The Government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. - Mark Twain

Natural Born Kissers

by Hal_10000

The latest from Iran? Cracking down on PDAs:

Iran’s police are to keep up their moral crackdown through the winter months, confronting couples whose behaviour in public is deemed to be inappropriate, officials said on Sunday. Iran in April launched what has proved to be its most severe moral crackdown in years, handing out warnings to thousands of people for dress deemed to be unIslamic and other outlawed behaviour.

In a sign of the seriousness of the drive, police are to continue the crackdown in winter, the Fars news agency reported, whereas in the past it has been restricted to the summer months when dress is skimpier.

Ahmad Roozbehani, the head of the moral security police [Hal - Moral security police?!], was quoted as saying by the agency that his forces would be targeting “inappropriate” behaviour by couples in public, be they married or not.

“If someone is walking down the street with their legitimate partner, police will not ask for identification from them but if an obvious offence occurs or a report is received we will confront this.

“This also applies to the behaviour even of married couples. They should not have inappropriate behaviour and draw attention to themselves.”

He did not give further details on the kind of behaviour proscribed but any kind of intimate cuddling between couples in public, let alone kissing, is a social taboo in Iran.

Holding hands has become acceptable in the Islamic republic, so long as the partners are married. Theoretically, unmarried boys and girls should not hang out in public, although this is often flouted.

Roozbehani also said the police would continue to focus on clothing such as the long coats or mantos that women wear to cover their bodily contours in line with Islamic dress rules.

“Using split mantos with open collars and inappropriate make-up are considered examples of that would be confronted,” he said.

There are people who would love to implement this sort of thing here. Couldn’t you just see James Dobson as the head of the Moral Security Police? The idea is not that far-fetched. I went to a high school in the Bible Belt where boys and girls were required to stay a certain distance from each other and a handful of repressed teachers went around the halls enforcing it. Then I went to a college where the Dean of Students, apparently sexually frustrated by the sight of so much 18-22 year-old flesh, tried to enforce an obscure regulation that men and women could only be in a room together if (a) the door was open and (b) they each had one foot on the ground. You can imagine what the Resident Assistants thought of this. And the kind of defiant displays this inevitably led to on a hyper-liberal, activist small liberal arts college is best left undescribed.

The police chief said that ski resorts in Iran—which are often the scene of liberal behaviour and loose dress reviled by conservatives—would also be targeted.

Ski resorts? What the hell are you going to do at a ski resort in Iran? There’s no alcohol. No hot-tubs. No ski bunnies. No rich drunk girls in the bar looking to hook up with guys. Are you just supposed to ... ski? And how do you ski in a robe? The only good thing I can imagine about an Islamic ski resort is that maybe they stone snowboarders to death.

Some moderates have questioned the need for the moral crackdown but conservatives have applauded police for a drive they say is popular with the public and necessary to improve security in society.

Ah, that word “popular” again. Funny how it always pops up in political rhetoric.

Comments

Posted by on 10/22/07 at 02:29 PM from

I’m still trying to grasp the concept of snow in Iran....

Posted by on 10/22/07 at 03:18 PM from

The only good thing I can imagine about an Islamic ski resort is that maybe they stone snowboarders to death.

I remember 20 years ago in Colorado just how much of an asswipe the average snowboarder was.  Ignoring the attitude for a moment, the sheer number of collisions and near-collisions involving out of control snowboarders running into skiers was enough for a lot of the resorts to either ban them or move them another spot on the mountain.

Posted by Brian at Tomfoolery on 10/22/07 at 03:38 PM from

Snow in Iran?  Who knew?

By the way, this is nothing new in Iran.  They have famously cracked down on other things, especially Valentine’s Day.

Silly though how you try to equate the attitude of certain private Americans with the government of Iran.  Those rules you note above, they are in place, for example, at BYU.  The way to avoid such rules is to NOT GO TO BYU.  Or, don’t listen to James Dobson.  Mr. Dobson might complain, but he doesn’t have the police power to have offenders beaten in the street or to have stores’ inventory trashed and/or taken.

Comparing Iran to Dobson or the Bible Belt is like saying fucking Rosie O’Donnell and fucking Jessica Alba are essentially the same thing.

Posted by on 10/22/07 at 03:58 PM from

Comparing Iran to Dobson or the Bible Belt is like saying fucking Rosie O’Donnell and fucking Jessica Alba are essentially the same thing.

In theory they are, but the quality of the experience should be a little different....

Posted by HARLEY on 10/22/07 at 03:58 PM from

Posted by Seattle Outcast on 10/22/07 at 03:29 PM from United States

I’m still trying to grasp the concept of snow in Iran....

they have good snowfalls in Tehran.....

Posted by on 10/22/07 at 04:50 PM from

Ski resorts? What the hell are you going to do at a ski resort in Iran? There’s no alcohol. No hot-tubs. No ski bunnies. No rich drunk girls in the bar looking to hook up with guys. Are you just supposed to ... ski? And how do you ski in a robe? The only good thing I can imagine about an Islamic ski resort is that maybe they stone snowboarders to death.

Until a few years ago all the young people went to the ski resorts to do exactly these things because the religious police didn’t go there. My Mum even skiied there twenty five odd years ago. Unfortunatly word got out so they cracked down, sounds like it’s getting worse.

It’s a big shame, some friends and I have been thinking about heading out there to check it out; but may instead go to India/Pakistan and try that.

Posted by Brian at Tomfoolery on 10/22/07 at 08:53 PM from

Hey Padders, I hear Zimbabwe is nice this time of year too.

Posted by HARLEY on 10/23/07 at 05:53 PM from

oh Padders, just so you know RTFTLC is BLOCKED in IRAN.

My Iranian friend i trying to find a way to end run around the block and post here.

Posted by on 10/24/07 at 02:27 AM from

Hey Padders, I hear Zimbabwe is nice this time of year too.

Not so much in fact, I didn’t go there but the trip I recently went to in Africa (with a Zim guide) went to Zim after I got off in Tanzania. Zim was apparently nice, the people very friendly but the economic disaster very evident.

If your comment was to make a point that a tourist travel ban somehow helps with countries that for one reason or another we disagree with, then I will have to beg to differ. My opinions regarding Zim have been expressed numerous times on this blog; I consider Mugabe as fair game for assanation as Saddam was; but tourists not going to Zim is not the solution.

Burma might be the one exception to this; but even there talking to people in Thialand who had gone (often on visa runs) thought it helped some local people.

Regarding Iran, the ignorance of Iran is particularly high, and I would like to make up my own opinion. I know someone who visited a year or two ago and was both horrified by some things but very impressed by others; I would personally like to make my own mind up.

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