Neda identified? Update: New details
posted at 7:18 pm on June 21, 2009 by Allahpundit
Word on the street via one Iranian tweeter is that her name was Neda Agha Soltan. That’s also the name circulating on a few websites and now being attributed to her in a hastily arranged Wikipedia bio. The rumor — and it’s all rumor until some newspaper tracks down her family — is that she was 27 years old and a philosophy student. I hope to god this isn’t really her photo because the thought of her being so beautiful and dignified makes the murder somehow that much more obscene.
Two clips below. The second you’ve already seen; the first is a new one circulating today, shot sometime before the moment of truth. The blue shirt on the gray-haired man in the foreground should look familiar. That’s almost certainly her standing to his left, watching the protest, bothering no one. Read this Time piece on Neda by Iran expert Robin Wright afterwards, as it touches on the huge significance of martyrdom not only in Shiite theology but in Iran’s political tradition. If there’s any justice, there’ll be videos like this of Khamenei and Ahmadinejad someday soon.
Update: A Farsi speaker tells HuffPo that this blogger is claiming that Neda was at the protest with her professor and several other students and that the fatal shot was fired by a Basij driving by on a motorcycle. No rhyme or reason; I wonder if he even aimed. The burial, reportedly, was today — and her memorial service was ordered canceled by the regime.
Blowback
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Who can say? I can’t speak for everyone – I suspect at HA, yes. Would your mourning be equal?
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:21 AM
No, I do really appreciate posters that participate in multiple conversations. There are some here that are singularly fixed on certain topics.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:19 AM
.
My message was not to you.
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:22 AM
No, I know
Just playing along.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:23 AM
We know she was a human being with a family and friends and somehow her murder is more tragic than the guy last week who wasn’t pretty yet had the same people mourning for him.
What I see is ignoring the most important parts of her life in favor of a physical trait that was of little consequence to her worth as a person.
csdeven on June 22, 2009 at 1:25 AM
Just playing along.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:23 AM
.
I see what you did there now. Your a wisen hymer right?
Mayse a sh!t disturber?
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:25 AM
I’ll try to do better.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:26 AM
In previous posts about this women, posters already expressed their prayers and condolences for her family and friends. You’re acting like nothing was said about her until her picture was found, which is utterly untrue.
MadisonConservative on June 22, 2009 at 1:27 AM
My initial reaction was surprise that her beauty was considered a reason to be more outraged. My outrage is as much as it can be for people I know nothing about. The loss of life is tragic.
csdeven on June 22, 2009 at 1:27 AM
Leave Americannodash alone!
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:27 AM
I’ll try to do better.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:26 AM
.
Ewe too?
.
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:28 AM
I am only reacting to people who justify the increased outrage over her beauty.
csdeven on June 22, 2009 at 1:28 AM
please disregard my previous post to you.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:28 AM
OK…
Maybe you should ask Lox… He’ll vouch for my antics.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:29 AM
Please learn your Shakespeare:
Ewe tu Brute?
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:30 AM
I think we have reached an point where we will simply have to agree to disagree.
nite.
csdeven on June 22, 2009 at 1:30 AM
GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH!
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:32 AM
Increased outrage is entirely justified when additional positive traits are discovered, be they beauty, intelligence, bravery, or anything else.
Like it or not, before, she was merely another person killed by brutal injustice. Sadly, this happens way too often. Over time, people prefer to disconnect. When you start introducing more details, those statistics become more and more human, and people are more upset. That’s how it goes. 200+ other people have been slaughtered. More details are going to make more people more furious and grief-stricken.
It’s because we’re human. The same can’t be said for the ratf***s responsible for this s***.
MadisonConservative on June 22, 2009 at 1:32 AM
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009
.
Hey Lox,
.
Are ewe in a vouching mood this moring. Upstater85 wants a 2 thumbs up from ewe.
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:33 AM
Hmmm You’re posting a lot of “mores.” I don’t see where people are saying
“All the more worse… cause she was pretty.”
