Jun 17, 2009

June 16, 2009 Demonstrators in Tehran, Iran

I’ve put aside my graduate research into youth movements and the media, to watch the real thing.

Sitting in my university library, my back to the musty, Cold-War-smelling books. In front of me is a computer, opened to about 50 Firefox tabs. I can’t imagine that I’m alone in this setup. Students have a well-deserved reputation for fanning this type of revolutionary flame. And while, at 30, I might be teetering on the “youth” line, my circumstances have pushed me into mind-bendingly meta territory.

See, I study people like myself, right now. Like you, reading this. Like the kids we’re watching in Iran. There’s a magical alchemy in the interrelationships between mass movements, the era’s available media, and the effects of both on authoritarian regimes. I’ve felt for many years that it’s an understudied intersection. Aside from well-documented conflagrations in the past, the traditional media and its consumers have dismissed the political outlook and motivations of younger people.

There’s a disconnect: the stirrings and grumblings of young folks are seen as generic, transient rebelliousness; but when that discontent flares into revolt, people seem surprised.

And even now, the whole Iran-media thing is viewed as a sudden trend—Twitter Is Upon Us.

But passionate kids have always reached for whatever alternative media is there. This time, we just happen to have one that works better than The Media.

iranianprotestelectionr

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