

Iran’s New Fake Inventions: Time Machine, ‘Islamic Google Earth’ - upquark
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/04/iran-time-machine/

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readme
If anyone can find links to an original source in this article, kudos to you.

While I do not agree with the political views of Iran, this is obviously just
ridicule. To an extent, ridiculing our enemies is funny. Take the late Kim
Jong Il for example. Quite an easy target, and deserving as well.

Iran, on the other hand, I feel bad for. Because, frankly, the reason Iran
sucks now is because the west overthrew their fledgling democracy and
installed a dictator some 50 years or so ago:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%C3%A9tat>

I don't know if anyone else remembers a few years back when Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad was invited to speak at Columbia University, only to be ridiculed
by his hosts. This journalism is not far off.

There are nutjobs in the US too, and certainly nutjob scientists. Even if this
article does have a shard of truth to it somewhere (I have yet to see a link
to the original Iranian news source it cites) it's really unfair to target
Iran specifically for ridicule. This is why we have disagreements. This is why
we don't all just get along.

This is a perfect example of childish journalism.

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upquark
I think we need more ridicule of this type of stuff, not less. Also, I'm all
for public ridicule of western kooks and BS-ers in government, science,
healthcare. I disagree this is why we don't get along, humor can be a powerful
and positive weapon.

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readme
I appreciate comedy a lot. But it is not funny when the bully mocks the
victim.

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ChuckMcM
Ok, so I get the theory that Nigerian scammers make their outrageous claims
because they want to target really gullible people and not have smart people
be too concerned that others will be taken in. But what do these sorts of
pronouncements due for Iran? Catering to the shallow end of the gene pool?

I've heard its for "internal consumption" which is to say that Iranians
watching state television will feel good about their country given how it's
equally or more advanced than the rest of the world, but every Iranian I've
ever talked with never buys these fictions. So why do them? It is so far out
of my experience that I can't even hypothesize a motivation for these actions.

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rdouble
One thing the new government did in post revolutionary Iran was cater to the
shallow end of the gene pool. Poor, uneducated and underemployed people were
given jobs in the police or other bureaucratic positions where they could lord
power over the educated middle classes who they already resented.

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infinitone
Unless you have a source, that's just plain bull to feed hate. Even in western
countries you typically have uneducated/underemployed people take the
cop/security jobs... you don't see a PhD or even a Bsc doing a cop job.

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BerislavLopac
No it's not. a) I lived in a society that did precisely that, and still does
it to an extent, and b) go watch Persepolis.

