The State Control of Morality in Iran
Added 2024-12-03 15:51:27 +0000 UTCHey everyone! If you didn't catch it I uploaded my video on Iran yesterday. Thank you for your patience if you’re still here.
This video ended being about twice as long as I originally intended, and about 4 times as much work. That ended up being especially problematic because I lived in no fewer than 4 places across the production of this video, 3 of which I had to record audio in to keep the production moving along, which became its own ongoing complication and technical puzzle to solve.
But anyway, getting to the subject:I knew I wanted to cover Iran, and thought their morality police were the best lens through which to do it. But I initially thought I’d cover their contemporary police unit - their philosophy, their methodology, and the major questions there. The problem was that it could quickly become outdated and irrelevant. And it really just honestly wasn't that compelling to me. I ended up being more drawn to moral policing writ large in Iran, and covering it by explaining it from a foundational perspective - covering both Islam and Iranian history.
As you can probably guess it meant an incredible amount of work, but hopefully the product ended up being worth it, and hopefully it will get more people understanding and interested in Iran on the whole.
Anyway, thank you as always for your support. It made my life over the last few (trying) months possible. I'm hoping to knock out a few quicker videos over the coming months so you'll at least see my face more often. Fingers crossed.
- Ryan
Comments
I am Iranian and I wanted to say I appreciate the depth and effort you put into this video. Iran is complex and polarising. I can understand how difficult it would be to present the events of the revolution in a fair and objective manner. One could talk for hours about the elements that lead to the revolution, but you do a good job on focusing on the main ones. I also appreciate your objective analysis of Islam's role in the country. Iran is a nation unlike any of its neighbours. It must be viewed with nuance. I think this video is a great introduction for foreigners who want to understand why Iran is the way it is today.
Jasmine Al
2025-02-27 11:23:46 +0000 UTCFeels a bit nuanced. But i will dive into it myself and learn about him.
Mathieu St-Louis
2024-12-17 16:43:06 +0000 UTCBREAKING NEWS - what is happening in Syria could be a portent of things to come in other parts of the region... It also makes the timing of Ryan's video rather serendipitous.
Livio Accattatis
2024-12-08 12:59:35 +0000 UTCYou gotta make a companion video about Mohammad Baqer Majlesi. From my understanding, that guy basically singlehandedly separated Sufism from Shi'ism. Sufis are the chillest Muslims ever, so it's weird to imagine them getting along with Shi'ites, and then it's like a soap opera reading about the ideological rift he forced between those branches of Islam.
Vibhav Ohri
2024-12-06 04:22:03 +0000 UTCGreat video. You talk about how Khomeni sounded more moderate prior to his return from exile. Was that message for Iranians? Or for those of us in the West? I mention this as I've recently seen videos on YT of people walking through cities, shopping malls etc in Iran trying to show Iran is just a normal (liberal? moderate?) country. They normally have titles like 'what the media won't show you about Iran'. I guess this theme continues today.
Brett Sinclair
2024-12-04 12:08:34 +0000 UTCIt is interesting to reflect that, from the history of Iran, at a certain point the autocratic secular regime of the Shahs collapsed when its repressive apparatus - including the army - refused to brutalise the population in the name of the regime. There seem to be a few parallels in history - e.g. during the attempted Soviet coup in 1991 against Gorbachev - but not many. Most of the times, and sadly, autocratic regimes are successful in repressing the local population. It may be interesting to analyse what conditions tend to lead to such divergent and transformative outcomes, as opposed to the more likely ones of autocratic regimes successfully crushing or nipping insurgencies in the bud.
Livio Accattatis
2024-12-04 05:06:32 +0000 UTCThank you Ryan for a very informative and at times deeply moving video about a topic we don't hear much about, except in 'axis of evil' rhetoric. Aside the powerful insights about Iranian history and society, it also offers opportunities to reflect on how autocracies can form and bolt on a deeply divided and unstable polity.
Livio Accattatis
2024-12-04 04:59:04 +0000 UTCThank you Ryan! I'm looking forward to watching. Thank you for the work you do. I love your videos.
Andrea Canada
2024-12-04 00:44:57 +0000 UTCThank you Ryan. Your exposition of Iran's Morality Police was wonderfully informative and important. Like many people my knowledge of Iran and Iranian/Persian history was patchy. You have joined everything together and I can see how Iran arrived at the Morality Police. It was also very useful to learn that in Islam, law and religion are the same. This concept, when combined with political power as it must be, is deeply problematic. Muslims are keen on exporting their beliefs so its useful to know what they are. Finally, the use that the Ayatollah made of Marxist ideas of equality and redistribution of wealth illustrated how the unlikely alliance of leftists and ultra conservatives operates. This happening in the UK. A warning here. I knew several Iranian exiles and one in particular had to console those about to be executed by the Ayatollah 's regime. Many were Socialists who had helped him get into power.
James Charnley
2024-12-03 23:08:28 +0000 UTCThe arrest and death of Jina Mahsa Amini parallels the June 20, 2009 death of Neda Agha-Soltan. For a few days in June of 2009 a popular movement was sweeping through Tehran called the Green Wave. People were roaming the streets, singing and enjoying what appeared to be the oppressive yoke of government control lifting in real time. But then the shooting started. Cellphone video of Neda dying in the street was seen all over the world. But while the world was reacting to that singular image, the uprising was being brutally crushed with thousands of Iranians dead or arrested. It was horrifying to watch, as it was happening on CNN for all the world to see.
Rusty Littell
2024-12-03 17:26:46 +0000 UTCWatched the video last night and really enjoyed it. I also find Iran extremely interesting; the contrast of their extremely progressive nature being repressed by theology is such an interesting philosophical topic. It always makes me think about cultural differences and the application of liberalism. Thank you for another great video! Hope all is well with your move to France!
John Remington Munger
2024-12-03 16:12:50 +0000 UTC
