Alex Barrero4d ago
Andy Rabagliati
An Iranian man left this comment on a YouTube channel.
"As an Iranian, I can tell you the situation is no longer just political—it's existential. We are trapped between two collapsing structures: one internal, one external. On one hand, we face a deeply dysfunctional government, led by the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic’s unelected institutions. 1/
Mar 7 at 10:51amWeb
Show threadAndy RabagliatiMar 7
Decades of economic mismanagement, suppression of dissent, and brutal ideological control have alienated multiple generations. No one believes in reform anymore—because every attempt has either been co-opted or crushed. But here's the paradox: We are also terrified of regime collapse—because we've watched the aftermath of Western intervention in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. Each was promised freedom; each descended into chaos, civil war, or foreign occupation. 2/
Show threadAndy RabagliatiMar 7
So no, we don't trust the U.S. or Israel. Not because we support our regime—but because we know how imperial powers treat ‘liberated’ nations in the Middle East.
Freedom, in their language, often means vacuum, fire, and permanent instability. Right now, many Iranians live with three truths at once: The Islamic Republic is morally and politically bankrupt. The alternatives offered by foreign actors are not liberation—they’re collapse. 3/
Show threadAndy RabagliatiMar 7
A bad government is survivable. No government is not. We are not silent because we agree. We are cautious because we’ve learned—too well—what happens when superpowers decide to "help." In a sentence: Iran is a nation held hostage by its own regime, but haunted by the fate of its neighbors. We are stuck in a house we hate, surrounded by fires we fear more." 4/END
Show threadmike805Mar 8

@wizzy This all started when the British discovered that an oil-fired battleship could go 1/3 faster and 1/3 farther than a coal-powered one. They decided they had to switch to oil even though they didn't have any.

So they got involved in Middle East politics to secure their access to oil. It's been all downhill from there.

Show threadbug // juneMar 8
@wizzy From my own burning house of unwantable hatred (about which for a long time it has felt I can only pray and embody daily that the spirits of hardship and fear present on this earth are remedied continually), your words feel very relatable to me. Despite the distance and very different circumstances, what you've said feels true about my experience in the US, except we are not often bombed (I really wish people persist to tame their fears and do what must be needed to return balance, peace)
Show threadbug // juneMar 8
@wizzy (food, shelter, healthcare, education, therapy, wellness, dignity, respect, reverence, gratitude, breath, song)
Show threadUnredacted Epstein files nowMar 8
@wizzy @fsinn Well said.
Show threadChtixof 🦊🚲🌻🐝Mar 9
@wizzy
Seems right…
Could you add a link to the source?
Show threadHoldMyTypeMar 8
@wizzy @srtcd424 cc @ramin_hal9001
Show threadRamin HonaryMar 8

@wizzy @xameer I remember reading that comment about a half-year ago during the so-called “12 day war,” which really should have been called the start of the “US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran” or maybe just “World War 3.”

I wonder if opinion polls were taken today they would paint a different picture? A lot of that “economic mismanagement” was about spending an unbelievable percentage of their oil profits on the IRGC and their missile defense program. For example, their aging infrastructure in Tehran has led to a water crisis so severe the government was talking about moving their headquarters out of the city. From what I heard, a lot of those “riots” from last month were motivated by criticism that too much money was spent on defense and not enough on improving the water infrastructure.

Now that the war has escalated, I think a lot of Iranians are starting to feel more thankful that they have these defense systems in place, and enraged about the murder of 160+ children in Minab. At least that might be why we have seen a number of pro-government demonstrations in Tehran since last week. I am guessing that right now people are hopeful that the new government might be less despotic and more pragmatic.

But I don’t live there, I am only going off of what I heard from a few people I know who have a better idea about what is going on, like @faab64 , and it is hard for anyone to get information out of Iran right now.

@srtcd424

Show threadHoldMyTypeMar 8
@ramin_hal9001 @faab64 @srtcd424 @wizzy economy sir is bound to be political as both the labor and the capital re no different
Risk is always always political , stupidity is lack of self governance or even worse lack of self control , which compounds
Show threadHoldMyTypeMar 8
@ramin_hal9001 @faab64 @srtcd424 @wizzy that said there an urgent need to create a safe enough space for pre-,post-truth space , like quota but not for ads and more rigorous , all its going to take is a bunch of liberal enough profs, professionals with vetted credentials to join and tons ll join , their voice ll stand out , because one need research in order to defy or defend research
Show threadRamin HonaryMar 8

@xameer truth is always going to be difficult, I don’t think that is a technological problem.

Modern technological advances will result in new problems in understanding truth and will require new solutions to those problems. But what will never change is that humans will trust each other and will place more weight on evidence from sources they trust.

@srtcd424 @wizzy

Show threadHoldMyTypeMar 8
@ramin_hal9001 @faab64 @srtcd424 @wizzy that's precisely I went into existentially verifiable static types
Even when I had no tooling, no funding and before it was mainstream buzz
I owe nearly all to #Foss and #openpublish