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Comment by EB-BarringtonII | Hacker News Reader

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>Did you ever notice you almost never read anything good about Iran?

You can read plenty of good about Iran if you read something other than geopolitical news. It's a very interesting country with an incredibly interesting history and language. The news is a pretty poor source for much of anything except for "events are happening" or "politicians have an agenda in [area]" -- I don't mean to belittle those. Both of those matter, but really no one should consider the news to provide thorough treatment for any large topic.

I have spent half of the last decade or so on the ground in Iran. You're right the "news" is a very poor source for much of anything about Iran.

I think this is talking about the hyper-oppressive, aggressive government of modern-day Iran, and not how it was pre-Islamic rule.

Agreed, and there really is nothing positive to say about the modern-day Iranian government. The Persian culture has not been fully stamped out, though, and I think there is a lot of good there even if proper regime change may not be realistic.

Of course - glad to hear that. The news of all the protest deaths in January is devastating.

I'm part of a small forum that has a very world-wide audience.

It's always a joy to talk shop with a guy in England, a guy in Iran, and a guy in Poland in the same thread.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirrors_of_the_Unseen

> Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran (2006) is a travel book written by British travel writer Jason Elliot.

And a fascinating history of mathematics as well.

"The asymmetry is the tell"...is the (AI) tell.

There have been fairly recent descriptions of the kinds of Iranian architecture that provide passive cooling in hot weather.

I have had the privilege and pleasure to work with some great engineers and scientists from Iran. Same with Turkey, and of course India, and so many other places in the world. People are individuals, no matter where they are from.

I do recognize that the type of person who I might encounter in the workplace is an educated, accomplished, English-speaking person who has likely gone through cultural adjustments to operate in an American workplace. So there’s a filter there.

But when you get to know people, especially when they talk about their family and childhood, the idea that a nation is full of bad people full of hate is just laughable.

I believe there is a qualitative difference between the governing systems in the west and a place where there are seven official allowed haircuts for men, aside from other things.

I believe there is a qualitative difference between the governing systems in a country that tries to regulate personal appearances, and one that would shift it's military to the other side of the planet, bombing and murdering Iranian school children and civilians en-masse for no particular reason.

I also believe that your claim of seven "official allowed" haircuts is bs, as with almost everything I ever read about Iran.

Source: I see that Tehrani men have the same variety of haircuts and facial hair styles as in any other city on the planet.

> and one that would shift it's military to the other side of the planet to bomb and murder Iranian school children and civilians en-masse for no particular reason.

It didn't send its military for that reason, if that helps.

If you talked with actual Iranians or people who've been in Iran, they would corroborate what I said. The IRGC truly aims to control every aspect of people's lives - it's less pronounced in places like Tehran, but it's definitely there.

Hell, if you read Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, you would find plenty of similar examples. The haircuts are just the cherry on top of that authoritarian cake.

Also, the west is not just the US. Trump failed to find anyone willing to join him in his military adventures.

I don't see you shadow banned.

But complaining about upvotes and moderation is bad decorum and will get you downvoted out.

He's totally being deliberately buried.

Which ironically enough proves the precise point.

You're being downvoted for pointing out the truth.

I am actually, objectively, being shadowbanned, for precisely the reason I pointed out. It's easy to confirm.

There was a very clear campaign to downvote/flag your comments as fast as possible resulting in "dead" and "flagged" status. Then to gaslight that this wasn't going on was nuts.

Honestly it's incredible how many people here claim to have consumed her work and clearly missed the point of it entirely.

> EDIT: I have been shadowbanned, again, by HN. I check this by opening this thread in a private tab, not logged in, and notice my most recent comment is not visible.

> I wasn't personally insulting nor aggressive in any comment I have made. I didn't spread disinformation. This thread is inherently political by nature, and I have been objective.

> It just goes to show, even here on HN, if you don't stick to the "THIS SIDE GOOD THAT SIDE BAD" narrative, your voice WILL be restricted.

