While the world watched major modern revolutions over the past few weeks, some of the people who had the most influence and impact aren’t quite so quick to take their due credit. Sure, the protestors and citizens of Egypt and Tunisia were at the center of their respective protests, but what about the biggest player – Mark Zuckerberg? OK, maybe Facebook wasn’t totally responsible for the Egyptian revolution, but the spread of social media and networking made us all much more aware of what was going down. Sort of like recaps of Glee, but actually important and not terrible.
But whereas Hosni Mubarak eventually got the message and stepped down, Iran’s leaders are taking a little bit of a different approach to the public protests popping up in Tehran. Instead of drawing on the complaints of citizens, lawmakers have called for the killings of the opposition leaders. And it’s not like a guy just said something like, “Ugh, I wish someone would just kill that guy” in tasteless passing. No, they’re chanting the names of the people they want to kill in government sessions. Memo to self: don’t turn in election application for Iranian parliament.
So what has this sudden global urge for change taught public leaders here on American soil? Well, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, it has taught leaders to openly mock those who question them. As a few hundred protestors and supporters gathered to voice their opinions over the city’s debt and other various local topics, Harrisburg mayor Linda Thompson stood in the window of her office and smiled at her neighbors and fellow Harrisburgers concerned for their town’s future and she gave them all a pair of thumbs down. Maybe they should take their protest to Facebook.
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- Facebook officials refuse to take credit for their site’s revolutionary role. (UPI)
- Iranian leaders call for the death of protest organizers. Next: pleated khakis. (CNN)
- Town mayor tells residents, registered voters what she thinks of them. (Penn Live)
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- A South Korean man made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight in 2011 and now his bank is holding him to it. Hana Bank has a program that rewards its customers who enroll in a weight loss plan, as their savings account interest rates go up as their weight goes down. In related news, most Americans think a savings account is something a unicorn has. (Yahoo!)
- A good way to lose weight? Lay off the chocolate, especially if it’s laced with LSD. A Houston-area man was arrested for possession of hallucinogenic chocolates after a month-long police investigation that linked him to what they believe may be a much larger marijuana ring. Buzzkill, man. (Chron)
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- In 2009, approximately 1,391,000 protestors hit the streets in Iran, and it is believed that roughly 1,470 of those people were arrested, while 184 people died. Oh, I should mention that those numbers were only as of July 2009. I’m sure it all got much better, though. (Iran Tracker)
- By June of 2008, more than 3,000 people associated with Anonymous were protesting Scientology around the world. That was down from almost 9,000 in March. Don’t worry, though. Nobody died. They just realized there were 1 billion more important things going on. (CNC Family)
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