Gevalt. When the concept of personal liberty makes its way into the mullah population, you can bend over and kiss your theocracy goodbye. All self-respecting religious states want to lead people to paradise by force — it’s what they do. Going to paradise isn’t, like, a travel choice, one destination among others, in theocracies… It’s not like people in theocracies read Conde Nash Traveler and say hm Bali yes Melbourne no Paradise maybe… It’s more like Gershwin —
I’ll build a stairway to Paradise
With a new step ev’ry day!
I’m gonna get there at any price;
Stand aside, I’m on my way!
Any price! Which definitely includes the price of your basic freedoms. It’s an effing theocracy!
But now it begins to look as though the Iranian government is losing its commitment to forcing paradise down peoples’ throats, which means among other things it’s actively considering not beating non-hijabis to death.