I'm going to have to call the challenge flag on that one. Although only 13, I did pay very much attention to that election, as well as the one in 2004, where again I wasn't able to vote. My classmates and I DID do stuff, even though we weren't able to vote, like helping those who were register. When the election results came in, we DID protest on things other than the internet.

Another thing I would like to point out, and I may be opening a can of worms here, is all of those who are complaining about the most recent election. When we (democrats) put the "January 20, 2009, Bush's last day" stickers on our cars we were called out for being unpatriotic. Now, I see peoples stickers with "January 2013, end of an Error" stickers. Am I suppose to be calling them unpatriotic?

The things that are happening in Iran right now are terrible. Anyone that disagrees with me, well I'm sorry that you are that ignorant.


*ends wicked long rant*

Erm, yeah - good work? Anecdotes aren't my preferred method of "calling the challenge flag" (as it were) - but the point isn't that you specifically were incapable of doing such, just that the youngest generation is much more likely to use "new media" to reach out, whereas before you'd need a sit-in or whatever.

Has literally anyone on Earth who is not Basij said "the things happening in Iran right now are pretty much OK" or anything resembling disagreement with you? I mean, I'm all for a good idiot-wranglin' but you're really screaming into the wind here, aren't you?

You and your classmates were the minority. So, my generalization stands. :)

Arguably, the mode of social action has to change with the times.

My issue with it is that social action can sometimes become more of a fad than anything. The deceased student Nadea's image is circulating the internet as the image of young Iranian protest. There's even one of those drawn image thingies that folks created for Obama during the election (ya know, the annoying trendy fad Obama stuff that caught on).

I have no issue with it as long as it conveys a MESSAGE rather than relying on trendy imagery for young people who don't know what the hell is going on.

Ohh rude people never seem to amaze me, even on the internet.

I'm sorry but isn't this what every generation has said about the newest? The generation of my grandparents call my mothers generation the hippies who don't do action. My mothers generation is calling us lazy who only care about fashion and celebritys.

Please -- not that I heard anyone say those bumperstickers were "unpatriotic," but lots of "us" (Democrats) did not put those on our cars.

Who's being rude?

On a scale of one to ten, what would be the normal range for the intensity of one's ( likely emotional) reaction to the comparison of the 2000 US election and the situation today in Iran?

I'm wondering if my this-is-too-absurd-to-do-more-than-snort is normal.

Sorry I had to specify when I said us. I did not put one on my car, but a lot of my friends did, and got called unpatriotic for not supporting their president, the war, etc.

Ksig is being rude.

Quite normal, I think. As a yellow-dog (okay, a green dog) Democrat, it never occurred to me to compare the two events until someone mentioned it here.

Of course, while I might be a Democrat, I always thought the "Bush stole the election" claim was . . . irrational? . . . at best.

Huh? How?

Well, there's a certain amount of that for me although I can understand being frustrated with the whole Florida mess, particularly if you were a Gore fan. It wasn't an especially desirable way to resolve a US election, and it was going to seem sketchy no matter how the vote was resolved, sort of like the Coleman-Franken recount seemed to GOPers last fall.

But more than anything in regard to Senusret's OP, it's the failure to appreciate the differences in the whole process in both countries that kind of makes me dismissive of anyone who could seriously make that kind of claim.

Maybe I was reading too much into Ksigs post. I dunno, I was at work and reading fast. I also was not one of those democrats who was the with the whole "bush stole the election either". I get you.

Exactly. Frustration with the disaster that was Florida in 2000 (or the mess that Minnesota is now) is one thing. Conspiracy theories of stolen elections is another altogether. And as you say, we're talking about two very different processes/systems.

No.

I agree.

That's why I think a loose comparison can be made, at best, in that some Americans are interested in international affairs more than domestic affairs.