What we see now in Iran is the real Iranian revolution. Let’s hope they succeed. The current regime in Iran by the Mullahs claims its origin in what they call the Iranian revolution. There was indeed a regime before that that many people understood as cruel—the regime by the Shah. And so back then the term revolution may have made sense, but it resulted in an even worse form of government: a religious dictatorship based on the most extreme reading of the Quran.
I don’t believe that extremism of any kind is the truest representation of an idea. Extreme Islam is not a better Islam. It’s not the correct Islam. Extreme Christianity is not the better Christianity. It’s not the correct Christianity. Anything taken to the extreme, taken to its almost logical conclusion in these kinds of circumstances becomes wrong.
Religion is about a connection to the divine. It’s about our search for the divine. If we claim we have found the result of that search and institute governments based on that, we have deviated from that. So whatever the Iranian regime currently claims to be, it may pay some kind of form of homage to Islam, but it violates the idea of humility, of humanity, of grace, compassion. It’s not Islamic.
And this revolution back then created not a better society but a worse one. What we are seeing now on the streets is the real Islamic revolution. It’s the real Iranian revolution. It’s a revolution for truth, for the people, for humanity, for freedom.
It may sound weird when I also mention the word Islamic and freedom, but religion can only be religion if we have the freedom to choose. If it doesn’t have an element of freedom, it’s no longer religion. It’s tyranny.
So if you think of what’s happening now, these are people who fight for their choice to have whatever religion and whatever form of religious practice they want. And that’s what one part of their fight is. They also fight to have a democratic government because only in a democracy can you hold the government accountable. They fight for freedoms as we all in the West have them because these freedoms maximize our human potential. They maximize our human dignity. They actually allow us to be political.
The true sovereign of any country are always its people. If those who rule over us lose sight of that, they don’t deserve to be rulers anymore because it should be the people. And this is what you’re seeing right now.
Dictatorships are inherently weak. They’re inherently unstable because they are built on the lack of humility of a group of people that pretend to be able to make decisions that are best for everybody, but they are not qualified to do so and they don’t tolerate anybody to speak up against them. This is what makes dictatorships weak.
If you think dictatorships are strong, then look at history. Every single dictatorship in history has eventually descended into some kind of sclerotic regime of terror because you cannot in these regimes question leadership. You cannot point out corruption and there will always be more corruption in dictatorships.
You see this now in Ukraine. Corruption is being fought. Why? Because now finally Ukraine is becoming more and more democratic. Whereas in Russia corruption is increasing because corruption is doubling down on authoritarianism.
Whenever in democratic countries you have governments that want to go into the more authoritarian direction because they think that represents strength—what a silly idea. It always increases corruption. Because some people will cozy up to the leader, try to give him favors and say, “Oh, you know, you need to talk to the leader in a way that, well, you know, you gain some benefit” and that always means corruption.
Authoritarianism, dictatorship means corruption, which means resources that could be used for legitimate purposes will be deviated to just the personal benefit of a few that may not even deserve them.
Democracy means transparency. Democracy means criticism. Democracy means resistance without the danger of being suppressed.
That’s what’s going on in Iran right now. I hope they succeed. They deserve to. It’s been going on for a long time. Iran is one of the—the current government of Iran is one of the most brutal on the planet. It’s one of the most dangerous states to want to be a human being in. Iran is in support of Russia, in support of China. This needs to end.
So this will also be good for Ukraine and Russia eventually because dictatorships have no right to exist. Dictators have no right to continue practicing. That might sound like an extreme position. Maybe it is. But here’s how it’s less extreme.
It is more extreme if we bring this from the outside and do force nation building as the United States and allies tried to do in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s wrong. And it’s not wrong necessarily in principle, but it’s wrong in the execution if you don’t know what you’re doing. If you don’t even know the culture, it’s also really wrong in principle because unless you liberate the sovereign, the people, and let them work through it, you’re just replacing the previous dictatorship with a new one.
But like in Venezuela where it’s just been the criminal Maduro that was removed—that I think was okay. Some people doubt it but you know as long as there’s not further invasion or something like that. Doesn’t seem to be happening. So in Iran now it’s the people that are in charge and the people that are in control. Let’s hope they succeed.
I’m thinking of them, praying for them in my mind. This is something that’s dear to me. I’ve lived in a dictatorship. I don’t wish this on anybody.
[This was originally posted to YouTube as a video. This post is a slightly abbreviated transcript, preserving the oral style of the video.]
Erratic Attempts 