Further, I don’t think you can find a single serious HA poster that thinks that the loss of human life isn’t tragic. I’d say you couldn’t find one that found the loss of physically ugly human life less tragic than that of Neda’s.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:33 AM
csdeven, Neda was murdered by an atrocious regime. If her beauty makes her a poster for freedom than so be it. You do not honor her memory by asking what would we say if she was ugly. Many here expressed the same disgust before we saw her “glamor shot”. Your arguments in this thread are pointless. Goodnight.
infidel on June 22, 2009 at 1:34 AM
Loxodonta don’t sing so loud for cripes sake.
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:34 AM
You and Lox are starting to scare me. Are you both the same age? Cuz you guys might pass as twins.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:35 AM
????
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:35 AM
Posting your naughty links I see… tsk tsk
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:37 AM
You and Lox are starting to scare me. Are you both the same age? Cuz you guys might pass as twins.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:35 AM
.
No, just met him in the last week or so. He is a nice guy. I am a troll hunter ask him.
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:38 AM
See… scary. Something else you two have in common.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:38 AM
Lox, you are my father.
DarkCurrent on June 22, 2009 at 1:39 AM
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:35 AM
.
I am not touching that link after Upstaters reaction.
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:39 AM
That is so reversed! Do you breath heavily too?
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:40 AM
See… scary. Something else you two have in common.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:38 AM
.
I am not a nice guy. Ask Lox about dissension.
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:41 AM
But, you haven’t caught me yet!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:42 AM
I agree.
All loss of life is tragic, especially those taken too soon. Physical beauty is a diversion from what really bothers us which is the loss of freedom, the loss of hope, the unrealized dream.
Miss Molly on June 22, 2009 at 1:42 AM
I was just “joshing” him. You know, the naughtiest thing Lox could bring himself to post would be of Hillary Clinton saluting…
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l176/musiclover1992/HillaryClinton.jpg
(I think this one’s safe, Lox)
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:43 AM
Yeah, Lox tries to pull of this mean guy image too.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:43 AM
That will require some explaining. Let’s start with biology.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:44 AM
Haha
Lox = Luke
DC = Darth Vader.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:45 AM
I think you’re one of my favorite newcomers.
Not to mention that my tires need rotating.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:45 AM
But, you haven’t caught me yet!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:42 AM
.
Nice try. Maybe you are Darkcurrents Father. Have gone to the you know that other side of the FARCE?
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:46 AM
I am off to the Dude thread, where one can expect a lack of respect and class. Grow up kiddies.
infidel on June 22, 2009 at 1:46 AM
Teh One will fill us in on the other side of the farce at the camps.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:47 AM
Indeed. And yet, the dreams we dream are not always shared by others. Iran has had a long period of brutal oppression. And although none of them deserve to be butchered, there may be many with very cruel dreams. I pray for the best possible outcome of this revolt, but don’t get overly optimistic.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:50 AM
Yeah… scary thoughts.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:51 AM
Ok!
DarkCurrent on June 22, 2009 at 1:51 AM
Teh One will fill us in on the other side of the farce at the camps.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:47 AM
.
I don’t really hit links that much anyways. Unless I am troll hunting.
.
You are right about the farce of the “ONE” thou.
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:52 AM
It’s been a very stressful day for me. The trolling of this thread so upset me that I had to shut down my system for a while and pace. I and most of the recent commenters have all expressed our respectful feeling for the loss of Neda. The wake is over. We are comforting one another with humor.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:52 AM
I also need help in checking tire pressure. Do you have one of those doohickies handy?
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:55 AM
It’s been a very stressful day for me. The trolling of this thread so upset me that I had to shut down my system for a while and pace. I and most of the recent commenters have all expressed our respectful feeling for the loss of Neda. The wake is over. We are comforting one another with humor.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:52 AM
.
I am glad you reconize that too.
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:55 AM
OK, I’m off for now. I’ve spent way too much time on this blog for the weekend (but enjoyed nearly every minute of it).
In the future Iran, how will Neda be treated? I hope not as she was. Let us not lose focus of who some of the “players” in this very dangerous game going on in Iran and surrounding areas. Unfortunately, America’s players are Lactose Lapping Barry and his minions.
