Unbelievable

From the Daily What and Salon.com comes word from inside Iran that the government of Iran is showing the Lord of the Rings saga to keep people from protesting. Its felt that such a hit series of movies will somehow distract the people and keep them off the streets. How cynical can they be? I remember a time before VHS tapes when a world premier of a movie such as Star Wars WAS a major event and kept everyone at home to watch. But in a time when DVDs are easily available it seems once again that the Iranian leaders are woefully out of touch with modern technology. They misread the importance of cell phones and twitter and now the world knows what is really going on inside that country. The government can no longer close the borders and isolate their young population from the rest of the world. I hope the protesters do stay home to watch those movies. They will see how a group of determined fighters can win a righteous battle against a defined and clear evil. How can that ever be a bad thing?

"In Tehran, state television's Channel Two is putting on a "Lord of the Rings" marathon, part of a bigger push to keep us busy. Movie mad and immunized from international copyright laws, Iranians are normally treated to one or two Hollywood or European movie nights a week. Now it's two or three films a day. The message is "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Let's watch, forget about what's happened, never mind. Stop dwelling in the past. Look ahead.

Frodo: "I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish that none of this had happened."

Gandalf: "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/24/tehran_seven/print.html