I just want to take a second to say how much I appreciate FIRE’s work in protecting free speech. I have endless respect for everyone at FIRE who has devoted their life to such an important cause. You all have my highest respect and gratitude.
Will we see similar columns about how messed-up life is in Israel and its occupied lands under its brutal, authoritarian government, or does Israel have a "get out of jail free" card? Does FIRE back a military take-over and break-up of Iran, something Israel is desperate for? I am certain that as soon as the external pressure on Iran stops, so will the repression of communication. Why is the complete picture missing here? It seems as if FIRE is becoming (or has already become) overtly political, something I didn't know was part of its mission.
Listen, God gave the land to Israel, the descendants of Abraham through his son Isaac, for perpetuity. Stop drinking the liberal Kool-Aid and learn real history. Abraham had another son, by his wife's maid, at her suggestion, because she didn't understand God's timing in giving them a son. The result was Ishmael, who was, to be perfectly blunt, illegitimate. Bastards don't inherit, period. And the descendants of Ishmael are the Arab nations. Prophecy states they will fight Israel until Jesus returns, which is getting closer all the time. All those who oppose Israel will be destroyed. It's happened over and over again throughout history. Israel, as long as she has kept her eyes on Jehovah God, has never lost a battle. More and more Jews are starting to look to Yeshua/Jesus for their salvation.
It's easy to think of abuses as statistics. 16,000 dead is something we can easily say, but it's impossible to visualize. Each of those 16,000 was a person with all the hopes, dreams, and pains that human existence has to offer. And all of those hopes, dreams, and pains were snuffed out for challenging the regime. It's impossible to capture that depravity in words, but this article does an incredible job at doing so.
I came to Harsini's whole agony-inducing essay via the excerpt in Greg's email:
"When I talk about the Islamic regime or lack of free speech, I’m not just talking about prisons and torture. I’m also talking about how it tries to control what people feel, what people sing, and what people are allowed to enjoy. Even music had to be approved. When I was the president of the music club at the University of Tehran, they wouldn’t let me play Persian or pop music. I once submitted a program for a concert in which I was going to play themes from “Hotel California,” but I wrote “Beethoven” down as the composer. It was approved. But the fact that I even had to ask, and fear of what might happen if I was caught. Even joy had to be monitored. That’s how these systems work. They don’t just want to control your body. They want to control your spirit. The Islamic revolution in Iran happened in 1979 and it’s been 1984 every year since."
The excerpt was just a mild taste of the evils described in the whole essay.
The excerpt itself was appallingly familiar, unlike the far more extreme examples in the essay. In my mind, I rewrote the excerpt to reflect efforts to suppress thought and expression in the western world today.
For this and many other reasons, my husband and I are long-term supporters of FIRE.
I just want to take a second to say how much I appreciate FIRE’s work in protecting free speech. I have endless respect for everyone at FIRE who has devoted their life to such an important cause. You all have my highest respect and gratitude.
Will we see similar columns about how messed-up life is in Israel and its occupied lands under its brutal, authoritarian government, or does Israel have a "get out of jail free" card? Does FIRE back a military take-over and break-up of Iran, something Israel is desperate for? I am certain that as soon as the external pressure on Iran stops, so will the repression of communication. Why is the complete picture missing here? It seems as if FIRE is becoming (or has already become) overtly political, something I didn't know was part of its mission.
Listen, God gave the land to Israel, the descendants of Abraham through his son Isaac, for perpetuity. Stop drinking the liberal Kool-Aid and learn real history. Abraham had another son, by his wife's maid, at her suggestion, because she didn't understand God's timing in giving them a son. The result was Ishmael, who was, to be perfectly blunt, illegitimate. Bastards don't inherit, period. And the descendants of Ishmael are the Arab nations. Prophecy states they will fight Israel until Jesus returns, which is getting closer all the time. All those who oppose Israel will be destroyed. It's happened over and over again throughout history. Israel, as long as she has kept her eyes on Jehovah God, has never lost a battle. More and more Jews are starting to look to Yeshua/Jesus for their salvation.
Excellent article with eloquent writing.
It's easy to think of abuses as statistics. 16,000 dead is something we can easily say, but it's impossible to visualize. Each of those 16,000 was a person with all the hopes, dreams, and pains that human existence has to offer. And all of those hopes, dreams, and pains were snuffed out for challenging the regime. It's impossible to capture that depravity in words, but this article does an incredible job at doing so.
I came to Harsini's whole agony-inducing essay via the excerpt in Greg's email:
"When I talk about the Islamic regime or lack of free speech, I’m not just talking about prisons and torture. I’m also talking about how it tries to control what people feel, what people sing, and what people are allowed to enjoy. Even music had to be approved. When I was the president of the music club at the University of Tehran, they wouldn’t let me play Persian or pop music. I once submitted a program for a concert in which I was going to play themes from “Hotel California,” but I wrote “Beethoven” down as the composer. It was approved. But the fact that I even had to ask, and fear of what might happen if I was caught. Even joy had to be monitored. That’s how these systems work. They don’t just want to control your body. They want to control your spirit. The Islamic revolution in Iran happened in 1979 and it’s been 1984 every year since."
The excerpt was just a mild taste of the evils described in the whole essay.
The excerpt itself was appallingly familiar, unlike the far more extreme examples in the essay. In my mind, I rewrote the excerpt to reflect efforts to suppress thought and expression in the western world today.
For this and many other reasons, my husband and I are long-term supporters of FIRE.