Iran Tries To Pacify Protesters With Lord of The Rings Marathon 419
Iranian state television's Channel Two is playing a Lord of the Rings marathon in an attempt to keep people inside watching hobbits and not protesting in the streets. Normally, people in Tehran are treated to one or two Hollywood movies a week, but with recent events the government hopes that sitting through a nine-hour trilogy will take the fight out of most of the protesters. Perhaps this was not the best choice in films if you want your people not to believe that "even the smallest person can change the course of the future."
Drivel (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Drivel (Score:4, Interesting)
LoTR is allowed in Iran? I thought it was too secular, or blasphemous, or something.
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If this movie doesn't work they'll have to give them the newest Hollywood movie: Bruno. That should fly well over there.
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Iranian 1: "DEATH TO AMERICA!"
Iranian 2: "Hey, they make the movies on Channel 2."
Iranian 1:"Oh, wait..."
Re:Drivel (Score:5, Insightful)
Most Iranians love Americans, love Hollywood, etc. They just hate our government.
In that respect, they're a lot like most Americans...
Re:Drivel (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the Iranians hate their own government more than the US government, by a lot.
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I think most Americans hate the Iranian government more than theirs, by a lot. I know I do.
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However for these morons like the poster above; that act as though if the US had just not had any involvement everything would be unicorns and rainbows in Iran.
That's your own straw man. He implied that U.S. involvement prevented unicorns and rainbows in Iran, but not that the unicorns and rainbows would necessarily show up if the U.S. were not involved.
Re:Drivel (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Except many Iranians hold the US responsible, at least in part, for their many government problems they currently experience
Iranians blam the USA for their own government? Let's make sure we have the sequence of events in order:
1: The Carter administration urges the Shah's government to NOT crack down on the fundamentalist uprising.
2: Fundamentalists overthrow the Shah without much opposition because the USA did NOT intervene.
3: Fast forward several decades to: Fundamentalist rule, many ti
Re:Drivel (Score:5, Interesting)
Most Iranians love Americans, love Hollywood, etc. They just hate our government.
In that respect, they're a lot like most Americans...
Well, I am an Iranian and I'd say using the word "love" carries a bit of exaggeration. I think Americans are as cool and any other nationalities including Israelite. Actually, my best friends where I live are Americans, not because I love them but because we have common concerns. Also "hate" is exaggeration. I personally see Obama's administration a legitimate thing and his policies seem much wiser than Bush's. And AFAIK most educated Iranians agree with me on those things. In fact as someone else has put, I mostly hate my own governors than those of any other country.
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i agree with you except for this. our past and current interventions both in Iran and with its neighbors have directly contributed to the rise and sustainment of the current Iranian government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax [wikipedia.org]
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"In the absence of an external interfering force (e. g., army of the Soviet Union), the fate of a nation is determined by its people. Period. "
No country operates in a vaccuum. Period.
Re:The Grotesquely Ugly Truth (Score:5, Funny)
No country operates in a vaccuum. Period.
Well, except for Moonistan.
Another movie perhaps? (Score:3, Funny)
How about Star Wars then....
Re: (Score:2)
Of the many words that could be used to describe Lord of the Rings, "secular" really isn't one of them.
Re:Drivel (Score:4, Informative)
with relation to Islam, yes it is.
Also, i recall an interview with Peter Jackson in which he described reconciling his worldview with Tolkien's in the context of remaining faithful to the artistic vision of LoTR. He (in my view) misapplied a Tolkien quote dismissing allegory by claiming that LoTR couldn't have Christian or theist themes buried in it. My guess is that if Tolkien considered it (which is likely given his rigor elsewhere) he may have perceived God as a universal entity and had no reason not to include theism in his fantasy. I also find it hard to believe that Tolkien hated allegory all that much given his life long friendship with Lewis, an admitted writer of allegory. One might say that allegory was the majority of Lewis' work. Yet I've not seen any criticism of Lewis' allegory in their correspondence.
