Posted on 02/23/2009 6:24:46 AM PST by BGHater
Political Islam returned to the world stage with Ruhollah Khomeini's 1979 revolution in Iran, which became the most aggressive patron of Muslim radicals outside its borders, including Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Until very recently, an oil-price windfall gave the Iranian state ample resources to pursue its agenda at home and abroad. How, then, should we explain an eruption of social pathologies in Iran such as drug addiction and prostitution, on a scale much worse than anything observed in the West? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it appears that Islamic theocracy promotes rather than represses social decay.
Iran is dying. The collapse of Iran's birth rate during the past 20 years is the fastest recorded in any country, ever. Demographers have sought in vain to explain Iran's population implosion through family planning policies, or through social factors such as the rise of female literacy.
But quantifiable factors do not explain the sudden collapse of fertility. It seems that a spiritual decay has overcome Iran, despite best efforts of a totalitarian theocracy. Popular morale has deteriorated much faster than in the "decadent" West against which the Khomeini revolution was directed.
(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...
Bold article. Wonder why it wasn’t done by one of our reporters? Never mind.
Very interesting article. I think one thing that he doesn’t mention, even after noting that the only similar phenomenon occurred in the USSR, is that Iran functions exactly like a Communist country, although one that has not opted for atheism and instead features their demonic “Allah” (speaking through his not-poor-at-all representatives, the mullahs). Otherwise, with state ownership, state control of every aspect of people’s lives, etc., you have essentially the same thing as a Communist state. The only thing that has enabled it to survive this long is oil.
Iran is a theocracy, and in theory, all Islamic countries should be theocracies because secular power and religious power are one and the same in Islam, something that has never been true in orthodox Christianity. Calvin tried it (although he wasn’t exactly orthodox) and it didn’t work simply because it’s incompatible with Christianity.
But most Islamic countries, except for certain regions that are under groups like the Taleban, interpret this loosely enough to permit them or their monarchs to survive. They are still oppressive societies, but the state/mosque doesn’t control every aspect of one’s economic life. I think it’s disturbing that Obama is approving of groups who would impose this kind of control - the new government of Somalia, the takeover by the Taleban of the beautiful Swat valley, etc. It probably indicates a lot about him. Either he’s stupid - or he’s evil and on their side.
Economic optimism has a lot to do with birthrates. The US has always had a higher birthrate than European countries in modern times because we are optimistic about the future and feel we have some control over our conditions. I suspect that’s about to change.
He’s not stupid. That leaves your second option.
I think it’s possible that he’s stupid AND evil. I’m still waiting for some kind of evidence, other than being elected, that he’s a person of any particular intelligence.
Haven’t Arabs and then Islam been immersed in a cannabis fog for thousands of years?
Very interesting article by Spengler. Thanks for posting. Demographic jihad of the womb being aborted by Iranian women? Who'da thunkit?
I agree. Plus, I never figured out what this “great orator” stuff was all about. He has a halting and somewhat confused delivery and a nasal, hectoring tone of voice, harldly the stuff of Pericles. Or even MLK, who did have a smooth and dynamic oratorical style.
I guess maybe you have to be a devotee to understand it...
He's the perfect puppet/co-conspirator to carry out a larger socialist agenda.
I agree that the second option is the likely one. I don’t think he’s intelligent, in a general sense, but he’s crafty and extremely ambitious. For his purposes, that’s almost as good as brains. It’s gotten him pretty far in this life.
Scary for their citizens and yet to be born. Perhaps their women see that they're caught between the mullahs and a mad-man.
I admit I can’t listen to him speaking! It’s not the delivery, which is simply ordinary, but the content. I expect those who consider him a great orator are seeing it the opposite way - they love the content, so they impute greatness to the delivery.
As their females became educated they choose NOT to breed with their Iranian men.
Makes sense to me.
Ruhollah Khomeini changed his name from Arshollah Khomeini.
FMCDH(BITS)
Do you have a Spengler ping list?
“temporary marriage” bump
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