[imported_I, fuzzbot.]

Originally Posted by Pharaoh

I never have said that, I don't care if you debate with me or not. If you think I'm going to respond properly to stuff like 'And I don't mean just 'haha, stupid.' I mean, 'I want to stomp your face in,' stupid. I mean, 'I want to eat you inside out while you're still alive,' stupid.', then you're an ass.

You dismissed an entire post that went against EVERYTHING you said in this thread merely because you didn't like how I phrased that? You poor, piteous pipsqueak.

I don't see how a younger generation yearning for pop culture and freedom could ever tolerate this guy....

That's exactly it.

Do you know how he gained his popularity at first? He promised modernization. My mother is an Iranian immigrant (loads of those in Bahrain) and she was all for him at first. He said all kinds of sweet stuff that included things such as making all schools and universities coeducational, of course it would appeal to his citizens.

Many Iranians are against him now because he clearly went against everything he said. For some reason they were trying to deny the fact that he's just going to fuck up the country further. They felt like he gave them hope, protection, and a better future. Only now do they realize what a mistake they made, but who else were they going to pick? Someone this young and energetic who filled their heads with ideals he doesn't really believe in, or a former thief and liar who is very submissive to the West's wants and needs?

He's a great public speaker, people were deceived by his pretty words. I've heard him talk. The "honesty" that is expressed so sensitively is extremely persuasive and seductive. We are not built to react with caution when we come across beautiful, alluring things. This region is so fucked up that almost anything goes, just tell us "I have hope" and consider our votes yours.

It's only after you think about what he says more clearly that you realize how dangerous he is. Now he's crossed the line, no one trusts him and it's causing a lot of chaos in Iran. CNN makes it seem like the Iranians are all for him, that is not true. I say this because I am exposed to many Iranians' opinions everyday. I grew up with these people. Most of my cousins still reside there. I come from a country where thousands of Iranians migrated to during the Islamic Revolution. They were treated badly, so they reacted badly, we had to deport a lot of them.

The rest, who were more calm because they were desperate for a place to stay, started families, so the Shiite Iranian population is fairly large. Though many have moved on to other places - Jordan, UAE, etc, some are in exile in those places. Our King, in celebration of Eid about 3 years ago, pardoned them all, but not many decided to come back to the country that offered nothing but shit in return.

In Bahrain there's a similar situation (though not half as bad, thank God.) It's MY generation who are making the difference. People my age are constantly protesting, writing, insisting that their voices don't go unheard until finally, the government turned around and listened to what we had to say. Because of this, the Family Law in Bahrain is going to change. Because of this, Bahrain is turning into a democratic monarchy instead of remaining a strict constitutional monarchy, we can now write freely in private journals and newsletters and not get punished because our constitution include articles that give you many rights of freedom of expression.

After those rights were given, so many people started writing books that I believe will soon make a good difference.

Bahrain is the 3rd most dangerous country in the world to blog from because everything we write was used against us. Many political bloggers were imprisoned or have "disappeared" due to the articles they posted. We did not accept that. After many cases such as this, we stood up, and wrote as many articles as possible to stop this. And not just people my age, literally everyone. Political activists of all parties and of all ages faught together as a tightly-knit community which shook the entire nation. Newspapers, magazines, websites, protests, and (unfortunately) many acts of violence. It took years for these things to have such a strong effect, strong enough that the state would consider changing laws that have existed for years.

But it worked, so if anyone ever tells you that rebelling is for the weak and you can never do it right through noisy and angry protests, kick them in the shins. This is the only reason we've come this far, to be one of the most democratic countries in the Middle East.

After a huge petition, not only are webmasters no longer required to register with the state and offer a brief description of the nature of their website (so that they can either approve or disapprove of it) anymore, we can write whatever we want in the websites we own. Obviously, most people who own websites are youngsters. But most of the people who are politically involved are youngsters too, because we've seen the way others live and we want it.

We don't want the American lifestyle, that is not what we want. If someone here tells me that we are a mess and we blame it on America because we're jealous of the way we live, then I shall kick their face. We have other things in mind. We also DO take responsibility for our actions, we don't blame America or the Jews or convince ourselves that everything is a Zionist Conspiracy - this is precisely why fights break out between religious groups within the country. That whole "let's all group the Arabs in one place and assume they all have the same mentality, they all hate America and wish death and AIDS upon us" is a scam that makes you want to loathe a bunch of people who didn't even have a thing against you. As a matter of fact, we quite like you. We like you so much that we have American schools and American products and places to go for Americans to show them how welcome they are, and we don't do it through fear. We do it because any American who goes there willingly is great because they're giving us a chance, they want to learn.

Unless you're an American who has to be there because it's an order. Still, why don't you contact American marines who are based in Bahrain and see how happy they are? Hell, some of these people were so happy that I know of at least 2 soldiers who married Bahrainis after converting to Islam. Others can't help but learn more about Islam and attempt to speak the Arabic language because they realize, after actually living there, that we are greatly misunderstood.

But, in sum, we don't kiss your asses. Liking wouldn't have anything to do with fear or wanting to be more like you. What we want is to stick to our culture, beliefs, and traditions but to be more modern about it - for example, arranged marriages shouldn't exist. We should be allowed to mishmash with one another no matter what our gender is - this works perfectly in Bahrain. A woman can freely walk around with miniskirts hand-in-hand with a guy and no one could tell her anything. This is one of our big steps forward. Another big step forward is more freedom through Islam.

We also want a better future financially, so one of our goals is to keep growing economically, making more and more investments, since employment has been an issue. We are doing this very well - but I'm afraid the UAE and Qatar might be in the lead. (Yes, it's a competition. Members of the GCC don't get along because each country wants to get ahead of the other. This is because all you need in the Middle East in order to succeed is power and wealth, and any crucial GCC leader would have both. This means America would want to ally with you because you can control other members of the GCC and have the ability to bend them to your will. VERY good, we are trying to kick Saudi Arabia out of that spotlight but due to the fact that we are the size of a bathtub compared to the rest of the region, this might not work too well. However, the UAE might do this within the next 20 years. They have bigger, better, and smarter plans.)

But, to go back to your point again, yes. Iranians won't accept Ahmednijad because he keeps saying "we will make progress" but nothing's going on, if anything it just keeps getting worse.

The more young people are engaged (which is currently the case in Iran,) three things might happen:
1) The less seriously you're taken as a nation, 2) The more chaotic the situation will be because the youngsters are also more destructive, fearless and violent,
3) The better the outcome will be (as seen in the example I gave with Bahrain's youth.)

Many Iranians feel helpless because they have to deal with yet another totalitarian leader, but most will fight back. Many are going out of their way to try and make the American media understand that they are in dire need of HELP, but not through war. Iran has done and built a lot in preparation for this moment, ever since the Iran-Iraqi wars they've been paranoid. If America thinks this is going to be just another easy Iraq they are dead wrong, this will be a huge mistake on their part.

If you want to know more things about Islam, especially in Iran, check out John Esposito's "Islam and Politics." Wonderful stuff, the guy knows what he's talking about. For an introduction to the conflicts between Iran and America throughout history, check out Kenneth Pollack's "The Persian Puzzle."