{"id":3605,"date":"2016-05-13T20:40:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T01:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=3605"},"modified":"2016-05-13T20:40:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-14T01:40:00","slug":"agents-of-morality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2016\/05\/13\/agents-of-morality\/","title":{"rendered":"Agents of Morality"},"content":{"rendered":"

A number of publications have reported on the deployment of 7000 undercovers agents of morality in Iran. Here’s a typical report<\/a> from The Manila Times<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

Police in Iran\u2019s capital have a network of 7,000 undercover agents whose job is to inform police of alleged moral transgressors in the Islamic republic, a top official said Monday.<\/p>\n

Bad veiling \u2014 covering the head is mandatory for women in Iran \u2014 and anti-social behavior is among the crimes the force has been tasked with tackling.<\/p>\n

The men and women\u2019s \u201cundercover patrols will confront implicit transgressions in the city,\u201d according to General Hossein Sajedinia, Tehran\u2019s police chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cConfronting bad hijab and removal of veils inside cars, driving recklessly, parading in the streets, harassing women and stopping noise pollution are the priorities\u201d for the agents, he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A somewhat incoherent response<\/a> was published on MatarAndRosset.com<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

\n

Spurn attention of reprisals, millions of Iranian women, defy the restrictions on a cursory stand by get-up-and-go at the boundaries.<\/p>\n

Iranian leading, still, fate to insist on the issuing, eve though the way masses coif reveals where many Iranians stand.<\/p>\n

Mend wearing the traditional chaddar, which covers women cap-a-pie, was the mean in the initial years aft the revolution, about women are now erosion the Iranian-style manteau, a cap worn below the knees, and a looser-fitting headscarf.<\/p>\n

Observers in Tehran say an increasing play of women do not wear headscarves go capricious and the latest fashions hold manteaus without buttons on the front.<\/p>\n

Diplomats and noncitizen dignitaries are not exempted from the regulations<\/b>.\u00a0In a former accompanying, the female foreign curate of India, Sushma Swaraj, came chthonian brobdingnagian attack online this week for coat her head during a meeting with the Iranian chairman, Hassan Rouhani .<\/p>\n

Earlier in April, Air France, which recently resumed flights to Tehran afterwards an eight-year abatement, said its female cabin lot can scorn flights to Iran subsequently protests by a numerical of the crew members o\u2019er the compulsory hijab.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Iran Wire<\/strong><\/em> notes that, along with Supreme Leaders Khamenei, two Iranian MPs support<\/a> the undercover agents:<\/p>\n

And Khamenei is far from alone. He enjoys strong support from various conservative groups including the hardline \u201cprinciplist\u201d faction in Iran\u2019s parliament. Among the principlists are two women MPs, Sakineh Omrani and Laleh Eftekhari, who spoke to IranWire.<\/p>\n

Omrani, an MP from Semirom, says this undercover project will safeguard the dignity of women and reduce sexual harassment. \u201cIf a woman\u2019s hijab is proper, then nobody would dare to harass her,\u201d she says. \u201cProper hijab attracts less attention to women and prevents the committing of sin. The project is also a warning to those who want to violate the honor of women by telling them to be careful about how they behave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Omrani points out that according to the police commander, undercover agents are not allowed to confront violators themselves and can only report violations. \u201cThis project is certain to improve the situation of hijab in the country,\u201d she adds. Omrani says all Islamic laws are designed to benefit women. \u201cIf women observe the laws of Islam,\u201d she says, \u201cthey will learn how much respect and dignity Islam gives them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Omrani believes that the more conservative a woman\u2019s hijab is, the more the society will respect her. \u201cNobody dares to harass a woman in hijab or look at her in a vile and disgusting way.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, I ask her, aren\u2019t undercover morality patrols a violation of people\u2019s privacy? \u201cNo,\u201d she says. \u201cIn our society, promotion of virtue is valued highly and many people practice it. Undercover patrols are promoters of virtue, but instead of confronting the person directly they inform the police, who put the promotion of virtue into action.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which strikes me as avoiding the question. She could have simply said that privacy is not as important as virtue; and the entire point seems to be, like some Americans, the belief that ideology will best reality.\u00a0AL Monitor<\/strong><\/em> talks<\/a> to an expert on sociological\u00a0matters:<\/p>\n

Haleh Mirmiri, a cultural studies expert and sociologist, highlighted violations of people’s freedoms and also increasing violations of privacy in an interview with Al-Monitor. Mirmiri described the undercover agents as “private eyes or cameras” that have become a “capillary network” among marginalized members of society. She told Al-Monitor, “Previous supervision [of morality] was unsuccessful as people resisted it. This new form of supervision is just a weakened version of the old one. The political establishment keeps instilling censorship in people up to a point where eventually there will not be a clear means of distinguishing between ‘self’ and ‘other,’ and we start to become suspicious of even ourselves. In such a society, even one’s own parents can be undercover morality agents.”<\/p>\n

In Mirmiri’s telling, the most damaging aspect of the new policing project is the harm to what she called “social capital.” She told Al-Monitor that the telltale signs that identify the people watching your conduct “are no longer people’s outfits and appearances. \u2026 For instance, having facial hair, staring at the ground and wearing loose shirts and pants can no longer be indicative that the person is a representative of the establishment. Now, even people who dress like we do can use aggressive speech against us [to enforce moral codes]. \u2026 When the means of social navigation are removed, security and trust will be damaged as a result.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I cannot help but contrast this with the doom and gloom attitude of some of America’s social conservatives at the apparent triumph of Trump over Cruz. One sample<\/a> from Politico<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

If he doesn\u2019t find someone acceptable to evangelical leaders, he risks completely turning off some of the party\u2019s most dedicated activists, a key part of the traditional GOP base \u2014 and a problem as he tries to erase his deficit in the polls against likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Trump is going to be successful against Hillary, he\u2019s going to need the Tony Perkinses of the world, the Dr. [James] Dobsons, the Bob Vander Plaatses engaging and encouraging their networks,\u201d Vander Plaats said. \u201cRight now, I don\u2019t see a lot of that. I see a lot of people with huge cause for concern. We really don\u2019t know what we\u2019re going to get with Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe choice is not him or Hillary,\u201d added Nance, the head of Concerned Women for America, a prominent conservative group focused on bringing \u201cbiblical principles\u201d to public policy. \u201cThe choice is him or don\u2019t vote. … That\u2019s really my concern, that people just stay home.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I know I read a much better article on this subject, but cannot find it at the moment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A number of publications have reported on the deployment of 7000 undercovers agents of morality in Iran. Here’s a typical report from The Manila Times: Police in Iran\u2019s capital have a network of 7,000 undercover agents whose job is to inform police of alleged moral transgressors in the Islamic republic, \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3605"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3606,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605\/revisions\/3606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}