> Again, RIP Marjane, you taught me a lot about Iran and the world.

You're not shadow banned, but comments peddling objectively false conspiracy theories and whining about downvoting do not play well here.

They made it political. We were just having a non-political thread about an author famous for critiquing the Iran government. Then they made it political.

This isn't fringe stuff, it's well known and documented, I would have thought most people commenting on a post about Iran would know this history, perhaps I can help you out:

"Conspiracy" Theory: "CIA/MI6 coup of 1953 that overthrew Iran's democratically elected government to protect Western oil interests"

Evidence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta... "On 19 August 1953, Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh was fired by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran .... It was instigated by the United Kingdom (MI6), under the name Operation Boot and the United States (CIA), under the name TP-AJAX Project or Operation Ajax. A key motive was to protect British oil interests in Iran after Mosaddegh nationalized the country's oil industry."

If you find any evidence that says CIA/MI5 were not behind the coup of a democratically elected government to protect Western oil interests, please let me know, I'm very interested in this topic.

"Conspiracy" Theory: "verifiable institutional actors with control over media outlets, public figures, and politicians -pointing to a systematic, decades-long negative framing of Iran"

Evidence:

State Department records list CIA “Political Propaganda” work in the TPAJAX files. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1951-54Ira... "CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup" (from the National Security Archive) https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB435/ "American and British involvement in Mosaddeq's ouster has long been public knowledge, but today's posting includes what is believed to be the CIA's first formal acknowledgement that the agency helped to plan and execute the coup."

Since then, there is substantial evidence Western/U.S. coverage and official discourse has repeatedly framed Iran through threat, extremism, nuclear danger, terrorism, and regime instability. Rather than me spamming links, I will just say this evidence is very easy to find and read. If you have any evidence to the contrary, please present it.

"Conspiracy" Theory: "you almost never read anything good about Iran?"

Evidence: Go to the websites of major Western outlets such as BBC News, The Guardian, NYT - search for "Iran" and look at the first 50–100 headlines.

Then categorise them into things like: War/conflict Nuclear program Sanctions Human rights Economy Tourism Culture Science Daily life

Objectively, you will find mostly negative or negatively framed stories. If you find any evidence to the contrary, I'm very interested.

Are there any other "conspiracy theories" I have mentioned that are "objectively false"?

"I have been shadowbanned, again, by HN. ... It just goes to show, even here on HN, if you don't stick to the 'THIS SIDE GOOD THAT SIDE BAD' narrative, your voice WILL be restricted."

That's an objectively false conspiracy theory. We don't even need to touch the Iran ramblings.

Me: "here on HN, if you don't stick to the 'THIS SIDE GOOD THAT SIDE BAD' narrative, your voice WILL be restricted."

1) I open a private window and view this thread - there are five total posts by me. 2) when logged in, there are seven posts - this is what's called "shadow banned" 3) in the private tab, one of my posts is flagged, it's specifically the one where I say "this is what happens in our world when you don't uncritically and simplistically stick to one side bad or one side good"

Your response: "You're not shadow banned" HN response to my post: [flagged]

--------------

You: "objectively false conspiracy theories"

Me: "CIA/MI6 coup of 1953 that overthrew Iran's democratically elected government to protect Western oil interests"

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta...

Title: "CIA/MI6 coup of 1953 that overthrew Iran's democratically elected government to protect Western oil interests"

In the opening paragraph:

"On 19 August 1953, Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh was fired by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran .... It was instigated by the United Kingdom (MI6), under the name Operation Boot and the United States (CIA), under the name TP-AJAX Project or Operation Ajax. A key motive was to protect British oil interests in Iran after Mosaddegh nationalized the country's oil industry."

Your response: "ramblings"

You're really not very good at being faced with objective facts that interfere with your worldview, whether it's HN or Iran.

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