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Comment by slfnflctd | Hacker News Reader

> immoral

So, how do you feel about throwing gay people off buildings?

Edit: Yes, I know this isn't any part of why we have sanctions against Iran. But it should be.

I fail to see how an economic sanction towards an authoritarian regime that ends up having a greater impact upon its people than on the regime itself will somehow fix said regime's mistreatment of minorities.

I come from Venezuela, I have family in Cuba. I know what economic sanctions look like and what they do against dictatorships. Hint: they do nothing, because they're not going to abide by your rules or meet you in the middle.

That's a very practical way of putting it, thanks.

This was mostly a knee-jerk reaction on my part because it often seems to me that in the rush to (rightly) denounce bad policies by the U.S. or other countries against Muslim majority nations/groups, the fact of extremely barbaric practices by some of these groups is just swept aside, like it's okay because they're being victimized. It's still not okay.

Regardless, I concede the point. I'll leave my prior comment up, though, because I can't be alone in these feelings and your response provides more nuance to the issue.

Since you are in a conciliatory mood, you might also want to reconsider the whole "throwing gays off buildings" thing, because that doesn't happen in Iran. LGBT rights are by no means great in Iran, but this kind of hyperbole does not help anyone.

I decided to check on this, and it would appear that it was more of an ISIS thing that anti-Muslim Americans falsely projected out across the entire group. However, there have been at least a few hundred state-facilitated executions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Iran).

One thing I was not aware of before today is that Iran is second only to Thailand in sex reassignment surgeries, which I found very surprising. Apparently it may be done in some cases to avoid persecution of same-sex relationships, but the fact that it's not only tolerated but partly paid for by the state is pretty mind blowing. There's always more detail when you look closer at issues like this. Thanks for prompting me to look it up.

Do you think attitudes towards homosexuality are any more progressive in Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc? No, but they’re “good” US client states and help further US interests in the region so it’s okay when they dismember a journalist inside an embassy and whatever else besides.

Look also at the sanctions we imposed on Iraq after the first gulf war. Conservative estimates put the death toll at a quarter to half a million CHILDREN alone. I guess those kids should have risen up and overthrown Saddam, because that’s what the sanctions were conditional on - his removal from power.

I don't think harming all Iranians via sanctions for the actions of the regime is the right way to deal with this, especially because the sanctions do nothing to stop persecution of LGBT.

How else do you propose pressuring them? Launching an invasion doesn't really seem like an improvement for the common people there

I don't think that's his point.

The US doesn't embargo Iran because of that. Otherwise they'd probably have to embargo a bunch of their closest allies for half a century or more.

It's all realpolitik, morals don't influence this issue much.

I dislike our alliance with Saudi Arabia. What is your point?

What kind of argument is that? LGBT rights in Saudi Arabia is almost equally non-existent [1] yet US happily sells them arms used in a horrific war in Yemen. SA's prince can even get away from blatant murder.

Besides, it was ISIS throwing gay people off roofs and filming for propaganda. Iran has an authoritarian system with it's (many many) own sins, but it's no different than any other country in the Middle East. All are terrible, but some receive love from the west and some don't.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia

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