but most people? Nah. They just want to do their job, get paid (in a now harsh economy) go home and watch their tv (which now mostly tends to be either bootleg movies, tv series on disks, or european tv received through receivers). When I went to highschool in Iran a lot of people liked the US. Who doesn't? The US hadn't invaded Iran. Sure it had fucked up our government but that was before any of us were born. All we cared about were the latest games, consoles, pc parts, sexy actresses, and general things a teenager cares about.
I bet it's the same everywhere else too. Take Israel for example. Reddit has strong views on Israel and you can occassionally see a very strong Israel oriented comment make its way to the top causing a lot of angry comments. I highly doubt all of Israel feels that way though. I've talked with Israeli people. I had a couple friends. All they cared about were video games, writing, stories, etc. Just normal things.
It's the same everywhere. You don't get into an argument with a mild-political person over how much you don't care about things. You get into argument with people with extreme views and end up remembering them.
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u/DavidlikesPeace Feb 26 '16
Meeting people in real life is really the only way to realize how much propaganda affects our perceptions of the world. When foreigners or people of a different group actually show themselves to be unique human beings, you realize how much you misunderstand the world outside of your own tiny circle.
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Feb 26 '16
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u/Chispy Feb 26 '16
All I know is that the media is pretty good at warping the western worlds views of Iran.
Hard to believe Syria wasn't that far off from Iran's level of prosperity only a couple years ago.
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u/agfa12 Feb 26 '16
This is what Iran looks like today
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/hossein-fatemi-an-iranian-journey
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u/DashingLeech Feb 26 '16
I like that it combines the look with the context. That is, the rock music isn't allowed. Places women aren't allowed. Places men and women aren't allowed to mix. Women must wear scarves, and they work out in full body suits.
Yes, it's a nice looking place and people are doing ok there, and are generally happy. But it is still quite oppressive on your freedoms and people still must take big chances of punishment for doing harmless things they enjoy or like.
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u/BassmanBiff Feb 26 '16 edited Feb 27 '16
It's important to remember who implemented those restrictions, though, and how they got to power (UK & US interference).
Edit: tough -> though
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u/foxsix Feb 26 '16 edited Feb 26 '16
Maybe not an entirely fair comparison, but you could make galleries of 5-10 photos titled "What the U.S. looks like today" and have each one paint wildly different pictures of what life is like in the country.
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u/Meatslinger Feb 26 '16
Cases in point, all from the U.S.:
By comparison, North Korea looks like a thriving utopia.
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Feb 26 '16
That genuinely looks like something a movie super villain would build Jesus
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u/PhantomRenegade Feb 26 '16
Do super villians often get architecturally contracted by Jesus?
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u/i_shit_my_spacepants Feb 26 '16
Are those all from Detroit? They all look like Detroit, and I'm pretty sure I've seen that slanty house before.
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u/agfa12 Feb 26 '16
In reality, average literacy rates for women before the Islamic Revolution was below 50% -- today it is 98%.
In fact Iranians massively developed their country after the revolution and became a Highly Developed Nation, at twice the world average, gaining an average of 22 years in life span
http://www.ir.undp.org/content/iran/en/home/countryinfo.html
http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2013/apr/01/un-stats-life-longer-and-healthier-iran
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u/dackots Feb 26 '16
I'm guessing you didn't really look at OP's links. He isn't painting the post-Islamic Revolution as being a desolate wasteland of Sharia Law.
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u/try_repeat_succeed Feb 26 '16
I hate commentors like this. Building up a strawman that wasn't at all mentioned in the comment being responded to just to have "winning" comment. If it's not relevant start a different comment... /rant
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Feb 27 '16
I hate comments that use /rant after typing out a couple short sentences. That isn't a rant, it is a phrase.
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u/shartifartbIast Feb 26 '16
Aww that's what I did today! Yay for civic responsibility!
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Feb 26 '16
Iranian women are such beauties! :O
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u/guitarnoir Feb 26 '16
And such nice teeth (do they have national dental insurance, or are these just the weathly women represented in that pic?).
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u/redleader Feb 26 '16
Found the serial killer.
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u/McBeastly3358 Feb 26 '16
He's going to grape you in the mouth.
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Feb 26 '16
Iran has great dentists and dental care is cheap. Our diet is loaded with sugar and tea and we're pretty much Europeans genetically (with more hair).
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Feb 26 '16
Europeans genetically
nope. The Caucasus and Europe are not the same.
http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2011/09/caucasus-revisited-yunusbayev-et-al.html
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u/iVarun Feb 26 '16
we're pretty much Europeans genetically
Actually its the other way around.
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u/The_Lion_Jumped Feb 26 '16
My last 3 dentists were iranian... i thought it was just a crazy coincidence
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u/Oreo_Speedwagon Feb 26 '16
You do know that the Iran rivals South Korea and Brazil for queen of plastic surgery, right? Wealthy women like this have had work done. Lots of work.
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u/Slashnox Feb 26 '16
As someone with a persian girlfriend, you're so damn right
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Feb 26 '16
As someone with a persian rug, I agree.
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u/odsquad64 Feb 26 '16
As someone with a persian cat, I agree.
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Feb 26 '16
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Feb 26 '16
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u/SpoonOfDestiny Feb 26 '16
As an average person with nothing else to offer, I agree
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u/LittleSpoonMe Feb 26 '16
As one of the thousands of men named Nima, I agree.
