this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2025
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Today I Learned

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[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 210 points 1 month ago (14 children)

Minute 1:30, it calls them a "fascist dictatorship"....

Look, I'm not going to apologize for Iran in any manner. But calling them fascist isn't, its not quite right. Fascism is a form of political identity. It has a specific meaning. The regime in Iran might be terrible, but its not fascist, per se..

Also the comments on this video are wild.

This video is hard to suffer through. I'd love to hear a deep dive, but I can't stomach this.

[–] West_of_West@piefed.social 131 points 1 month ago (21 children)

I've never heard of Iran being called fascist. It is a militant theocracy.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 80 points 1 month ago

I've only ever heard it called fascist by people at both a) have no idea what iran is or b) have no idea what a fascist is.

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[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How much of it did you watch? I watched all of it and thought it was very informative, despite a few errors. I don't think they spent too much time on WHY the government is inept, just HOW inept it is. They shit on the current government and the Shah before them so I don't see them playing favorites.

Iran is pretty fascist-adjacent so it's an easy mistake to make. They hit almost all the notes to play that song.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I just finished with it and its terrible in this regard. There is no disambiguation between "just the facts" and the author/ narrators political opinions and identity. Not to say those opinions are wrong or invalid but its incredibly important to separate them and to clearly identify which is which, which even the most amateur journalist understands.

Its the framing that's the problem, and its often what a framing leaves out that ends up being more telling. You might re-watch it with a lens for what is missing rather than what is said, and honestly, its not my job to make the gaps in your political education apparent. Like, if you come away from this video with its explanation of "why" things in Iran are the way that they are, you'll come away wildly miseducated.

Just because something agrees with your bias, this doesn't make it correct.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 month ago

It's definitely glossing over some stuff, like when it talks about the unwillingness of neighbors to trade with them and chalking it up to "burned bridges", I imagine the aggressive US sanctions they've been under played a big role there.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago (10 children)

Yeah they're a totalitarian theocracy

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[–] kindred@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 month ago

Asianometry covered it two years ago.

Not as "fresh", but he's got a pretty good reputation for deep dives and puts sources in the video.

[–] biofaust@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago

As an Italian, I can tell you that I call theocratic regimes whose power is based on individual control and punishment at scale, fascist regimes.

I know that totalitarian or, in some other cases, authoritarian would be more appropriate, but at least in my culture fascism has been the first and the archetype of all totalitarianisms.

Not letting Iran enjoy the deserved hate it derives from an even longer history of antifascism would be too big a discount.

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Theocracy, fascist, dictatorship, the difference is fun for political majors to circlejerk about, but at the end of the day, these governments are hell for the populace.

They torture, imprison and kill people that are different, people that dare dissent.

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[–] rimu@piefed.social 123 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Same thing is happening in Iraq.

After all the fighting, suffering and genocide in the region, it'll all be for nothing once climate change makes it uninhabitable.

[–] Ugurcan@lemmy.world 54 points 1 month ago

It was the oil wells and not the people who’s been “liberated” all along.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (18 children)

If there had been less spent on war they could have built some infrastructure to help with the situation.

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[–] anamethatisnt@sopuli.xyz 81 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 52 points 1 month ago (28 children)

Thanks.

Iranian law stipulates that 85 percent of domestic food be produced locally, Morad Kaviani, professor of geography and hydropolitics at Iran’s Kharazmi University, told state television last week.

However, he added, Iran does not have the water and soil capacities, and nearly 30 percent of agricultural produce is wasted due to a lack of infrastructure, outdated irrigation practices and misguided crop selection.

Sounds like one of the biggest root disasters, eh?

So, this situation may only slightly be related to AGCC, but it does seem ominous in painting a certain picture of the future. I wonder if and when Russia and China step in, here...

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[–] bitwolf@sh.itjust.works 44 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (10 children)

My first grade teacher swore WW3 would be over clean water.

Hes been proven more and more right as time goes on.

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[–] itkovian@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago (11 children)

I feel for the innocent civilians who did not ask for or deserve this.

But I feel nothing for the ones who stood beside the brutal regime and made more enemies than competent allies.

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[–] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago (4 children)

What ya mean "no water"? Are they all relying on bottled water, like the whole country? Cant watch youtube

[–] swampdownloader@lemmy.dbzer0.com 60 points 1 month ago (7 children)

There’s a good real life lore video on nebula. They killed their traditional agricultural system with an extractive well water fueled one which depletes aquifers. Neighboring rivers from other countries got dammed. They rerouted their own rivers for dams and dried out lakes and flooded a salt deposit making the whole river salty. They also focus a lot on domestic agriculture at the expense of water depletion. All around poor mismanagement using outdated American plans to build their dam infrastructure without environmental assessments.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 39 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Wait wait wait.

Sooo... a theocratic nation lead by irrational bigots, using decades old ultracapitalistic plans... aren't getting shit done?

[–] cashsky@sh.itjust.works 40 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Let's just not talk about how the US overthrew a democratically elected government and installed a puppet who was deeply unpopular and was later overthrown after a revolution which caused the current leader to be in power due to a power vacuum which then lead to deep sanctions from US and US allies so they've had to try and be self sufficient.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)
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[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 35 points 1 month ago (9 children)

From what I've heard, the current government tapped the groundwater table to push farming. Now, there isn't enough groundwater to accommodate the difference between water demand and river water.

It sucks for Iran.

[–] Vupware@lemmy.zip 37 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Meanwhile, the rest of the world will completely disregard this cautionary tale and continue to extract groundwater to farm until only saltwater remains.

Then, as billions of people are dying of starvation, thirst, and societal downfall, the elite will finally prioritize desalination R&D and if/when they get something to work they will hail it as a revolutionary step for humanity and completely disregard the fact that this R&D / subsequent proliferation could have been initiated decades ago when the problem was first apparent.

Voila, no more overpopulation crisis, and water, what the civilized world once considered a human right, is now used as a method for exerting control, as it is only ever potable (sans rainwater) after being processed.

[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 26 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Parts of the US, like all the major cities in Texas, are actively sinking because we're draining the aquifers that took millennia to fill. It's yet another problem just festering, fascinating to watch as the reality approaches.

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[–] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Lol oh look, people in power are myopic and prioritize short term benefice over long term thonking; I wonder how often that happens!

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[–] TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 month ago (9 children)

Maybe that nuke money should have gone into solving this problem

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[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Coming soon to the USA, but under the Christo-Fascist fuck nuts.

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[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 month ago
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