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Re:Drivel (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Read the Silmarillion (Score:5, Insightful)
Gee, a mythology where a theological figure falls from grace? That ONLY happens in Christianity!
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No-one ever said that it was translated faithfully. Or, perhaps, it was translated to be full of "faith"...
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It's not secular- it's overtly Catholic. So you KNOW things are getting bad when the Mullahs would rather people watch 9 hours of myths inspired by Catholic theology than protest in the streets.
Showing them LOTR?! (Score:2, Insightful)
Great choice, show everyone they need to stand up and fight against evil forces trying to gain power over everyone. Yes that'll really Pacify Protesters.
Perhaps tomorrow they can show everyone George Orwell's 1984.
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My general state during the movies was "Die Hobbits Die!!!" which they regrettably failed to do which ruined the movies for me.
Yeah. My wife kept yelling, "Go Orcs!" during the premieres.
Damn, I love her sometimes.
Re:Drivel (Score:4, Funny)
Hmmmm. (Score:5, Funny)
Well, speaking for myself, I wanted to kill people on the exit from 2 out 3 of those movies, so this may not achieve the intended effect.
Wonderful! (Score:5, Funny)
Lord of the rings in the original farsi! Can someone tape it for me?
Re:Wonderful! (Score:4, Funny)
Everyone knows that Tolkien was Klingon. Just like Shakespeare.
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Don't miss this oportunity, they will probably cut all the ads so you won't need to FF :)
No TV and Beer make Homer Something Something (Score:3, Funny)
Since beer is already off the list for Iranians, that leaves only one option.
No Extended Version? (Score:2)
I'd be pissed that the were only showing 9 hours instead of 14
Re:No Extended Version? (Score:5, Funny)
It's probably in pan-n-scan too.
JIHAD!
Re:No Extended Version? (Score:5, Funny)
This may not be a bad thing. (Score:3, Funny)
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I love the movies, but they can induce numbness to the posterior if watched more than one at a time.
Yep ! I did all three ( extended versions no less ) in one day once, morning session - part 1, afternoon - part 2 and part 3 in the evening. Take a break after each disc and eat between the parts, with 'head-refreshments' along the way and it's do-able, if you're a sad nerd like me. Was it worth it? Hell, yes! A long day in middle earth is an experience never to be forgotten.
This is what WTO IP Treaties buy us? (Score:2)
I suppose I could make some joke about how Soviet Russia fell because they tried to pacify the public with a Sergei Eisenstein marathon and a special once-in-a-lifetime uninterrupted screening of Dziga Vertov's Tchelovek Skinoapparatom. But what are we to do when totalitarians have access to high-quality Hollywood content!
They've probably re-dubbed the movie in Farsi to make Sauron the good guy. This has happened before; when Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was screened in Eastern Europe, it was only in a du
Freedom! (Score:5, Funny)
Where is my vo... Ooh! Legolas!
Re:Freedom! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Freedom! (Score:4, Funny)
Bore tehm to sleep? (Score:2)
Link (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Link (Score:5, Informative)
Try this one: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/24/tehran_seven/index.html [salon.com]
P.S. Is Slashdot's CSS just going to get weirder and weirder until the site can't used at all? Now the comment field is about 3cm wide.
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Lucky, I can't even see the comment field thanks to the header changing colors every time I click an article.
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P.S. Is Slashdot's CSS just going to get weirder and weirder until the site can't used at all? Now the comment field is about 3cm wide.
Slashdot's CSS is optomized for FF on Slack. You must be using WinBlows... "Get a real OS"
Re:Link (Score:5, Funny)
Calling it optimized is a bit much. Maybe it accidentally works better there, or something like that.
What will happen (Score:5, Funny)
"A day may come when the courage of men fails ... But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, men of ... Iran! Allahu Akbar!"
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"Akbar"
Wait, is it "Lord of the Rings", or "Star wars"?
Re:What will happen (Score:5, Funny)
Either way It's a Trap!
