Iran back in the day

[Pennywise]

Was as shitty as today. This "Iran was a paradise before the revolt!" thing is just a huge ass overrrated balloon.

[Bosnjakinja]

Cherry picked photos of the cosmopolitan elite. The only way women in Iran have it worse today is they're forced to cover their head whereas back then, they weren't (although most still did for cultural/religious reasons). Iranian women nowadays are much more involved in the government and are much more educated.

Iranians are in general an educated people though, so they have a fairly large "elite" (middle to upper class). Iran before the revolution can be compared to some Latin American countries where the European-descended minority "rule" the native populations - that is, the country is largely "backwards" (in lack of a better word) with pockets of prosperity created by and for the minority middle and upper class.

And being able to dress the way you want and go wherever you want is two basic freedoms that are needed for personal fulfillment for most people. It wouldn't matter if I was the highest paid lawyer in my country, if I needed to cover my body whenever I left the house or need a permission slip from my husband to go on a vacation out of the country, I would feel depressed.

[Gold-Shekel]

Was as shitty as today. This "Iran was a paradise before the revolt!" thing is just a huge ass overrrated balloon.

It was better, but only for the elite, the people who smash Iran are usually people who were in high society.

[Dandelion]

Was as shitty as today. This "Iran was a paradise before the revolt!" thing is just a huge ass overrrated balloon.

True. These are rich bourgeois people. However, I still think if secularism spread successfully to the lower classes Iran would be far better today if not alone foreign relations-wise. Iran is a strict theocracy many people underestimate until they visit it (no I haven't visited but I've seen enough to make an educated judgement on it).

I also wonder whether islamists would've taken over if the democratically elected Mosaddegh wasn't disposed of earlier (by the CIA and SIS). Something tells me they still might've for back in the 1950s people had more admiration for the West in muslim-majority countries than back in the late 1970s or today for that matter.

[Pennywise]

It was better, but only for the elite, the people who smash Iran are usually people who were in high society.

Elites always have more privileges than to others. If you have money or title, everywhere is good to you. So let's put them out of the equation.

[Gold-Shekel]

Elites always have more privileges than to others. If you have money or title, everywhere is good to you. So let's put them out of the equation.

If we put them out of the equation, I think present day Iran is better for the majority of the population than former Iran.

[Pennywise]

True. These are rich bourgeois people. However, I still think if secularism spread successfully to the lower classes Iran would be far better today if not alone foreign relations-wise. Iran is a strict theocracy many people underestimate until they visit it (no I haven't visited but I've seen enough to make an educated judgement on it).

I also wonder whether islamists would've taken over if the democratically elected Mosaddegh wasn't disposed of earlier (by the CIA and SIS). Something tells me they still might've for back in the 1950s people had more admiration for the West in muslim-majority countries than back in the late 1970s or today for that matter.

Yeah, I have heard people who have visited it. This "Iran is oasis of Muslim world" guys should definetly pay a visit there. Iran never been truely secular/westernized nation in its history, common folk always remained conservative. And the revolt's itself is prove of it. Same goes for Turkey to a degree but we have managed to establish a way more solid secular state so far.

[Bosnjakinja]

If we put them out of the equation, I think present day Iran is better for the majority of the population than former Iran.

Maybe if you're a man.

I'll never understand these men saying things like "oh it's just a cloth on your head, get over it". It's not, it symbolizes how women don't have control of their own body and don't have the right to chose what to do with their body.

I'd like to see men being forced to cover themselves for two months (no matter what weather and other conditions), not being able to go to specific locations (football games etc), needing someone else's permission to leave the country. And then come and talk about how those things "don't really matter".

[Herr Abubu]

Maybe if you're a man.

I'll never understand these men saying things like "oh it's just a cloth on your head, get over it". It's not, it symbolizes how women don't have control of their own body and don't have the right to chose what to do with their body.

I'd like to see men being forced to cover themselves for two months (no matter what weather and other conditions), not being able to go to specific locations (football games etc), needing someone else's permission to leave the country. And then come and talk about how those things "don't really matter".

Note how most of this is really damn trivial stuff.

[Herr Abubu]

The Ayatollahs are the best thing that could have happened to Iran. Much better than being raped economically, politically and culturally by the West. Death to the Great Satan.