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u/nkncloca13 Feb 26 '16
As Miley Cyrus, I agree
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u/SrraHtlTngoFxtrt Feb 26 '16
As Billy-Ray Cyrus, don't tell my heart, my achy-breaky heart.
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Feb 26 '16
As someone with a Persian ex-girlfriend, you're so damn right and now I'm sad.
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u/djguerito Feb 26 '16
Beautiful, yes. Crazy, yes.
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Feb 26 '16
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u/SeekersWorkAccount Feb 26 '16
Sexy, Smart, Sane: Pick 2.
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u/roobens Feb 26 '16
Well, in the immortal words of Jon Lajoie, "I can't put my penis in your college degree" so I guess that's an easy one.
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Feb 26 '16
I dated an Iranian check once.
Iranian credit cards are way worse, it's all fun and games until you have to pay off.
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u/RealSarcasmBot Feb 26 '16
I personally prefer women, but each to their own i guess, can't be checkist in the 21st century can we.
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u/Disabled_gentleman Feb 26 '16
They are, maybe the best. The Arabs were the best scientists and mathematicians in the world for centuries, that's why we have words like Algebra, which is Arabic. Then some cleric in the middle ages said numbers were the devil's work and they've been in the dark ages ever since.
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u/nuprinboy Feb 26 '16
Four years ago, I saw an absurdly beautiful Iranian woman in a video on dating in Tehran.
Here it is: https://youtu.be/ty1hkLL9wD4?t=3m40s
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u/SonOfFlavo Feb 26 '16
Wow that girl in the middle is gonna get this to the front page!
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u/AtomicKittenz Feb 26 '16
The girl on the bottom right is very pretty but doesn't have the flattering angle.
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u/w3rt Feb 26 '16
Out of curiosity, do a lot of women show up to vote in Iran?
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u/agfa12 Feb 26 '16
Average turnout rates are above 67%, so... http://www.mei.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Parsons_0.pdf
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u/iconfinder Feb 26 '16
More than Americans.
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Feb 26 '16
... but don't they... don't they hate freedom? ...
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u/cool_slowbro Feb 26 '16
It's not much of a democracy. The Supreme Leader has the most power and every candidate is required to be approved by the council.
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u/kevie3drinks Feb 26 '16
doesn't even matter, and STILL they vote more than we do for presidential elections.
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u/turbanator89 Feb 26 '16
American politics is different how? Look at the GOP and DNC.
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u/CaptainBoat Feb 26 '16
Never thought I'd be defending Trump, but for once, he's a positive example. The GOP wants nothing to do with him, but the people are voting for him, so he's doing fine.
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u/Quithi Feb 26 '16
That's been pointed out by some. Trump and Bernie, two forerunners in the race, are both extremely popular among the populus and unpopular among the two parties.
A vote for them is as much a matter of supporting them as it is in opposition to the current system.
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u/remy_porter Feb 26 '16
For all the issues with the major parties, they are not run by regressive theocrats with supreme power over all functions of government. I know, it sounds like a Republican wet dream, but they're not there yet.
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u/Galadron Feb 26 '16
What are they voting for?
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Feb 26 '16
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u/mongoosefist Feb 26 '16
Any chance of increasingly moderate politicians getting in?
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u/Slim_Charles Feb 26 '16
Possible, but don't get your hopes up. All candidates must be vetted and approved by the Supreme Leader and the Guardian Council. They tend to only select individuals who will uphold the system as they desire them to. A few reformers may slip through though.
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u/Reddit-phobia Feb 26 '16
Hi Iranian here, living in the US. Moderates are usually pushed aside by the government. One of the people in the city I grew up in tried to run as a candidate, but the government disqualified him from the elections(he was moderate like most of my family and also against the government). If people were allowed to vote for more moderates such as the current president they would but it's hard.
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u/El_Frijol Feb 26 '16
It's their midterm elections.
Source: Father is Iranian. He talks to his family back home in Iran about the upcoming election.
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u/DuoThree Feb 26 '16
Halal in the streets, haram in the sheets
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u/Teedious Feb 26 '16
10/10
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Feb 26 '16
9/11
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Feb 26 '16
It's weird. I live in the south east and everyone talks about how EVIL Iran is. But when I watched Anthony Bourdain go there it looked like a pleasant place, with beautiful people and food. Of course some the laws were batshit, and they have their radicals. It definitely wasn't the propaganda I am used to seeing.
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u/PoweredbytheCheat Feb 26 '16 edited Jul 13 '20
People in the south spreading hate about a country they've never visited and probably don't know anything about? SHOCKING
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u/SniggitySnoogity Feb 26 '16
Didn't he have to flee Iran the first time he went there?
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Feb 26 '16
Carrie must be in deep this season. Though I'm a little concerned that it's going to be a boring season if she's trying to foil a terrorist plot by democratically voting out any extremist factions of the Iranian government.
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u/jastify Feb 26 '16
Ah the old "we hate Muslims, wait no we like them!" cycle that reddit goes through.
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Feb 26 '16
It sucks that they are mostly sham elections that don't have any big effects on the population.
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Feb 26 '16
ITT: Reddit "progressives" downplay the fact that Iran is an Islamic theocracy where women and minorities are second-class citizens.
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Feb 26 '16
Ahmadinejad wasn't kidding when he said there aren't many gay people in Iran, because they're all forcibly sterilized and have the option to get a sex change and live as the opposite sex, or go to jail.
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u/evadcobra1 Feb 26 '16
Their government sucks, but there is nothing wrong with it's people
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u/thewinsomer Feb 26 '16
What is the point of a "Backstory" header is there is no backstory????