Re:What will happen (Score:4, Funny)
They're probably redubbed that bit to:
"The filthy British and American orcs have us pinned down with their green-hued protests, but we must rise up and smite them all, even if it means our deaths!"
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Doesn't matter. I still say we send as many lawyers to Iran as the MPAA needs to argue the case (the more the better). In fact, I might even be willing to pay a tax just to send them there (they can use the money they win litigating to get back).
Of course I can see one or two ways this could backfire ...
Apr 1, 2012, CNN:
"And in todays news, the MPAA deployed another brigade of Lawyers to Iran, equipped with new Arbiter Mk-V Summo
Re:What will happen (Score:5, Insightful)
It is when it runs counter to how they want things done. But when they see an opportunity to use Hollywood and Western culture to their advantage, they won't shy away from it. In the end, they are just politicians. Highly corrupt, brutal politicians, but politicians nonetheless.
Sic (Score:2)
Problem solved.
Wrong movie (Score:5, Funny)
They should have showed 300 instead.
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A fair number of Iranians have seen 300. "Not amused" would be fair description of the average reaction.
Naah... (Score:2)
American Gladiators [youtube.com]
the one (Score:2, Funny)
American meddling huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
So the tyrants of Iran are blaming this whole mess on the American media, then they're tying to placate the protesters with American media? A movie trilogy about a bunch of people banding together to overthrow an evil tyrant no less. Nobody could draw parallels between things like the dark riders and the police riding motorcycles beating people with clubs.
The sense of irony is weak with the Iranian dictatorship...
Re:American meddling huh? (Score:4, Funny)
So the tyrants of Iran are blaming this whole mess on the American media, then they're tying to placate the protesters with American media? A movie trilogy about a bunch of people banding together to overthrow an evil tyrant no less. Nobody could draw parallels between things like the dark riders and the police riding motorcycles beating people with clubs.
The sense of irony is weak with the Iranian dictatorship...
Or the Iranian leftist media just managed to *WHOOSH* the evil overlord.
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It's all in who you regard as the good guys. How about paralleling the motorcycle-riding police with the Riders of Rohan?
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So... this would be the "dictator's cut" that they're watching...
nitpicking (Score:5, Funny)
Come on; it doesn't matter which U.S. state the film was made in; the point is it's all American media.
Re:nitpicking (Score:5, Funny)
Typical American lack of geography. Everyone knows that New Zealand is a state of Australia.
At least they're not Christian (Score:2)
US is cast as Gandalf (Score:2)
Bunch of meddlesome twats, right? Yeah, Iranian people. You get the comparison, right? Because nobody likes Gandalf, the same way nobody likes America!!!
Heh. This is the most tone-deaf thing I've heard about since the operation to capture Saddam. Codename for that one? Red Dawn. What did they use as identifiers for Iraqi positions around Saddam? Wolverine 1, Wolverine 2, etc. If you're going to make allusions to movies, try not to pick one where you're comparing yourself to the Soviets.
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In Soviet Iraq, Saddam captures you?
One (Score:2)
A little trick they learned from us (Score:5, Funny)
After they saw how they lost sleeper cell after sleeper cell here in the US:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/after_5_years_in_u_s_terrorist [theonion.com]
.
.
Don't worry ... (Score:2)
Fortunately in the version edited for Iran and translated into Pharsi, the Hobbits are working to combat the idolators, and re-establish Sharia in Middle Earth.
Eagles? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Eagles? (Score:5, Funny)
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The eagles didn't do their deus ex machina until after the ring was destroyed and mordor made (relatively) safe. Presumably Sauron would have noticed a flock of giant eagles heading over..
Re:Eagles? (Score:4, Funny)
The Eagles didn't want to get involved because it didn't directly effect them at first. Once they saw that the Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Ents and Hobbits had done most of the hard work and it looked like Orcs would probably be after their eggs pretty shortly they turned up to help out. Oh sure they helped out in a non-combat way up till that point, saving Gandalf and providing equipment. However they demanded a hefty price that set back the Shire years technology wise and really helped boost their own post war economy putting them in a very favorable position while the rest of Middle Earth tried to rebuild. They really fell out of favour with the rest of Middle Earth in the years after Sauron was defeated because they just wouldn't shut up about how they defeated Sauron all by themselves.
