The hideous image above is an untouched photo of a student protester in Iran. This brave young man is in a coma as a result of being beaten by the demons of the current Iranian government. If anyone ever wanted proof that Islamic folks can be just as good, passionate and decent as anyone else this is it. These people are facing what many call the worst atrocities since the Nazis because they feel their country has been illegally hijacked by hardliners.In case you've been under a rock lately and haven't been following the news the recent election results in Iran were, to say the very, very least, questionable. They were reported and announced in an unprecedentedly strange way and, even after many questions were peacefully asked by powerful as well as regular folks no answers were given. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in numbers not seen since the 1979 revolution. The largely peaceful protests, mostly by university students, became violent when the governmental forces began killing people out of hand.
To stay abreast of the happenings in Iran visit the Free Iran Facebook page.
P.S. Be sure to check out the comments; Mrs. B. points the way to a Twitter page about this very thing.
8 comments:
I understand that many of us may need to be jolted out of our complacency by seeing the truth of what is happening over there, terrible or not. However, it is generally considered polite to keep such graphic images behind the cut and add a trigger warning to them. There are many people who are victims of violence and who could be triggered into a very bad place by seeing something like this with no warning.
You mean the title "Atrocities in Iran" showing up in your reader didn't tip you off that this post would be upsetting? Even if you don't have a blog reader and didn't see the title before you visited I find it very hard to believe that any adult with even the slightest interest in world events hasn't seen something like this, or much, much worse, in the news today, yesterday and every other day since news coverage began.
I don't believe I've ever claimed to be polite in my writings and rightly so as I'm not, especially when discussing political subjects. When it comes to innocent people dying politeness might be okay for sweet little old church ladies, not me.
And I'm sorry if what I post about reminds someone of something(s) horrible that was done to them but I'm not going to feel guilty about violence I didn't commit. I would even think that someone who had suffered from violence would want to know the abuses being perpetrated on others so they could do what they could to stop it. If a person wants to avoid images of violence because it makes them feel bad the only solution to that would be to willingly go blind.
I'm not going to censor my personal thoughts, and the tools I use to get them across, because it makes someone squeamish/uncomfortable or because it's an unpleasant reminder of things past. If I start down that road I'll have to worry about nearly everything I write and who could/might/maybe be offended or reminded of bad things that had happened to them. But I'll try to compromise: I'll make the image smaller - but I'm not removing it.
You can also follow what is going on in a live stream on Twitter (just click on the Trending Topic #iran).
What is happening over there is horrific. It sickens me that the media is sitting around worrying about who the "real father" of Michael Jackson's kids are, when people are being pulled off buses in Iran and being axed and beaten. It's a sad story about the concerns of the general public and what they are more interested in hearing about.
Hi Mrs. B. I personally don't Twitter but thanks a heap for pointing out that there's a Twitter page for this topic! I'm sure many Twitterers will visit.
*sigh* Has it occurred to you that title and image load at the same time for many readers, thus not giving one a chance to say "I don't want to see that" before it loads? Hence the idea of putting such a thing behind a jump, so the viewer has the option of clicking the "view more" or not, according to what they can handle seeing.
Further, there's a difference between asking you to "censor yourself" - which I was NOT asking - and requesting that you have a bit of consideration for the wide variety of experiences your readers may have of life and what your words and the images you choose may do to them. You needn't feel guilty about violence you haven't committed; but you are responsible for the content you place for public consumption and the effects that has on people.
Also, do you know how presumptuous it is to say how victims of past violence *should* feel, as if YOU can decide that for them?
But you know what? It's your blog, you do whatever you want on it. Just know that the way you've chosen to deal with this situation has lost you at least one reader. I'm sorry. I wish you well.
Oh please, save your dramatic sighs for someone who is impressed by them.
For the record, Blogger, to my knowledge, does not provide the option of a jump. If there is a way to include one in Blogger I don't possess the necessary HTML/Java etc., skills to implement it. And if I did I still wouldn't include it because I strongly dislike that kind of format. And I'm certainly not going to go out of my way to learn tedious code, or switch blog templates/hosts, or something else like that to suit the tastes of ONE single potential reader.
As you say, I am responsible for what I put on my blog and how it affects my readers. You are the first and only person who has ever suggested I change my content/format/style because of their personal tastes and I think that says more about you than what I write about. And as you've graciously allowed, it is my blog and I will do just what I want with it. If a small picture of a beaten and bruised face is enough to set you off or make you remember bad things then I feel for you. But, honestly, I have to ask: do you expect this special sugar coating coddling treatment from every blog/news site/personal website that you visit? If so, I am left with only one conclusion: You might be overly sensitive due to some recent trauma and must have to avoid a large part of the internet, including every single news site on the web as well as any others that includes political discussion and related images.
And, to be clear I said NOTHING about what my readers "should" feel. The word "should" never came up. I said:
"I would even think that someone who had suffered from violence would want to know the abuses being perpetrated on others so they could do what they could to stop it."
The phrase "I would think" is very, VERY far from me telling any potential readers what they "should" feel. Don't put words into my mouth to save your argument; it lowers the tone and makes you look ridiculous.
To conclude, if something bad has happened to you and weighs heavily on your mind then you have my sympathy. But I'm not going to change the way I organize and present my thoughts to suit one, perhaps overly sensitive, person. If you can't deal with this, fine, so be it. I frequently use strong language and sometimes discuss extremely unpleasant things and yes, will occasionally include disturbing photos. And if you aren't capable of handling that without getting this upset and self-righteous then you have no place here and are not welcome. Peace be with you on your path and farewell!
I am just amazed he survived in any way at all..I got a shock as this was in my blog list as your ID ,pic the way it shows up is the way it shows, rather than get into the above debate..When ever I post anything anywhere like this I usually link it with a warning about it ( as I have been doing on twitter as regards this issue and others) and try and name the individual, if I can out of respect to them and there families..and trust me when I say I am with you about showing the level of violence there, (and in other countries many others that are not getting reported small genocides..take the amazon for an example) that is happening to so many while people/the sheeple- wail and weep about MJ ..But I do warn people of the shock content of the written word and the image as a courtesy to readers..here for eg
http://wildandferal.blogspot.com/2009/06/we-are-being-killed-for-your-idea-of.html
Sometimes the jolt has the opposite affect and people will not go any further with it..we are, as a race, becoming increasingly de-sensitized to violence also, so its a tricky one , a very tricky one to handle in order to get people to be aware..
Hey! Thanks for plugging the facebook page.
Also, as an admin, it would probably be good to start telling people that we're being blocked from publishing anything due to apparently violating Facebook's "terms of use".
The same thing has happened to other opposition pages on the website.
Sooo, long story short, one of the pages on facebook that was great at getting information out is now being censored.
If you could, spread the word?
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