Let’s see what AP’s updates bring us tomorrow.
Goodnight, all.
Upstater85 on June 22, 2009 at 1:56 AM
You first.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:56 AM
I’ve read everything here, and I’m amazed by the number of people who are fixated on one single point.
She’s beautiful. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with seeing that.
Is she runway-model beautiful? Is she beautiful like mom? Like a painting? Like a pretty flower?
I don’t know. Beautiful means lots of things to different people. And there’s nothing wrong with seeing beauty.
Recognizing beauty is something conservatives do. But to liberals, its a bad thing, because if you recognize beauty, obviously it’s balanced out by ugliness, and of course those who are ugly will be punished for their ugliness in some way. In the same way their tribalism and collectivism forces them to ignore any positive traits that made someone an individual.
Neda was beautiful. She was destroyed in the prime of her life by evil, and her beauty is a contrast to her oppressors’ withered ugliness, and helps us to see the conflict clearly.
Those of you who are fixated how terrible it is that she should be called beautiful, as opposed to fixating on the evil that snuffed out her existence, are the ones showing the disregard for her life.
12thMonkey on June 22, 2009 at 1:56 AM
Good night, young sir. Thanks again for talking with me.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:57 AM
This should help.
MadisonConservative on June 22, 2009 at 1:58 AM
Dropped your ice cream? What size cone do you need? A man’s size. Or, will Barry size do?
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:00 AM
I also need help in checking tire pressure. Do you have one of those doohickies handy?
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 1:55 AM
.
No, but I can look around for one. Wait a minute it just a whatchemacallit. Will that do? I am fedexing it to you as I type. Wait a minute, hermitage folk don’t need any doohickies because you would have to go outside first. I am recalling my whatchemacallit. Nice try there ewe.
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 2:01 AM
I am not only techno-phobic, but also pop-culture-phobic. Basically, you name it, I’m scared of it.
Not clicking!
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:03 AM
Well, it’s hard to explain in words, exactly… is there somewhere I can upload photos?
DarkCurrent on June 22, 2009 at 2:04 AM
Fine. I’ll go to bed hurt that there’s a lack of trust.
You’re not MY father.
MadisonConservative on June 22, 2009 at 2:04 AM
Every once in a while, I do have to actually go out and interact with people to purchase food. it usually takes me days, sometimes weeks, to work up the courage. I try to go at night when the weather’s bad so the supermarket is as less crowded as possible.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:05 AM
am glad you recognize
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 1:55 AM
Dropped your ice cream? What size cone do you need? A man’s size. Or, will Barry size do?
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:00 AM
.
oops. Anyways, I got to call it a night too. I just joined in the fray here to get cdseven to back off and move on. The argument had been going back and forth since 8:30 PM or so.
.
Good Night Mr. Lox and the best to you.
Americannodash on June 22, 2009 at 2:06 AM
Don’t do that. I do trust you. I confess. I lied. I clicked, heard the popular music, started jerking in my chair, then clicked off.
I’m sorry. I’m weird.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:07 AM
Nah, you should click on that, Pa
DarkCurrent on June 22, 2009 at 2:07 AM
Nope. We’ll have to discuss these grown things another time, preferably when Upstater is present so he can explain things to me.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:09 AM
OWNED!
MadisonConservative on June 22, 2009 at 2:09 AM
grown things = grown-up things
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:09 AM
Good night. Always a pleasure.
ps: Tires low.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:10 AM
Free of charge.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:11 AM
Another fantasy shot to hell… I’ll be gone for a while… need some alone time
DarkCurrent on June 22, 2009 at 2:11 AM
If you be a boy looking for girls, you best be asking some questions before things get…. out of hand.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:13 AM
I’ve not commented in this thread because I wasted a lot of time composing a comment for a thread that died shortly after and it has taken me forever to read almost all of this thread… I have to say I am somewhat confounded by the contentious nature of the principal issue running through this thread. No, actually, it’s not a contentious issue, it’s a trivial one, pursued with dogged contentiousness that sickens me with the self-righteous insistence that one viewpoint shared by maybe two or three persons that will admit to it have to be shared by every other person in this thread and on this planet or otherwise some great cosmic injustice will have been allowed to transpire.