That wasn't very subtle was it?
Re:Eagles? (Score:4, Funny)
Would those be African or European eagles?
Re:Eagles? (Score:4, Interesting)
The history is a little more complex than that: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/s/sauron.html [glyphweb.com]
Iran hopefully welcomes ... (Score:4, Funny)
their new hobbit overlord.
Oh wait! That's North Korea ... my bad!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Excuse me. If you are referring to the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, you need to realize that he is the smartest, most clever and most physically fit.
It's just that no one else seems to realize it.
This will cause trouble... (Score:5, Funny)
From what I've heard, most people voted for a Star Trek marathon, not LOTR. The Guardian Council denies anything is wrong with the vote count, despite the official count being 17 billion votes for LOTR vs -8 for Star Trek.
I wonder if this is going to cause any trouble...
Play them in reverse order (Score:4, Funny)
That way, Frodo starts out near-death from exposure to the outside world, but ends up happy at home, blissfully ignorant of what's going on outside the shire, while his ancient and powerful Supreme Leader takes care of all that messy 'freedom' stuff....
Following today's showing of LotR (Score:3, Funny)
On the other hand ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Perhaps this was not the best choice in films if you want your people not to believe that "even the smallest person can change the course of the future.
On the other hand, it does reinforce the notion that brown people are a fallen race of brutes that are incapable of even the most basic language, let alone organized self-government. If the Iranians start believing that canard, then there goes the revolution.
Then again, JRRT's solution is that a nice little white dude from England will come fix it up for you because he's so damned pure of spirit and incorruptible by evil (hah). Of course, he will bring with him some elves and dwarves (also white), a wizard with the surname "the white" and some other random white dude that claims the right to be King because his daddy was King and he has a nice looking sword (that apparently being a perfectly good reason to assert your right to absolute authority).
Somehow, I don't think the Ayatollahs want that conclusion sinking in either.
Re:On the other hand ... (Score:4, Informative)
The idea is ridiculous. Tolkien wasn't racist.
Not only that, Persians are white caucasians. Check it out. [wikipedia.org] Please be gone with your weird racial ideas.
Braveheart (Score:3, Funny)
is the only movie that would have pushed the irony meter higher.
Re:Can't have it both ways (Score:5, Insightful)
Uh yea. Blatantly rig an election, and people tend to get pissed off. It's about more than just lining up in front of the cute little box. They had substantially more votes than people in more than 10(?) districts, and the race which was predicted to be very close, turned out to be a complete landslide. Every observer called the election rigged, even some of the internal ones.
And you're wondering why they're pissed?
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"the race which was predicted to be very close, turned out to be a complete landslide"
that's not really an issue. It can happen perfectly legitimately.
Yeah, the rest of the fact clearly point to vote fraud.
I mean, when they say Yes, there were more votes then people, but no there wasn't vote fraud.
I mean WTF?
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They had substantially more votes than people in more than 10(?) districts
Even the Guardian Council now concedes that the total number of votes cast exceeded the population in at least 50 cities. According to Iranian PressTV, it was "only 50" cities. Here's a glimpse of Iranian TV footage:
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2009/06/23/nasr.iran.tv.3.million.votes.cnn.html [cnn.com]
Re:Can't have it both ways (Score:5, Funny)
Every observer called the election rigged, even some of the internal ones.
Russia has recognized the elections as fair.
In completely unrelated news, Russians have been campaigning for a return to the methods of Stalin [reuters.com]. Not a joke.
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This isn't about the election, this is about how the Iranian regime treats it's political rivals.
The election is just a red herring at this point and just a lame excuse to avoid addressing the real issue here.
