Here's a fun phrase: "For some reason, this isn't front-page news. It should be." I advise you that whenever you hear these words strung together, you are hearing the sounds of an ax being ground, and you are Gawain and it is the Green Knight spinning the wheel.
In other words, heads up.
The person who said this is Andy Sullivan and he is referring to recent riots in Iran. As to these riots, Andy says, and I quote:
Know hope.
Oh fuck you, Obi-Wan. What the fuck is this, "know hope"?
I submit that nobody really knows what the hell is going on in Iran, and that the last people to be trusted on this issue are those who have a cheerleading interest in a particular outcome: that is, the fairytale ending of a secular democracy whiskey sexy regime where it's all Hooters and Starbucks and TGIF and shit and everyone gets to fuck Santa. Because wheeeeeeeeee! That would mean that those who took Brave Stands on Blogs are Thoroughly Vindicated. Hot fucking dog.
What are these Tehran riots that have the inhabitants of Greater Wingnuttia walking uncomfortably until they can find some Kleenex? Well, let's follow one of Andy's links:
Angry Iranians set fire to a Tehran petrol station and chanted anti-government slogans in a north-west area of the capital in protest against fuel rationing introduced in OPEC's number two oil producer.
A witness said flames rose from the gasoline station in Pounak, a poorer area of the capital, with cars burning inside.
Some youths hurled stones and chanted, "Guns, fireworks, tanks, (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad should be killed", the witness said.
Another witness said riot police had gathered near the gasoline station and sought to push the rioters back.
Before rationing was introduced, some media reported scuffles at petrol stations between drivers queuing to stock up.
State TV said on Tuesday rationing would start at midnight, prompting drivers to rush to fill up before the deadline.
The second witness cited reports of Iranians attacking another fuel station in Tehran, but gave no further details.
That report could not be independently confirmed.
In other words, nobody knows Jack Shit or even his cousin Johnny Bullcrap.
More, nobody is even listening to Plato's ghost whispering "what then"? What if all the "mullahs" died tomorrow of heart attacks? What would emerge to replace them? Another failed state nobody could control, like... Iraq? Hooray! Piss on a poodle! Joy unbounded!
My essential point is that I am resentful and disdainful of this attitude that there is some moral value in encouraging American citizens to look at the Middle East or anywhere fucking else like we watch sporting events. "Meet the Mets or Meet the Mullahs!" It's crazy. "Know hope"? Know that that's a fucked up thing to say if you're, like, a thinking adult.
Or it should be.