Today’s Moral Lesson in Iran is That Apathy Has a Price

I write this article on June 22, 2009.  In the prior week there have been demonstrations in Iran by citizens of this country dissatisfied with presidential elections.  In the beginning, the demonstrations were peaceful.  Over the weekend the religious autocracy’s police started cracking down on the demonstrators.  It has been reported that the Iraqi Revolutionary Guard (IRG) has killed around 12 citizens of Iran.

Those are 12 life dreams.  In addition, they are twelve less people to enjoy the goodness of life and be enjoyed by their friends.  The joy and happiness that is in life will be no more for those twelve people and the people who loved them.

However, what more can expected of a ruthless regime.  For millennia Iran has had a legacy of tyrannical control.  In the name of religion, majority has controlled a small minority by coercion and intimidation.  Many in Iran fear being rounded up by the IRG, never to be seen or heard of again.

I think it is overwhelmingly sad that the basic decency and goodness of enjoying a pleasant day can be so violated by evil people. However, let us look at this issue as analytical people with our emotions in check.

For a long time the people of Iraq tolerated their tyrannical autocracy.  This tolerance was due to getting gifts from the Iranian government.  When the Iraqi economy was good, the Iraqi government gave citizens cheap gas, TV, cell phone service, Internet, and other perks.

Now that the economy is bad many are hurting in Iran.  Due the actions of the leadership of Iran, Iran is economically isolated from other nations.  This isolation has resulted in the collapse of the Iranian economy.

Now the people are upset.  I wonder if they are upset because they are truly offended to have their basic freedoms limited or are they upset because all the gifts the Iranian government used to give them are gone.

Back when Clinton was in office I remember seeing a news report on ABC nightly news about the Iranian people.  The subject of the report were young Iranian who where living the good life given to them by the Iranian government and not to upset about their limitations on their freedoms.

Since the uprising in Iran this time around that is the thought I have had in my mind.  Sincerity still occupies my mind.  Concepts such as democracy, liberty, and freedom are real concrete ideas with their true faces.  However, to many of us pay lip service to these concepts.

I have heard that it is not easy to take on the secret police of dictatorship.  This is true.  It is not easy.  It also is not impossible.

In my opinion, once ability to think, speak, and transit are of such great importance that they should never be compromised.  Humans have always been devious and sinister.  Today is no different.  Just look at the current American president.  He obviously has a hidden agenda but keeps denying that he does have this agenda.

Therefore, it is my responsibility to protect my freedom.  If I have to pick a fistfight with a ruthless dictators secrete police so be it.

The problem in Iraq is two fold.  Well maybe it is more than two fold.  There are a lot of groups.  There are the religious oppressors.  There are the dissatisfied citizens.  There are people in the shadows who are waiting for their opportunity to cash in under a new Iran.

However, the major obstacle to pure freedom is the religious leader.  There is nothing in believing in something.  There even isn’t anything in respecting religious elders.

Asking for the basic decent goodness of life has nothing to do with betraying ones’ faith. We should be treated with respect.  No one should fear being hurt or killed because of his or her beliefs, words, or correct actions.

Apathy reigns in the world.  The new king and queen are apathy and disinterest.  When the Iranian government was given Iranian citizens gifts, many were willing to accept being oppressed by a religious tyrannical government.  In the name of faith, many more supported tyranny and oppression.

Furthermore, when a person presumed to be worthy of giving public opinion he or she runs the risk of offending many.  Right now-after so much blood and hardship-the last thing the Iranian people fighting for freedom want to hear is that they are the problem.

The reality is that we all are the problem.  Good values and morals do not defend them selves.  In our walk, the human species has journeyed far from his or her natural state of goodness, decency, integrity, and dignity.  We are a vulgar, insincere, apathetic tribe with only our selves to blame.

What was good and had value 6000 years ago is good today and has value today. We decided to be distracted with modern esthetics and we betrayed substantive values.  It wasn’t because we did not know these values.  I was because we found  materialistic things to lust after.

Now all of humanity is paying the price.  Evil has entrenched it self in our homes and lives and there is very little we can do about it.  For true revolution to occur in Iran the majority has to be prepared to die trying to kill the religious tyrants.

For there to be world peace all good and decent people have to be prepared to die trying to kill opponents of peace.  I do not know if modern man has it in him for such battle.  In that Chinese square, while a brave and courageous man stood up for human dignity, the people of the world watched and did not lend a hand as his body was run over by that tank.

Apathy has a price.  Its name is tyrrany.