From: user7160@newsgrouper.org.invalid   
      
   On 1/30/26 11:54 AM, Dude wrote:   
   > On 1/30/2026 10:12 AM, dart200 wrote:   
   >> i mean lefties are railing about inequity within the richest nation   
   >> state of the world while the worst inequities are categorically formed   
   >> across nation state borders   
   >>   
   > "The Western liberal media is ignoring the Iranian uprising because   
   > explaining it would force an admission it is desperate to avoid: the   
   > Iranian people are rebelling against Islam itself, and that fact   
   > shatters the moral framework through which these institutions understand   
   > the world.`   
   >   
   > That is what terrifies Western liberal media. And that is why the   
   > Iranian people are being ignored. So the silence continues."   
   > - Tahmineh, Quora   
   >  >   
   >> On 1/30/26 5:33 AM, Julian wrote:   
   >>> They say you should never meet your heroes, a rule that is not always   
   >>> correct. But I did have a salutary session some years ago when a   
   >>> friend in New York asked me if I wanted to meet a comedian I really   
   >>> do admire.   
   >>>   
   >>> I had been looking forward to the meeting, but unfortunately it took   
   >>> place during the summer of 2020. If you remember those far-distant   
   >>> days, this was a time when America was obsessing over the story of   
   >>> alleged disproportionate police violence against black Americans. One   
   >>> of the cases was that of a woman named Breonna Taylor. Although the   
   >>> case for the police’s actions and the victim’s innocence revolved   
   >>> around a number of issues, the main one was whether officers should   
   >>> have shot when they did. As ever, this involved highly specific   
   >>> ballistics issues and a considerable amount of hindsight. For two   
   >>> hours I sat with my comedy hero discussing post-mortem reports and   
   >>> bullet trajectories.   
   >>>   
   >>> Certainly I have had funnier meetings. I went away dismayed for a   
   >>> number of reasons. One was the fact that this seemed such a bizarre   
   >>> way to litigate a case. Yes it was important, but is it healthy for   
   >>> everyone to obsess over it in such minute detail?   
   >>>   
   >>> The thought recurred to me this week with the shooting of a second   
   >>> protestor by ICE officials in Minnesota. These officials are   
   >>> currently going after a good many people who broke into America   
   >>> illegally and have then continued to commit other crimes while in the   
   >>> country. The point of why the American taxpayer should continue to   
   >>> fund and allow this is a sore one for many. Other Americans – mainly   
   >>> on the left – believe that ICE either should not perform these raids,   
   >>> or should conduct them with a greater degree of decorum. As a result,   
   >>> prominent Democrat politicians and others have been encouraging   
   >>> protestors to stand in ICE’s way, something which already led to the   
   >>> death of Renée Nicole Good three weeks ago.   
   >>>   
   >>> The nature of this second shooting – of an anti-ICE protestor called   
   >>> Alex Pretti – has now returned America to the ballistics obsession.   
   >>> Online rumours claimed that the ICU nurse had fired at officers with   
   >>> a gun he was carrying. Then it was suggested that his firearm may   
   >>> have accidentally discharged.   
   >>>   
   >>> The story has led the bulletins around the world. And it made me   
   >>> wonder again about this state of things. Yes, it is important to   
   >>> Americans who their federal officials take shots at, and why. But why   
   >>> are these cases getting so much more attention in the news cycle   
   >>> than, say, the reported shootings of tens of thousands of brave   
   >>> protestors on the streets of Iran?   
   >>>   
   >>> The answer is, in part, a very simple one: visuals. As with the   
   >>> handful of black people killed by US police during the 2010s, these   
   >>> recent ICE killings benefit from taking place in a society where   
   >>> almost everyone owns a phone camera. Think of the number of angles   
   >>> the world was able to see of the death of George Floyd. Members of   
   >>> the public had cameras; police turned out to have bodycam footage.   
   >>>   
   >>> It is the same with those killed while trying to monitor or stop ICE   
   >>> going about their duties. Within minutes of the event, the news has   
   >>> gone around the internet. People are able to analyse the footage for   
   >>> themselves and reach their own conclusions. Then a second angle video   
   >>> comes out, sometimes a third and so on. Law enforcement officers’   
   >>> footage will emerge, too. Within 24 hours everybody can be an expert,   
   >>> not just on the shooting, but on how differently they might have   
   >>> reacted were they the federal agent in such a situation coming across   
   >>> a handgun.   
   >>>   
   >>> Which returns me to the subject of Iran.    Why hasn’t there been a   
   >>> greater global outcry about the untold number of protestors being   
   >>> gunned down on its streets by regime thugs intent on suppressing the   
   >>> anti- regime movement? Why, even weeks after Donald Trump gave   
   >>> warning that the world would not stand by and watch Iranians being   
   >>> massacred, has nothing been done to support the protests?   
   >>>   
   >>> I am afraid the explanation is that we haven’t watched the violence   
   >>> unfold in real time, because of a difference between free and unfree   
   >>> societies. Censorship works. If you search online, you can find   
   >>> footage of the aftermath of the Iran massacres. There are even some   
   >>> tapes that appear to show the Basij militia and other regime forces   
   >>> taking aim at the crowds. But the mullahs were clever at the outset   
   >>> of these uprisings. They turned off the internet and other   
   >>> communications channels, and as a result the world has had to rely on   
   >>> small bits of footage smuggled out by dissidents.   
   >>>   
   >>> All this is happening in a visual culture where if something hasn’t   
   >>> appeared online then it effectively has not happened. What are mere   
   >>> reports of tens of thousands of Iranians being killed if we lack the   
   >>> visuals?   
   >>>   
   >>> Of course, one reason for the lack of balance is that the violence is   
   >>> happening in one country – America – and the other in a theocratic   
   >>> dictatorship. But it is also the fact that when the mullahs flick the   
   >>> switch and carry out massacres in effective darkness their trick   
   >>> works. The US President and others warned the Iranians not to execute   
   >>> protestors in public. There was talk of the suspension of some public   
   >>> hangings. But there has been no reported let-up in the public   
   >>> shootings of thousands. The only thing we have lacked is the crucial   
   >>> footage of every interaction that might have caused the world to feel   
   >>> forced to know – and act.   
   >>>   
   >>> More footage is coming out. The window seems to be closing when   
      
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