According to CNN, “A female Iranian climber, who did not wear a hijab at an international competition in South Korea, left for Iran on Tuesday as Iranian groups based abroad raised alarms over her fate back home. … In a story posted on Rekabi’s Instagram page on Tuesday, the athlete said she was called to climb the wall ‘unexpectedly’ which ‘unintentionally’ created a problem with her hair covering. ‘Due to bad timing and unexpectedly being called to climb the wall, I inadvertently created a problem with my head covering,’ she wrote. ‘Apologizing for the worries that I caused … currently, according to the pre-determined schedule I am returning to Iran with the team,’ the IG story post said.”
She went from symbolizing Iranian women’s resistance to backtracking in fear of the consequences. Look, f***tards! I don’t know how many times I have to repeat myself, but people are not as brave as you would like to believe. Oh sure, the protests in Iran have been happening (off and on) for a month now, but what are the ultimate results? Same ole, same ole. These protests, like all others against authoritarian rule, will burn out eventually because autocracies — especially theocracies — always win out. This is why democracies are dying worldwide. This is why totalitarianism is flourishing, even in America. Protesters are not going to save us. Once people have been completely and utterly rendered hapless, then maybe something will change — only through revolution. But as long as people are content to struggle with the status quo — as most people do — nothing will change except the slow diminishing of people’s rights and freedoms. Protecting humanity’s dignity is difficult; letting dignity slip is easy, and people like easy. Mark my words, morons. Iran will end in a fizzle. Oh, well.