Re:Can't have it both ways (Score:5, Informative)
http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-current-events/2327-green-brief-8-a.html [whyweprotest.net]
1. The event of the day was the protest held at Baharestan Square in the late afternoon. Although the exact number cannot be fully known, my sources claimed somewhere between 5,000-10,000 people tried to join the rally. Things got violent when security forces that had been waiting there for hours moved in as soon as a small crowd had managed to gather. They used force to brutalize the protesters and scatter them faster then they could regroup. Police were also patrolling the areas around Baharestan and people were attacked even as they fled Baharestan and go to the outer edges of the area. This continued for at least two hours.
2. Force was utilized without discrimination; however, media reports about a complete massacre cannot be confirmed by my more reliable sources. What I can confirm is at least 3 people were killed; the police used batons to beat people quite viciously - leaving dozens injured, not just in Baharestan but also in the areas around Baharestan. Shots were also fired and at least 2 of the fatalities were as a result of gunfire. Tear gas was also used to disperse them. We cannot confirm the use of axes on protesters. It could have been isolated incidents. But a wide-spread use cannot be confirmed. There were reports of killings at Lalehzar as well. Lalezhzar is a park in Tehran which has been completely taken over by security forces and is being used as a quasi-de fact base. Pictures are scarce and videos cannot be confirmed at this point either. The police were checking cell phones throughout the area as well as in other parts of the city and deleting images or videos or confiscating the phone altogether.
3. The area was surrounded also by vans and cars belonging to the security forces. Injured protesters and those protesters the police could hold onto were promptly thrown into these vehicles and moved to undisclosed locations. It has been suggested that Evin prison is being used to house most of the prisoners, but the sheer number of protesters easily could mean that make-shift prisons have been built around Tehran to house these people. Some sources indicated as well, but this cannot be confirmed right away. Most shops around Baharestan were closed so people had nowhere to hide. Cell phone service was also jammed so no help could arrive for those stranded and the vicious and wide-spread beatings and arrests could continue.
4. The security forces were being heavily helped by helicopters. They flew all over the city and informed security forces of places where people had gathered. Security forces arrived in minutes and dispersed crowd. However, people were extremely persistent. Gatherings and small rallies took place in several places and the quicker they were dispersed the quicker more sprang up. This continued late into the night until people dispersed on their own. The sheer tenacity of the protesters is heartening and many twitter sources indicated that no matter what happens they will go to streets and protest. Hezbollah e Ansar were also spotted from time to time. Plainclothesmen also did their part of the arrests as they drove around the city in motorcycles.
5. There were also other arrests in Iran today. At least 70 university professors and other professionals held a meeting today with Mousavi at the end of which, all of them were arrested as they exited the meeting area. Reports also confirm that Mousavi's chief lawyer, Ardsher Amir Arjman has also been arrested. There is no real confirmation of whether Mousavi has been arrested or he's free. However, there are strong indications and SOME sources that claim he is currently under house arrest. For a partial list, please click here: List
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Short Answer: Yes.
Long Answer: If you have to ask the above question then I suggest you re-read the definition of "Tyranny" http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tyranny [merriam-webster.com].
I suspect that your original question was rhetorical, but look at the bright side. At least there are reports of arrests of Mousavi and Co. rather than just disappearances (although I'm sur
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Um, if the election was rigged, then they didn't give the people what they wanted. They in fact defied the public will.
I mean, that is rather the point of these protests.
Sex sells... (Score:5, Funny)
and scantily clad women.
You've said it!
You should see some of the new burqas and chadors they are shipping to the stores. Sexy as hell.
You can almost see the eyebrows.
Re:Sex sells... (Score:5, Informative)
Oh dude, you have no idea. [ahiida.com]
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Wait, where is my barrage of scantily clad women? And are they sending them via catapult or what?
Re:Hey MPAA! (Score:4, Informative)
Iran is not a signatory to WIPO. They do not respect copyrights of works produced in other countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_and_copyright_issues
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