What do I know about Iran?

Picture attribution, (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) ripped off from Huffpo, which, combined with The Daily Dish, pretty much have done all my "filling in" on the topic. And I'm ripping off on Sullivan re: color scheme. Not that I have readers who'd notice. But seeing people taking it to the streets and putting their bodies and lives on the line for the idea of democracy is something I really support--if it's kind of an empty gesture, it wouldn't be my first.

I don't know a lot--that's what I know. But I know what I don't know--I don't know what it's like to have lived there within the last 30 years since the Islamic Revolution, and I don't know what it's like to have ayatollahs pick my candidates, and I don't know what it's like to, after that much of an obstacle between myself and democracy, get proof that there isn't even that much of a pretense of an election--that after everyone casts their ballots, simply made-up figures will announce that the same old government stays--

Even if the streets of Tehran looked like a St. Patrick's Day parade just before the election, there was so much green.

I don't know what that's like, but I have an idea, and that's why all these mostly young people, peacefully gathering and occasionally getting the crap beaten out of them, move me. That's why the faces of women out there make me proud and fearful for them. It's why I hope the U.S. and Iran can develop better relations, because it's a reminder that there are these people there who want to see things improve--us too!

So my opinion is pretty much, just an opinion--

When the Ayatollah Khameni went back on his statement that the decision for Ahmadinejad was "divine"--I think he was surprised that the people wouldn't fall in line. I think part of this underestimation had to do with not anticipating that people would read and interpret the data for themselves, and realize something fishy was going on. That there was so much of a response was another surprise--I don't think it was anticipated that people could be motivated and organized this quickly (I guess that the short duration of the election/campaigning period for Iran is to thwart just that sort of organization--but that was before technology kind of tore that up. People can get information, and contact associates, in record time.)

And I don't think anyone in the government expected that the early attempts to physically quell the protests would meet with near-instant disapprobation as pictures were shot with camera-phones, and reports were Twittered across the globe. When I hear there will be a recount (or maybe a count for the first time) I'm glad to see people demand results--and get them. And realize it might have been much harder just a few years before.

Regardless of the real election results, I think there's something that can be built upon, here. Also, I'm glad Obama had kept out of it--the best thing for democracy is for the people to decide--theirs, not ours. I also feel like we did something very fortunate in not electing Sen. McCain, whose insistence the U.S. "do something" is about as wrongheaded as can be. (Do what? Undermine the "reformer"? Create worse relations with Ahmadinejad if he remains the leader? No good solutions, there.)

I know I wish them well and I'm in favor of democracy for anyone gutsy enough to try it. That is all.