Well, there certainly was a lot of news over the weekend and today to keep one glued to the computer monitor. I mean, there are pictures and videos that are absolutely riviting. So, what about it? What do you think? IS Megan Fox’s thumb all wonky? Does that make her less than a perfect 10?
Meanwhile, in boring real news, a revolution is Twittered in Tehran because that’s the way the government of Iran left them after blocking websites, newspapers, radio broadcasts, etc.
It appears to be the police and militia against the hundreds of thousands who have filled the streets since Friday’s election “results” were announced that Ahmadinejad had received 2/3 of the votes within hours of the polls closing. That’s some mighty fast counting of 40 million paper ballots. I don’t know how many nights I’ve waited up until the wee hours for folks to count paper ballots in Oklahoma. Maybe we should send some observers to see how they can do it so fast.
I’ll just say it plainly. The mainstream and especially television network journalism/press did a horrible job on the events in Iran over the weekend. If it weren’t for Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic Magazine online gathering news from Farsi speakers, Americans — even the small elite that really TRIED to keep up with events — would be much less informed. On CNN, for example, there were 23 hours of self contratulatory anniversary blabbing and one segment by one non-journalist/academic about Iran. Pathetic. Most of the New York Times seemed paralyzed or in bed for their weekend pot and porn except for the blog The Lede, which did good work keeping the world informed.
Monday, there was live ammunition and at least one protester killed and others wounded as, again, hundreds of thousands flooded the main streets. At night, they are yelling from the rooftops that “God is Great”, but what they mean is “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.”
I wish we had taken to the streets in 2000, but that’s wistful fantasy.
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