Crowds of Iranian-Americans took to the streets of Westwood on Saturday to celebrate the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and the reported formation of a provisional government by opposition groups, marking a moment many said they never expected to witness in their lifetimes.

Celebrations spilled into the streets near Persian Square with people waving Iranian flags, honking car horns and chanting in joy. Some danced in the streets, expressing hope for a freer Iran.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    Why are people so dumb?

    Yeah, you got a regime change, awesome.

    Do you know why and how Khomeini got to power in the first place?

    A regime change by the USA… That installed a dictator, that caused a coup which then got these religious right wing nuts into office.

    So what do you think will happen next? Are all of you Iranians really dreaming that next up is democracy? I’m fully betting that your next dictator is already being prepared

    Don’t celebrate this, you’re all under attack and this is just “the enemy of my enemy is not my friend”

    • Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Jesus Christ dude can ppl not celebrate for five minutes that the asshole who subjugated them is dead?Your smug ass has probably never lived under any remotely that oppressive and youre bitching because ppl are celebrating the death of man who very may well have disappeared their entire family.

      They all know nothing good will come of it but its better than nothing

  • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    They are promoting Pahlavi as King. One oppressive regime for another, no democracy. so hawt right now.

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I would wait until you know who will replace Khamenei before celebrating. When despots are killed it creates a power vacuum and power vacuums tend to get filled. Maybe it will be filled with something better, maybe it won’t. That’s why killing and hoping isn’t the best strategy.

      • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        The Shah became quite autocratic by the early to mid 70s or so. But I think a fair number of Iranians today feel the Monarchy was preferable to the Islamist theocracy. And it should be up to the Iranian people. But if the Iranian people can’t come to a consensus, the decision will be made for them, by the Islamists or the monarchists or the US and Israel, or someone else.

        • Today@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          He says he has the support of the people. He also says he’s been talking to the white House so there’s that.

          The two iranians I’ve spoken with are hopeful. One woman told me that she begged her brother in tehran not to join the protests - he said he couldn’t stay inside when he heard the boots of his people in the street. When the shooting began, people opened their gates and garages to give them a place to hide.

          It’s really heartbreaking how many they’ve lost.

          Hopeful for them but not optimistic given the US’s history of ‘assisting’ with regime change.

            • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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              2 days ago

              The former Shah has the support of the people, except the ones he murdered on black friday, 1978.

              That day, at least 64 and perhaps 100 or more people were shot dead, and the Pahlavi military injured 205 in Jaleh Square.

  • kingofras@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    These puff pieces are so obvious. There were less than 50 people in Brisbane yesterday, and it was plastered everywhere. But rallies with 500 to 1000s supporting Free Palestine are ignored at best or reported as a bundle of rallies or called anti-Semitic or organised by hate groups.

    • Pycorax@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      I was in Santa Monica a few days ago before it happened and there were at least 200 people there by the afternoon. I wouldn’t be surprised if the numbers hit 300 after I left.

      • kingofras@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        The number isn’t as important as the tell of the media in how they choose to report them.

        As somebody else posted: 9 Israeli lives will stay above the fold for days, and over 80 girls killed at school never gets front page.

        • Iconoclast@feddit.uk
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          2 days ago

          over 80 girls killed at school never gets front page.

          I barely even follow the news but have seen reports of this all over.

        • Pycorax@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          Isn’t that just dependent on the news sources you’re following? There’s definitely some bias here and there but that’s why you should be following multiple sources from multiple backgrounds anyways.

  • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    Iranian Angelenos are often former lackeys of the Shah, or descendants of the lackeys.

    I’ve known quite a few. Much like the Batista-loving Cuban-Americans in Florida, but with better food and even glitzier tastes.

  • Waveform@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Are those photos AI? Look at the US flag in the distance in the top image (not the prominent one, the tiny one above the guy shouting with his arms up). Look closely at the stars… they make no sense!

    We are going to have a near-comeplete filter over everything we seen online. The data centers need to not exist anymore >:|

      • Waveform@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Look at the image I’ve attached. The stars are clearly messed up. It’s the same thing I usually see in gen AI stuff: when there’s a repeating pattern, it tends to fall out of sequence near a visual border. In this case, the stars get bunched up and new ones added close to flag just to the left.

        Perhaps AI was only used to enhance the image? Or it’s a homemade flag?

        Edit: It’s true that not everything is AI. There’s a nonzero chance that the flag is warped, which is causing the pattern break, or something else created artifacts. It’s just really hard to trust anything right now, no matter the source.

        • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOPM
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          2 days ago

          I’m sorry, but you’ve lost the plot. This does not look at ALL like AI upsizing. There is no AI noise, faces are intelligible. Hands have the right number of fingers, and are attached to people. There is no AI noise. The stars are the correct number and in the correct arrangement (see overlay below). People have a range of expressions. The framing is natural.

          Additionally, it is published and credited in a major news source with long-established editorial oversight.

  • FaceDeer@fedia.io
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    3 days ago

    I have also declared myself to be the new provisional government of Iran.