We got a fella saying that we must ignore the beauty of a person, we must regard all loss as the same or we are shallow and superficial, we have to view every life lost the exact same and we must condemn every single person that dares think or feel otherwise. Yet this same person in some comments discussed the various ways we should consider the value of a life based on other variables, such as whether they would have saved Hitler’s mother’s child at birth or would have aborted it or… GAHHH!! Crazy talk.
People are people. People have feelings. Any teaching that claims that we have to ignore our feelings, ignore others feelings, see beyond feelings, judge without feeling; is inhuman. Be it a religious sect or a totalitarian creed, it is inhuman to attempt to proscribe human actions and thoughts devoid of feeling. Human nature is real. If there be a God then he made that nature. There are better natures and there are lesser, but there is so very much that we almost every single one of us hold in common and to claim that it is wrong to acknowledge and express that nature, that we must abhor it and stifle it, well, that is diminishing. That is denying our nature, denying the Creation, denying the gift of humanity we possess, no matter the question of what manner we consider ourselves to have come to be living breathing thinking semi-rational creatures that appear to have a soul and a sense of longing for purpose and meaning and unity, be it a big bang or a big god or a big god with a big bang, we are here, we have so many things to be grateful for and to recognize as binding us to every single soul on this planet, and it’s pathetic to insist that one’s rigid view that goes against this tide must be imposed on all others. This is a moral arrogance, a haughtiness, a Pharisee-like assumption of superiority that must exist solely to be brought down, for it has inspired that feeling in almost every person I’ve here observed encountering it, and I cannot imagine a God that would have his creatures pretend that his gifts to them, manifest in Spirit or form or nature, do not differentiate them one from another and not worthy of note and that such notice is truly itself worthy of condemnation. Someone here noted that this is Lib-Think. I see it as far more destructive, like a Communist inspired Hell where none are better or worse, and if you think you’re better, someone will pull you down, and if you try to act better, someone will mock and humiliate you, and if you gain more it will be taken, and if you shine more you will be soiled. It’s pathetic. This is the “equality” of criminal communist-style conspiracies that cannot lift all to the same level, so pull all down to the same level, denying the gifts of God as accidents of genetics and fortune. This mean-spirited tirade does not honor this young woman nor benefit her legacy. Were this a wake those pushing this insult to Creation would be promoted by the angry walking-emotional-black-hole that no one wanted to be around because depressed feelings follow as predictably as night follows day.
Neda is a young woman I do not know. I know she had a father. I heard his cries as she died and I know that my heart still quivers with grief from that plea for her to stay with him in this world. I know that I can see kindness and decency and dignity in her face, and I can comprehend how I would view her as I would as a young man as well as if I were her father; and I know that I would think her beautiful.
What kind of heart could resent that?
Maquis on June 22, 2009 at 2:14 AM
I’m gone. Into hermitude for a while. Back later, maybe
DarkCurrent on June 22, 2009 at 2:14 AM
PLEASE READ Maquis on June 22, 2009 at 2:14 AM
It contains a lot of wisdom about life.
Maquis, thoughtful and big hearted, and very well done.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:24 AM
Good night all. Bless you.
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:25 AM
I’m no historian, but from what I have read, Iran indeed has had a grim past but it is the human spirit that keeps pushing through the harshness like a crocus in early spring pushes through the frozen hard ground. It can’t be stopped no matter what you throw at it.
The cruel dreams that many have in Iran and all over the world are a part of the human condition. The quest for freedom still survives and always will despite the despots and narcissists who seem to rule the world. I don’t get overly optimistic either, knowing how indifferent and even cruel many people can be, but I never lose hope, especially when a delicate crocus seems to have all the power it needs to make itself known despite being trapped in the frozen ground.
Perhaps Neda will be the crocus. I hope so.
Miss Molly on June 22, 2009 at 2:25 AM
I’m cross-posting this here from the VDH thread because the thread died shortly after and I don’t want my comment to die so young!
