Azadeh Moaveni Quotes
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You can have an elected parliament that makes laws, but if the judiciary is appointed by the Supreme Leader - who is a representative of God - then you're kind of at an impasse.
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I believe their race and religious background shaped the way they were treated by the media…The willingness to blame them even though they were clearly victims was distressing.
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Whether Iranians are drinking wine in the evening or painting something "offensive," they choose not to dwell on the fact that they could receive some seventh-century punishment. Laws are inconsistently enforced, and you can usually pay off police to look the other way.
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You're perfect for each other, she had insisted. "both of you act like you're already retired, always stuck at home reading books.”
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I think there’s this cult of objectivity in the U.S. about media. There are two sides to every story, but it’s not always objective that one side has as much right to narrate a story. I think it’s distorting to always impose that 50-50 impulse on everything you cover because otherwise you’ll be branded as “liberal” or “having an agenda.” Life is not 50-50…
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One big difference I’ve noticed is how class is experienced in both places. Even though America is so class-stratified, the idea that there is a national culture that transcends class is really present. In Iran, despite the revolution and its attempt to eliminate class as a category, there’s now political class. That’s different than social class, but it’s still very much infused with the nuance that comes from a class-stratified place.
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As a prominent conservative told me that year, "We need to go out into the wilderness for a long time, and figure out how we can one day return.”
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I think Iran is the kind of place where it's difficult to predict what's going to trigger structural change. It's hard to also predict the role that civil disobedience or mass protests could play.