Iran, Twitter, and freedom
Ross Kaminsky, a recent convert to Twitter, has a nice overview for newcomers on the medium and its role in the Iranian uprising. Excerpt:
The impact of Twitter on events in Iran has been noticed by our usually dictator-compliant State Department, which risked insulting the ayatollahs by contacting Twitter to request they postpone a scheduled system maintenance down-time. Even al-Jazeera is commenting on the importance of technology, including Twitter, in what I hope is the Second Iranian Revolution.
Despite being old men with little exposure to leading-edge technology, Iran’s ruling Guardian Council understands the essential value of communication to freedom: If they can communicate freely, no people can be long enslaved.
The Iranian government has taken substantial steps to limit their citizens’ ability to use the internet. They have blocked most access to Facebook and other sites, have limited text messaging, and have cut the nation’s “bandwidth,” meaning the speed with which one can send information through the internet, but have stopped short of simply cutting of the nation’s internet connectivity (probably because they need it themselves.) However, with “tweets” of only 140 characters or less, bandwidth is a non-issue (as opposed to, for example, transmitting videos)…
…No wonder the mullahs are afraid of Twitter if it can not only help organize protests within their country but also stir up pro-freedom reactions thousands of miles away. It isn’t surprising that a CBS reporter says that all access to Twitter was blocked in Iran as of Wednesday morning. Well, until the young, tech-savvy population there finds a way around the mullah’s electronic muzzle.
I, like many others, was somewhat skeptical of Twitter but decided to get involved with it a few weeks ago after talking with conservative blogger Michelle Malkin. I asked her for her thoughts on the Twitter revolution in Iran: “I’ve tried to persuade friends for months that Twitter is much, much more than a celebrity vanity tool. The Iranian uprising has shattered that myth once and for all. In the hands of freedom-loving dissidents, the micro-blogging social network is a revolutionary samizdat — undermining the mullah-cracy’s information blockades one Tweet at a time.”
Ross is on Twitter here. I’m here. Click here for #iranelection.
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I was also one of those people who really didn’t think Twitter was “all that”, but looking at how the Iranians are using it, I’m reassessing my view. God bless the Iranian protesters. May their passion for freedom infect those fence sitters in this country.
I joined Twitter because of you, Michelle, knowing your cutting edge updates are reliable.
Where there is technology, there will be freedom…and God gave man freedom, so it will always be a natural yen worldwide.
Forget Twitter, they’re still using stone tablets and chisels.
I have 2 twitter accounts. One I use for every day stuff and the other is my correct wing ranting and raving persona.
shameless plug mode=on
@angrywebmaster
shameless plug mode=off
All technology is a double edged sword.
“Tweets don’t kill people, people kill people.”
“You can take my Twitter when you can pry it from my cold dead fingers.”
“If you outlaw tweets, only outlaws will have tweets.”
This is the best news I’ve heard about “tweeting” I personally am tired of hearing about “Twits” it’s disrupting my ballgames and that’s a no-no.
Take my love. Take my land.
Take me where I cannot stand.
I don’t care, I’m still free.
You can’t take Twitter from me.
I changed my Twit reg to tehran and also the TZ. Chaff.
Errah without twits/tweets, CNN would only have 12 minutes of programming per day! Kinda looks like Mystery Science Theater for the uneducated most of the time to me. I think I may be tweet challenged. Is there a government program to help get me over this hurdle?
teddy, i’m with you, i’m just email literate, and have to guess at acronyms from the texting world, but where is my subsidized education program for texting, tweeting, twittering, et al.lord and master obama surely can’t be dissin us old white guys by keeping us uneducated and illiterate. seems like we passed some civil rights laws sayin that was unconstitutional.
I guess Twitter would have been real fine if they hadn’t shut it down.
I guess this is a good thing. But I just cannot make myself do something called a “tweet”! And twitter also sounds kinda juvenile/ninny-fied.
Sorry, I’ll let others do the tweeting for me.
I’m so far behind the times, I’ve never even sent a text! But I’m glad to see that Twitter has been put to excellent use.
TOTUS seems so yesterday…
http://townhall.com/cartoons/2009/06/18/2
I like the pictures…
Sometimes a message gets amplified when compressed to 140 characters. Iranian demonstrators seem courageous. Republican politicians seem petty, stupid, out of it — like the one today who compared Democratic tactics in Congress to brutality against Iranian demonstrators.
Check out this interview with an important spokesman for Mousavi:
…and lgm, the Biden of liberals.
Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Ahmedenijad are the same in principle.
With Ahmedenijad Barrack Hussein “The Messiah,” “The One” Obama will clearly be kissing up to a nut case, whereas with Mir-Hossein Mousavi Obama will be kissing up to a nut case disguised as a “moderate” which he isn’t.
Who started the terrorist, violent, thuggish group Hizbollah?
Who was buddies with the Ayatollah back in the day of the US Embassy hostage taking?
Neither Mir-Hossein Mousavi or Ahmedenijad are to be trusted. We don’t need them as friends and we don’t need to condone, advocate, encourage, or support either of them.
I cannot become concerned about this Hollywood scripted style “Uprising” in Iran which is a scenario without a difference.
They are both objectionable “leaders” and neither of them should be supported by the US.
The people can fight it out all they want, until they, and their leadership change from being what they are, hate filled, anti-Jew, anti-Israel, and anti-US, and up for building a nuclear arsenal, change which might take a few generations, the whole scene is just nonsense and does not deserve our attention.
We SHOULD be working on strengthening our military and our security and sealing our borders, as well as strictly enforcing our immigration laws so we can handle violent nations or dangerous nations like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Venezuela, North Korea, etc. Obama, Congress, and the Justice Department are doing the opposite, hence weakening us and putting us in great danger.
We should be forging a strong alliance with Australia, New Zealand, Columbia, Japan, and India, among the few allies who still have some backbone and will stand for something, with India being the largest democracy in the world, while also have a large standing army and nuclear weapons, India having to deal with Islamic violence quite a bit as well, always on the defensive against Pakistan.
India also has, along with China, the most successful and growing economy in the world. They are also in close proximity with Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China.
It wouldn’t hurt to forge a strong relationship with them for both our sakes.
In summation, the turmoil in Iran does not benefit the US one way or the other, for both candidates are basically the same in principle, and the residents-voters of Iran must change in a positive way which ensures our safety, security, and prosperity, let alone that of Israel, the people that Iran’s leaders want to annihilate.