August 19, 2012 by Robert Kope, Anonymous
After reading a history of the Iranian Revolution, I was astounded by the similarities of the religious fanatics who ended up in power there, and the religious "right" who have recently become the soul of the Republican Party in the United States. Although their religions have long ago branched in different directions, according to which prophet-sent-by-the-only-true-God that they (and I) follow, the need for more and more power by the Imams in Iran closely resembles the bullying by the Catholic Church and fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. The Ayatollah Khomeini claimed to want no political power whatsoever. He promised to set up a government and schedule democratic elections upon his return from exile. Yet, within a few years, Iran was under Muslim Law, minorities and women were being treated as second class citizens, and the Shah's secret police, the SAVAK, had been replaced by Khomaini's much more oppressive SAVAMA.
Men and women were not allowed to mingle. Public places, from theaters to sidewalks, were segregated according to sex. Women were forced to wear the robes, head dress, and veils of sharia law. Not a hair, hint of make up or false eye lash could be observed without a woman being ridiculed and/or charged as a criminal. Women were also forced to cross the road, to the other sidewalk, if a man was approaching, lest he "be tempted" by her. There were signs on all buses, ordering women to sit at the back of the bus! The names of streets, parks, buildings and cities were changed. Students were incarcerated for what they wrote in school papers and people were imprisoned for books they owned, or for things they said in front of the wrong "brother" or "sister." Someone was always spying on You, ready to report You as an "enemy of the revolution." These extreme measures were not implemented until the religious fanatics had slowly and semi-discretely solidified their grip on all important positions of power, while executing or imprisoning anyone - businessmen, writers, magazine publishers, poets, artist, teachers, relatives of the Shah, ex-politicians, etc. - that they deemed a threat. Most of this was done beyond the view of the outside world, because a few students had held American citizens hostage, and Americans were manipulated to hate and ignore Iran and its people as a whole. But most Iranians just wanted freedom from the Shah and his SAVAK. Most reveled in the freedoms they enjoyed between the Shah's departure and the implementation of Muslim Law. Most saw the Ayatollah as an angel of freedom, and not the oppressive dictator that he had promised not to become. They joined in anti-American "protests" just to miss school. Most of them were just like most of us and they basked in their few years of temporary emancipation, never expecting their newly found freedoms to be snatched away by a few power-hungry, religious zealots.
You may not see the similarities in what the Muslim Imams did in and to Iran and what the religious right has tried to do in America, but they are many. The Republican Tea Party wing's view of rape closely mirrors that of what a Muslim fanatic believes. A woman who tries to have an abortion under Muslim law can be "legally" murdered by her husband! Recently, a woman in Ireland - under Catholic Law - was refused an abortion and was forced to suffer for over a week and die a miserable, painful death, even though doctors told her and her husband that the fetus (not "baby") had no chance of surviving. The fetus still had the "beating heart" that you see on the bumper stickers of Catholics and religious fanatics in America today. If my neighbors are already calling others murderers, just for believing differently than they do, is this not a stone's throw from telling others what they should or should not be allowed to read, write and say? If you are not frightened by the Patriot Act, the attack on Roe vs Wade, the minimization of rape and other attacks on women and minorities, the incorporation of our Supreme Court, the buying of elections, election laws being changed to suppress the vote, the outsourcing of good jobs, and the proclamations that accuse Americans who have lost their jobs, veterans who have lost their limbs, and the elderly who have helped build this great country of being "self-proclaimed victims," then you just aren't paying enough attention to where the extreme right has been heading in the past twenty years.
I suffer to imagine what these people would do, given a mandate at the federal, state or even local government level. Breaking up unions, banishing books and brainwashing our children would only be the beginning! Eventually, everyone would have to dress like them, talk like them, walk like them, and bow down to the same mantra that they do, or risk incarceration or even execution. You see, this is how the mind of the extremist has always worked, whether they be Nazi, Muslim, Communist or "Christian," and it always will work that way. People are inherently afraid from birth of anyone different, but those who hate themselves and are terrified of being exposed for what they truly are, become hateful of those outside their comfy circle of like-mindedness. Those who's greatest fear is that someone else's beliefs might someday prove wrong their own, will do anything to force others to change (or just pretend to change. They don't care, as long as we don't appear threatening). They will make laws to prevent You from being You instead of them. They will attack freedom and call it "morality" or attack morals in the name of "freedom." They will conduct witch hunts and tribunals and assemblies (Oh, MY!). They will organize youth hate groups. They will tap our phones and spy on our FaceBooks and children. They will turn states, towns and families against themselves. They will call you a "brother" or "sister" if You agree and a devil if You don't, and this has already begun. Eventually, You will have to wear a veil over what You really are, and sit in the back of their buses, quoting only their "heroes" and applauding their great "accomplishments."
They are the "True Believers" of the world, and they are marching on the doorsteps of our democracy. Fortunately - for now - they are marching in place.
