Would you have supported the 1979 Iranian Revolution?

[TheReckoning]

Obviously yes. Dead in prison a few years after that most likely.

At least you’re self aware about the fact that we should never listen to you when it comes to politics.

[KaiserDave]

Obviously yes. Dead in prison a few years after that most likely.

At least you’re self aware about the fact that we should never listen to you when it comes to politics.

I have no more room in my signature, sorry. And this one isn't good enough to supplant either of the two presently there. Try again next time.

[Never Made it to Graceland]

Obviously yes. Dead in prison a few years after that most likely.

At least you’re self aware about the fact that we should never listen to you when it comes to politics.

1) Dave is much smarter than you

2) How on earth did his comment elicit that reaction? What's your beef.

[ꙮ]

If you were anything but a stridently conservative Islamist and devout follower of Ayatollah Khomeini, supporting the overthrow of the Shah was an incredibly stupid decision that made your life worse in every way.

It is impossible to be a conservative and support revolution. By definition, conservatives oppose revolution. Don’t mix up being religious and conservative- they are not the same at all.

You can chose to redefine words with your own custom definitions if you really want to, but you have no power to make the rest of the world use them. The post-revolutionary regime in Iran is obviously conservative lmao.

[Agonized-Statism]

Only the Leftist Opposition with hindsight, but at the time, it was assumed that the Ayatollah would essentially be Iran's Mahātmā Gandhi. If the actual Iranian leftists didn't see the betrayal coming, I certainly wouldn't, especially pre-Internet. The Iranian Revolution should be taken today as a lesson in the danger of popular fronts, like the 1918 German one.

[Fuzzy Bear]

If I were President back then, I would have backed the Shah to the hilt.

Nixon was right in criticizing leaders who "greased the skids for our allies".

[Dan the Roman]

Almost everyone except the most hackish establishment reactionaries, in other words a specific sub-set of DeSantis/Haley folks would have supported the revolution, because one reason it succeeded is that the Shah had alienated almost everyone outside a very narrow strata of the court, security forces, and army. Even the air force and navy were wobbly.

With hindsight, almost no one here should for the simple reason that the Shah was going to drop dead within 18 months, and he would have been succeeded by a teenage son, with a European-educated woman as regent who while incompetent, dearly wanted to be popular in Western liberal circles. She would likely have allowed much freer elections on the level of say, Thailand. Combined with Iran's economic growth, the fact that the elite would have had little use for the teenage playboy Shah and the foreign empress, the transition to a developed democracy would have accelerated.

With hindsight, the Revolution was a catastrophe not just because of what followed, but because it was entirely unnecessary. At the time it was a near inevitability.

I would put the Russian Revolution in a similar category. Given Alexei's health, lack of development, and how hated Alexandra was by almost everyone, the "problem" such as it was, would have fixed itself, and at most required a single bullet. Not millions.

[TheReckoning]

If you were anything but a stridently conservative Islamist and devout follower of Ayatollah Khomeini, supporting the overthrow of the Shah was an incredibly stupid decision that made your life worse in every way.

It is impossible to be a conservative and support revolution. By definition, conservatives oppose revolution. Don’t mix up being religious and conservative- they are not the same at all.

You can chose to redefine words with your own custom definitions if you really want to, but you have no power to make the rest of the world use them. The post-revolutionary regime in Iran is obviously conservative lmao.

The contemporary regime is conservative, yes. That doesn’t change that in the 1970s, they were revolutionaries.

[Cyrusman]

As an Persian whos parents fled from Iran post revolution- ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Surprised at the amount of yes answers.

[Cyrusman]

In 1979, Iran's economy was doing quite well thanks to high oil prices, infant mortality was half what it had been 20 years earlier, and the Shah's White Revolution, while obviously not as far-reaching as what the Iranian Left wanted, was certainly far more generous than any social welfare programs built by other Middle Eastern countries of the time.

If you were anything but a stridently conservative Islamist and devout follower of Ayatollah Khomeini, supporting the overthrow of the Shah was an incredibly stupid decision that made your life worse in every way.

Thank you! Best answer so far