…because it’s got a satellite dish.
See?
No, I didn’t know it made a difference, either. But it turns out satellite dishes are sinful.
Iran destroys 100,000 satellite dishes in morality-driven crackdown
As part of its widespread ban on illegal devices, Iran collected and destroyed 100,000 satellite dishes and receivers on Sunday, at a ceremony in Tehran, AFP reported.
Reza Naghdi, the head of Iran’s Basij militia, holds that the devices are morally damaging. AFP quoted Naghdi as saying, “The truth is that most satellite channels… deviate the society’s morality and culture… What these televisions really achieve is increased divorce, addiction and insecurity in society.”
One million Iranians, he added, had already turned in their satellite dishes voluntarily.
Some Iranian politicians, such as Culture Minister Ali Jannati and President Hassan Rouhani, have openly stated that the ban is useless and counter-productive, as most Iranians are in violation of this law.
And that’s the rub, isn’t it? A rational lawmaker – to the extent that’s not an oxymoron – would say “Never pass a law you know will be widely flouted.” For an example of why that’s an extremely bad idea, see Prohibition. It’s possible this is why our would-be masters in Washington have never quite gotten around to outlawing “civilian” firearms, even though so many so obviously want to do just that. It would spark a really dangerous form of widespread civil disobedience, and despite the pelosis, boxers, clintons and schumers that chitter about infesting the place, slightly wiser heads have so far prevailed.
But there’s another school of thought when it comes to outlawing sin. Sometimes pointless and widely-flouted prohibitions can be said to work in the lawmakers’ favor. This was famously expressed by Ayn Rand…
“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.”
I’ve never been a Muslim, but I have spent long (long, long) periods in contact with some of the more joyless flavors of Christian. And among them, you do get the impression that prohibiting practices you know are going to be privately practiced anyway has a certain point.
Example: Did you know oral sex is sodomy, which is forbidden by God, even in a righteously sanctioned hetero marriage bed? Yeah, believers, it’s not just bad when those evil homos do it. Forbidden, but great fun and widely practiced.
You might wonder, what’s the point of forbidding it if you know they’re going to do it anyway? The point is guilt. You can’t rule innocent people, but you can crack down on criminals. So a government that’s running short of any other sort of legitimacy needs lots and lots of criminals. Keep otherwise honest people feeling guilty and in need of constant expiation, and you can keep some sort of control over them.
And so it is, it seems, with this modern/medieval form of Islam. Makes you wonder why the preachers think God wants people to be backward and bored and unhappy.
Seems to me that the key is, maybe, to help folks examine just why they should feel this bogus “guilt,” and get rid of it. Then they can work on getting rid of those who think it is their job to make them feel guilty.
I dunno, Joel, that object to the right of the dish looks suspiciously like a burka.
Depends on what ‘flavor’ of Christianity as to whether or not oral sex is a sin. Or what your current prelate says. Or the phase of the moon?
gfa
Kinda makes me want to paint our dish bright florescent blaze orange. 😉
“Never pass a law you know will be widely flouted.”
Oddly enough even North Korea recognizes this. It’s one of the main reasons that Kim Jong Il backed off from criminalizing meth and decided instead to consider it “medicine”. You know your country’s got problems when… (bet it helps with the hunger pains though)