Wow! I just got done facebook chatting with a friend who is in Tehran. It made me feel even guiltier for not finding the time to write about what’s going on over there.  To my credit, I’ve had a lot on my plate - a major move, a death, and a television pitch.

Still, that’s no excuse. Our peers in Iran are putting themselves on the line, and one thing that I keep asking myself is: would America’s youth respond the same way if our election was stolen? First of all, I don’t think you can compare this to Bush v Gore in 2000. But if I had to draw a parallel, it would be to Bush running for a third term in 2008 and winning a clear victory. You’re probably saying to yourself, “impossible!”, or “that could never happen”. Well, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (note: I won’t call him president) did exactly that - he pulled off the seemingly impossible. Even the Guardian Council (Iran’s election body) acknowledged that there was election fraud. They pointed out that there were 50 districts where the number of voters exceeded the number of people who lived there, or to put another way, an additional 3 million votes. The opposing candidates allege there was a much greater margin but the number is almost irrelevant at this point…The fact is - the election was stolen - and to say otherwise is insulting. This brings me back to my original question: would we respond the same way if it happened here?

I already addressed the parallels between stolen elections, so let’s move onto the next topic - cyber activism. One could argue that we’re doing all right in that department because Americans are providing Iranians with proxy IP addresses that allow them to avoid government censors. Is this just a way to feel like we’re doing our part with out really having to put ourselves on the line?  What would it take for America’s youth to sacrifice their bodies the way Iranian students are doing as I write this?

Enough cyber activism, I need to get some sleep…!

Mark Korshak is the founder and Executive Producer of Project Youthanize. He is the writer and producer of the “Youthanized” documentary, “Millennial News Briefs”, and “The Civic Life”. He is also the creative editor of projectyouthanize.org.

More Info

Obama condemns response to protesters 

Cyber activism 

The presidents official statement on Iran

video of Neda Salehi bleeding to death