Screen shot 2011-01-14 at 11.39.18 PM

One reply on “Screen shot 2011-01-14 at 11.39.18 PM”

I think that the overthrow of the Shah was supported by duplication of smuggled audio cassettes with the speeches of Ayatollah Khomeini who was in exile in Paris. Of course, his credibility was aided by the Shah’s father who took away the riches of the Ayatollahs and made them a credible opposition to the government. Keep in mind that this use of smuggled speeches would not have been possible with the preceding technology of phonograph records which could not be duplicated without large, specialized equipment.

Technology does matter. Abdul Nasser siezed the radio station in Egypt. That is no longer necessary or sufficient. The days of government surviving by controlling radio and TV stations and the printing presses is over. That is why George Soros started his Open Society Institute by funding mimeograph machines in Hungary and Eastern Europe. Some of us are sadly old enough to remember the intoxicating smell of these machines.

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