Quote Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa
I have heard a number of people on the right and left who study geo politics and all said Iran was ripe for revolution and the people there wanted a democracy. I wasn't so sure...but I was wrong and I hope they all work this out on their own. I wouldn't want to see a bloody civil war, but from the sounds of it, people are willing to die for their freedom here and for that, you have to respect it.
The problem is that the Iran we see in the west, the people uploading to youtube and keeping you updated on facebook and twitter are the well heeled middle class in Tehran and other major cities who DO want a democracy but not at the cost of chaos. Then there are the ones who don't get heard much outside Iran, the poor and uneducated who quite like the system as it is with its handouts and its social conservatism and who don't want to see the boat rocked too much. Both groups are large in number and obviously what makes one happy will piss off the other. I'm not convinced the 'democracy' movement will amount to much.

There are literally millions of 40-something Iranians reminding their kids that they didn't overthrow the Shah to bring in the Ayatollahs in 1979, they overthrew him without much of an idea who to bring in, the Ayatollahs took the opportunity to seize power afterwards. They don't want their kids repeating the same mistake and sacrifice everything to overthrow the current system and see it replaced by something worse. The kids are listening too, which is why they won't overthrow the Ayatollahs, merely demand reform.