John Carlos Baez2d ago

It's a truly depressing day, waiting to see what will be the whims of a mad king whom we failed to stop in time. What would it be like to be in Iran now?

Erika Solomon and Sanam Mahoozi of the New York Times give a taste of it. I'll just quote:

With President Trump’s deadline to unleash mass destruction on Iran just hours away on Tuesday, Iranians faced the threats with a mix of indifference, defiance and bewilderment.

"The first thing that came to my mind is that I think Trump is under a lot of pressure, and that he has lost his mind,” said Lili, who works in the arts scene in the Iranian capital, Tehran. Lili said she and her family had made no contingency plans at all, and they were not planning to flee Tehran. They were not stocking up on goods, or bracing to hole up at home. “We need to continue with our lives,” she said, adding there was no clear haven to flee to: Attacking infrastructure meant almost anywhere could become a target.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/world/middleeast/iran-shock-defiance-trump-deadline-threat.html

Iranians Voice Shock and Defiance in Face of Trump’s Looming Deadline

President Trump has threatened devastating attacks if Iran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Some Iranians questioned what had happened to American values.

The New York Times
Show threadMartin Escardo2d ago

@johncarlosbaez

“The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
― Thomas Jefferson

The problem is that the rest of the world didn't elect this person.

I don't think the rest of the world deserves that.

Show threadDan Frumin
@MartinEscardo @johncarlosbaez "The government you elect is the government you deserve", and its the iranian government
12:04pmWeb
Show threadJohn Carlos Baez5h ago

@dif @MartinEscardo - Refusing to vote is a way to deny legitimacy to a corrupt regime, but I wouldn't do it unless all candidates I could choose from are equally horrible - and I don't tend to think that. Perhaps the Reformists were prevented from running in so many districts that even people following my strategy would not turn out to vote. I know that many Reformist candidates were forbidden from running. I'll have to read about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Iranian_legislative_election

2020 Iranian legislative election - Wikipedia

Show threadMartin Escardo5h ago

@johncarlosbaez I would prefer that the above were not attributed to me in your post, because I agree with you, and I never said anything in the contrary, or indeed at all about this. Thanks.

@dif

Show threadJohn Carlos Baez1h ago
@MartinEscardo - I wasn't attributing anything to you in my post. As Chris Grossack mentioned a while ago, the inclusion of your name is simply to let you be alerted to the existence of my post.
Show threadMartin Escardo1h ago

@johncarlosbaez I humbly don't agree with this approach to communication here.

(And Chris changed their initial post to rectify this.)