Thursday, May 1, 2008

Bahar Bie

"I think every Barbie doll is more harmful than an American missile"
So said Persian Toymongerer Masoumeh Rahimi.

Like 6 years ago fronting for the Mullah's Toy Patrol. Putting the best face on, no doubt for the totally retarded Great Barbie Confiscation Raids of '02, even as her best money maker was being declared non gratis.
"Bahar Bie is "foreign to Iran's culture" because some of the popular
Western dolls wear revealing clothing. Maiden girls who play with Barbie, a
doll she sees as wanton, could grow into women who reject Iranian values. "

What a doll. She also heralded the arrival of Barbie's Official State Sanctioned Ersatz Anti Mattel Mullah Approved "Dara and Sara"

"Dara and Sara were born as characters in elementary school books. Their story
continues in tales in verse recorded on cassettes that hit stores along with the
dolls Tuesday. In their adventures the brother and sister help each other solve
problems and turn to their loving parents for guidance.

"All four models of Sara come with a white headscarf to cover either black
or brown curls. One outfit consists of a knee-length, loose orange shirt,
blue pants and white socks. Another is a flower-dotted shirt and a full-length flower-dotted white chador, a robe covering the body from head to toe.

Almond-eyed Sara and her brother are described as 8-years-old. It's OK for
8-year-old girls to appear in public without a headscarf in this officially
Islamic republic where women are legally obliged to dress modestly though some
clerics encourage even 6-year-old girls to cover their hair when they're outside
their homes.

Dara comes in two outfits - black pants, a white shirt and a black jacket or a
beige shirt, blue pants and red jacket.

Wheee. That sounds fun. The mullahocracy deployed over a 100K Daras and Sarahs to marginalize Bahar Bie and her irresistable appeals - like fun and free choice.

This is significant. Controlled societies need control to remain controlled societies. Particularly ones that want to stay in control. And in a nation fully crunk with tons of super educated kids - instilling hope for choice in the future - about anything really - like unarranging marriages, blinging for sexy clothes and cool do's (or don'ts) - hanging and socializing.

It was a smooth move (not!) to replace Barbie with little kid dolls. And it sooo did not work!

Witchfinder General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi admitted suffering a decisive defeat.

Boring stories, anime' and foot tall dutiful regime loving children (with only 2 outfits! Can you believe it?!) competing against Barbie, Batman, Harry Potter and Spidey?

It was no contest.

"The displays of personalities such as Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry
Potter
... as well as the irregular importation of unsanctioned computer games
and movies are all warning bells to the officials in the cultural arena"

"Danger! Destructive! Trojan Horse" usurping morals by showcasing Barbie and her ho'd out collection of skimpy skirts, super short shorty shorts, tank tops (unarmored) and flashes flesh.

And so important that a chief tormenter, nuclear spy hunter, killer commander, the Anti Petraeus - a real live Purging General had to handle it.

Najafabadi, a big fan of capitol punishment, is a politician too. Before getting the gig as the Supreme Leader's Top Cop, Dori's dossier describes a dauntless dissident destroyer. Defender of the Faith. Dori's murderers murdered dissidents like Darioush and Parvaneh Forouharanaged in Nov '98.

Iran's Enforcer of the Regime openly addressed the Iranian VP Vice President Parviz Davoudi in an open letter in an election year.

"These toys, which do not respect the required norms, present dangers for the
health of children and affect the survival of toy factories in this country."

"Mohammedist culture and revolutionary values” are being marginalized, and
under threat of onslaught.

“We need to find substitutes to ward off this onslaught, which aims at
children and young people whose personality is in the process of being
formed”


Substitutes for control may not be found. 'Besiji Bahar Bie!" Complete with camo cut offs and a blessed will to march quickly to her death for the Supreme Leader - ( in bloody 'Final Offensives' that were horrifically offensive) may not work either.


After all, since Barbie has been almost officially discouraged for years - parents are dissing the regime and eschewing Dara and Sarah. By extension dissing the theocracy.

A gross poureous veener of 'democracy' in a land frightened of Batman, Barbie, the web, free choice, egalitarianism.

It is so played. So fake.

Human Rights advocate Shirin Ebadi explains that politics with Preacher Command and their IRRGC fanboys is a waste of time.
"When reformist President Khatami was first elected to the presidency, he
got 22 million votes. A decade later when Ahmadinejad was elected...he only
got 14 million votes. Do these numbers speak to you?"

Yeah. Deploy the BRATZ.

6 comments:

  1. Let's load up a bunch of B-2 bombers with Barbies and drop them on Iran. We can add Captain America, GI Joe, Spiderman and Superman just for the boys.

    Won't the Great Satan drive the Mullahs crazy over that one?

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  2. Walking the streets of Tehran you can see that many young Iranian men and women really enjoy Western culture. American culture in particular. But, of course, this drives the mullahs nuts. So a crack down on Barbie; that hottie, independent blond, with great clothes, great body, nice jeep and the rest, is simply not what the mullahs want their young women to aspire too. From a strategic point of view that is who we need to keep on our side: the young Iranians. They make up almost 70 percent of the population. Maybe we should start piping in episodes of Bay Watch. That will really send the mullahs into orbit...after they've watched the entire episode of course.

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  3. A regime that's afraid of Barbie. Say no more.

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  4. Hi Findalsi. True - that would be a riot - though the BRATZ dolls are prob more feared than Barbie.

    The whole thing demostrates that a regime fearful of free choice may not last so long in the new millennium.

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  5. Hi Jeff - that is correct. Younger Iranians have had it with preachers running everything. They've been there done that and have the T shirt.

    The appeal of free choice, fun and all the cool stuff Great Satan reps is irresistable.

    ReplyDelete

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