********************************
This isn’t a revolution, and it doesn’t have a manifesto. Yet. This is a freedom starved people recognizing the Kabuki dance orchestrated by the regime to imbue the putative leader of the country with the veneer of “democratically-elected” legitimacy. The mask slipped, the curtain parted, however you want to phrase it they discovered the betrayal and they are angry. We need not have illusions about the purity or virtue of the protesters, nor fantasize about the new open society they might be planning, but we don’t have to callously revel in their suffering either. Yes, I want to see a big message sent. I do want the people to never forget the sacrifices of this past week and those to come, I want Neda and her lost countrymen to be mourned, and I want them to remember, to plan, to act, to erase the Islamic Republic of Iran from existence. But we ought not in any measure even appear indifferent to their suffering nor their hopes. We should not declare a hope that they all kill each other. We should be raising the standard of liberty. We should be expressing our hopes for them and offering the example of our founders for them to follow. I am saddened to see Obama squander his opportunity to express solidarity with freedom seekers everywhere. He is a moral midget next to Bush, an ephemeral beside Reagan. I hope we will pray for the Iranians and not curse them. They are our brothers and sisters. I well understand the histories presented here and the rationales for indifference, clearly Mousavi is not espousing the views of the sole democracy-espousing cleric in the regime’s early history, but we ourselves can awake the young Iranians to this history. If they had a would-be hero of freedom then we should be introducing them to him ourselves, right the hell now! We don’t need to shrug our shoulders and condemn them to whatever fate follows because we think they deserve it and we don’t care anyway.
Maquis on June 22, 2009 at 12:12 AM
Maquis on June 22, 2009 at 2:26 AM
Drats! I forgot!
Thank you Allahpundit!
Loxodonta on June 22, 2009 at 2:26 AM
She is beautiful, therefore, art thou, it is more tragic.
Unfortunately, that is the critria for both men and women. This is the way of the world and on Hot Air.
betsyz on June 22, 2009 at 2:28 AM
Bonne nuit, Lox! Reve bien!
Maquis on June 22, 2009 at 2:30 AM
DarkCurrent on June 22, 2009 at 2:32 AM
Thank you Allah for helping us to see that Neda was not a faceless or nameless victim of this monstrous Iran dictatorship. She was a beautiful, young woman who could have been our sister, daughter, friend or neighbor. Her death has opened the eyes of many around the world to the horrors that Iranian citizens face daily from their totalitarian government.
May Neda rest in peace at last.
sarahpalinfan99 on June 22, 2009 at 5:07 AM
.
Yes all innocent life, taken so, is lamentable and equal yet not all have the same impact. Some things are sacred to us as human beings and none more than the sweetness that innocence brings to our lives. The sweet power of innocence is what touches and tames the brutal nature of mankind. It shames us into our better nature and inspires us to higher ideals. To see it cut down in stark, needless, and unforgivable brutality can only disgust and repulse all who have a heart to feel. Though often we may see evil contrasted with goodness, rarely do we have it so clearly lain out before us. When Neda lay down her life in the street that lamentable day, humanity was robbed of a that much goodness, that much light, any person would feel some responsibility as a member of the human race. The tragic loss of such sweet innocence shames us all and should make us realize how little humanity has progressed as a civilization and how so very far we stand from our professed ideals. Neda Agha Soltan stands now with all those souls who have given the greatest sacrifice to freedom and dignity that can ever be asked. It is only proper that we show reverence when we remember them.
ronsfi on June 22, 2009 at 5:26 AM
The only thing that can be said for her physical beauty is that is surpassed only by the beauty of her courage and will that put her on that street to face her oppressors and in death reveal the grotesque nature of those oppressors, the people who support them and those who refuse to show even a fraction of the courage that she possessed and condemn those murderous wretches.
Way I see it, right now, she is the most beautiful woman in the world.
Let us continue to pray for Neda and all of those oppressed bravely standing up and confronting that oppresson with courage and dignity, even in the face of certain violence and possible death, for that is the true beauty here, an oppressed people who have had enough and refuse to live under that oppression, not one minute more, willing to confront that oppression even if it means to die.
We all die, but it is infinately more desireable to die standing up than to lie down and accept worse fates.
