Saturday 20th June 2009
14:21

A serious answer to your question kapi :

phoenixlily:

kapi:

Do you guys really think that all of your tweets and tumblr posts about Iran or putting a green tint to your online avatars will actually have a game changing impact?

Don’t get me wrong, I am not doubting any of your efforts at all. In fact I applaud them.

It seems to me that the Americans are the most vocal about the whole “Democracy must win” point of view, which is fair.

But, you guys seem to have forgotten when this sort of thing happened in your own country, Florida to be more specific, during the 2000 American Presidential elections.

What happened then? I know that there was no twitter or any other massively popular online medium to voice your protests, but however you chose to protest, did it magically make Al Gore the president?

No. It didn’t.

So what makes you think that it will work this time around?

I reblogged this yesterday without adding anything to it, but I feel like it needs a reply. My cousins are going to protest today in Enghelab Square, in Tehran. I messaged them on facebook last night, (they’ve all changed their profile pictures to green squares which say “where’s my vote”. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m actually a little worried for them. Yes, I know that voicing my support for the protests and the marches through changing my facebook profile picture / my twitter status / the background to my blog may make no difference at all. But I rather think that you’re missing the point. The point is not to affect change from here - because essentially what we do here makes no difference at all. We can’t affect policy there, we can’t affect politicians (because they take orders directly from god), we can’t do shit. The point is to do the only thing we can - to show solidarity, to show support to those people living under a regime from which they want out. To show them that it’s not The World vs Iran, as the media there would have us believe, and not Iran vs The World, as some Western media would have us believe. It’s to show them that there are ordinary people over here, who have the benefit of living in a free country - yes our politicians are corrupt, but a) they all are and b) no-one here is going to throw you in prison for holding hands with your partner in public - ordinary people living here who understand that there are ordinary people living over there who don’t support the regime, and who want nothing more than a leader that isn’t going to misrepresent them to the rest of the world. It’s to raise awareness of the protests and the internal problems in a country which many people believe is just an Islamic Republic that denies the holocaust, and that’s it. These things may not make any difference in the long run, but to my cousins and their friends, knowing they have support from people beyond the fringes of their own country gives them determination and belief in their cause. They’re all on facebook, on twitter, they have blogs and they’ve arranged themselves and their movements using these new communication channels. Without it all, they’d be sat in silence in their houses, feeling isolated, alone and totally gutted. Anything I can do digitally that counters that or encourages them, then I’ll do it. More power to them. I’m not religious (at all), but they are, so I’m praying to whoever looks after their lot for them to be alright through the marches and the protests.

89 notes:
  1. crowth reblogged this from phoenixlily
  2. mywheelspins reblogged this from cyn1cal and added:
    Wait, there are STILL people who think Gore was rigged to lose?!?!?!? Seriously? And given his hypocritically large...
  3. travismaybe answered: I was just about to put up a post similar to kapi’s. What impeccable timing.
  4. sds answered: Oh please.
  5. azspot reblogged this from sds and added:
    Al Gore received more votes than George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election — nationwide and in Florida. sds...
  6. jasencomstock answered: Bush won, Gore lost. Gore might have won is a statewide recount. Kitty Harris was not impartial, neither was SCOTUS, both were Gore’s fault
  7. sds reblogged this from squashed and added:
    I appreciate your fair and non-hysterical treatment of this issue. The truth is that there was no conspiracy, no stolen...
  8. wooliebear reblogged this from crowth and added:
    And I so enjoyed reading it.
  9. wakeupboo reblogged this from dubliner
  10. morningyerba answered: changing our online avatars won’t let democracy magically appear. but its another form of protest and promoting solidarity with iranians
  11. yellowbricks reblogged this from squashed
  12. yellowbricksfail answered: One can’t always get what one wants, but every vote should count. The travesty is not a lost election, but a stolen election.
  13. ohthehumanity reblogged this from squashed and added:
    above. I would also like...results were not reported until hours after
  14. gaviteros reblogged this from crowth
  15. frenchelon answered: It won’t, but as someone who works for the US govt in a foreign policy related position, it’s basically all I’m allowed to do publicly.
  16. shorterexcerpts answered: I concur. 2004 though? No excuses—Dems were robbed downticket as well
  17. thismightsuck answered: what crowth said
  18. steph-honey answered: You gotta respect the people there right now. They are amazing.
  19. lindaboucher answered: Crowth and Kapi- you guys rock.
  20. longlivethequeen reblogged this from dubliner
  21. rhodyram answered: an ignorant response I know, but this time nukes are being pointed out way…
  22. langer answered: That false dichotomy at the end there kind of undermines your point.
  23. crookedindifference answered: better than nothing. look how the collective power of the internet helped obama get elected or alerted the media to the saffron revolution
  24. principialuis answered: Hope. If Luke could do it, Iran can too.
  25. sealove answered: particip-action. participate and feel less guilt for sitting at home in the computer-world. we exist in 2 places: screen and green.
  26. tothebitterend answered: One day….the people will realise it is the country against one person who doesn’t give a shit about the people in the country but ruling it
  27. thelastsemester answered: i think it makes people feel less helpless in a situation over which they have no control.
Comments (View)»
« Older · Home · Newer »