Putting it all on the line in Iran

Especially because the regime is doing its utmost to suppress independent news reporting, but also because various factions --- Iranian political currents domestic and in exile, foreign politicians with their own agendas, and well-meaning but poorly informed people who see what's going on through the lenses of very different situations that they know --- we don't have a very accurate view of what's going on. Although some, like STRATFOR's George Friedman on the right and Just Foreign Policy's Robert Naiman on the left, question the allegations that there was significant fraud in the recent election, others, like the UK's Chatham House and retired MIT professor Noam Chomksy present strong cases against Ahmedijad's claim of a landslide victory at the polls and build a persuasive circumstantial case for a stolen election.

What nobody can reasonably deny is that a large part of Iranian society believes that it was robbed at the polls, and impressive crowds have bravely refused to accept what they consider a scurrilous and insulting verdict. And from there we get to the universal, and to the lifestyle section. Having the inclination to take stands and run risks for a vision of what's just is what separates bullies and lynch mobs from the people who stand up against them; dull conformists from those who think, act and create for themselves. Know ye well the difference, because wherever you are, whatever you believe, you will see less dramatic versions of this every day and such towering examples as those recently coming from Iran every now and then. Especially in those instances closest to your life, you may have to decide who and what you are, and which side you are on.