Only a few years ago, we had to watch “the news” on TV where we heard “the latest” about stuff like the Iranian election many hours after it actually happened. And if we were lucky, a few photos or video made it all the way to the studio without being confiscated or censored.

Now all we have to do is surf the net to see events happen practically in real time.

Gone appear to be the days when everything we saw could very well be manipulated by someone (powerful politicians, greedy network execs, etc) with a vested interest. Still happens, no doubt, but when anyone can hold a video camera and broadcast the action to the world within minutes, chances are good that what you see is what went down.

This is great for debunking popular myths, such as the one about women (especially middle eastern women) being the weaker, more passive sex.

In case you’re wondering what prompted these ruminations, it’s this excellent article by Mariam Aryai Rivera about how amateur coverage of the election protests in Iran are proving Iranian women are hardly the docile creatures we think they are.

But now, with the help of modern-day technology and amateur video footage, you can catch them drop kicking the cops and the Revolutionary Guard, and in a center-stage tragedy, taking a bullet to the heart. The women of Iran are in the house, and they’re in the front row.

This front-row female participation in social change has been way more typical than is commonly understood, mainly because men have written most of the history books.  Women’s contribution has been trivialized and ignored, like their vastly important role in shaping human evolution (hint:  it ain’t just gathering nuts).

But whatever – the internet to the rescue. It’s helping us all see the truth, one Youtube video at a time.

I don’t call this a revolution. Nor do I call this C.I.A.-backed interference. I call this a civil-rights movement, and there is no civil-rights movement in the history of humankind that excludes the power of women. Women in Iran are giving birth to something historic, and it’s not just with their wombs.

Word.

[tags]Iran, Iran election fraud[/tags]