SuperCool on June 22, 2009 at 6:07 AM
In case anyone was wondering, the Wikipedia debate on deleting her entry there is over with the consensus being to keep the article up.
flipflop on June 22, 2009 at 7:17 AM
Point one. It’s a shame that any person should die due to a corrupt regime.
Point Two, she really does look, from her picture, VERY unhard on the eyes.
Jeff from WI on June 22, 2009 at 7:18 AM
Allahpundit,thanks for a great post. And take heart, some of us do understand exactly what you were trying to say.
ladyingray on June 22, 2009 at 7:24 AM
Neda was killed by a radical Islamic regime that is not supported by the Iranian people. Neda’s physical beauty reflects the beauty of the courage of standing up against an oppressive, murderous regime. Neda should be the poster face of the new Iranian revolution.
Phil Byler on June 22, 2009 at 7:31 AM
Neda should be a face of the new revolution. A girl at a peaceful demonstration killed by a government sniper for no apparent reason but to instill fear in a restive population. She was a victim of pure evil.
That being said, there needs to be other faces and other individuals who are able to focus the dissent in a meaningful way. Otherwise this was just a very nasty riot.
highhopes on June 22, 2009 at 7:42 AM
It seems a false sense of justice that some commenters want us to not see the beauty and youth of this woman as an element of our outrage. This outrage is natural and human. Were she only ten years old, the outrage would have been all the greater. Outrage is compounded by the youth, beauty and innocence of the victim. This doesn’t lessen the ugliness of the same crime against a wrinkled old woman or a toothless old man. That it affects our perception of it needs no apology.
SKYFOX on June 22, 2009 at 8:15 AM
The regime can cancel the service but they cannot erase these wrenching images of Neva from our thoughts and memories, they cannot cancel our grief.
We know that to the Mullahs, a “martyr” is not Neva, but someone who dons a suicide vest to kill innocents.
The fact that Barack thinks he can negotiate with these twisted, evil people is all the more stunning from this perspective.
Buy Danish on June 22, 2009 at 8:35 AM
Beautiful and dignified or ugly and ordinary, dead is dead. The fact that she was there standing up for what she believed in for her country makes her stunning not her facial features.
Kissmygrits on June 22, 2009 at 8:35 AM
csdeven on June 22, 2009 at 1:28 AM
I had the same reaction when I first read this post.
Because she was good looking people should be more outraged? How shallow and pathetic. Couldn’t believe it was even said.
That video was so sad and disturbing.
All women over there have it bad every day. She happened to die. Others live with scars of rape and beatings every day. Sad all over, even if they are ugly!
bridgetown on June 22, 2009 at 8:45 AM
If martyrs (victims) like Neda or Matt Shephard are more esteemed for their physical beauty, do we also prefer to be murdered by more attractive suicide bombers? It still troubles me that Matt Shephard’s appearance probably goes a long way in explaining why the Democrats didn’t lose seats in the 1998 election. It was the first time since 1822 that the party not in control of the White House failed to gain seats in the mid-term election of a President’s second term.
Why playing the card of the beautiful victim offends me is because the right to live without fear of physical violence is something we should all have regardless of appearance. Physical beauty should really only help one in meeting people and getting opportunities–not in securing basic human needs.
thuja on June 22, 2009 at 8:47 AM
I had a huge argument about this Neda situation w/my husband. Yesterday my worldview changed. It all came about when he suggested perhaps before being shot, that Neda was actively protesting, perhaps with some weapon and was aiming it at the guards.
There is no way to proof any of her actions before her fatal shooting, which is definitely a sad thing to watch. That is now our position on this, he has not seen the vid of her before the shooting b/c of the time it was posted-of course we are not 100% sure that it is Neda.
In this situation with Iran because of the news feeds we are getting are so scarce and not confirmed it is hard to discern facts from truths. On Twitter, there was even a document asking members to block some individuals suspect of being w/the govt infiltrated.
Be cautious, think and arrive at your own conclusions-after fact-checking please. There is enough confusion out there already.
ProudPalinFan on June 22, 2009 at 8:56 AM
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