Also
I have a question. Maybe somebody can answer.
How the fuck is it that any country can impose all these rules on other countries?
So I knew a guy from Iran.
From Instagram. He made 3d printable models (really unique and interesting ones with the theme of dead head moths, tigers, other moths. Skulls. here is a link to a few pictures of ones I printed. https://imgur.com/a/uI3CnA1
)
Anyway. I chatted with him a bit. I suggested some filaments. And he disclosed he was from Iran.
That’s when I learned of some crazy shit.
He told me he couldn’t get the filament because it’s no one will ship filament to Iran except some sellers in China.
1 roll of filament ($25) is almost equivalent to a Full months income there for most people.
He said he had some off brand Chinese printer because no one else would ship him one.
And that the U.S bans other countries from doing business with Iran.
I asked him about how he learned his 3d skills. Said he was a medical device engineer as his day job.
Said he often worked 12 hr shifts.
He made way more designing his 3d art models and selling the model files. He has a patreon like a lot of designers. So he makes like $700 USD a month through that, which is way more than he could make as a medical engineer in Iran.
He also told me no one in Iran is allowed to use PayPal. So it’s been hard to sell his art internationally.
He was married and had a kid.
A few months ago his Instagram was deleted.
I don’t know what happened.
I don’t know if he and his family are okay.
I don’t know anything else.
I worry about him all the time. He’s just some artist. You know? Just like anyone else. Just trying to survive and give the world his art. And idk. I just think about how fucked all this is.
Thanks for sharing this story. The care you feel for him comes through strongly in your comment. I appreciate being able to have a small insight into the life of one Iranian person; it’s not much, but I’ve found this kind of thing to be a helpful way to anchor my concern around the current conflict in compassion for my fellow humans, rather than disconnected geopolitics.
I think this story will stick with me. I wonder whether the weight of your worry will feel a little lighter now that you’re not the only person carrying it. I hope he and his family are doing okay. I hope he is able to someday see a world where his art can reach more people like you.
I tracked down his patreon and showed activity about a month ago. So maybe he just doesn’t have Instagram anymore. I will try to reach out to him on patreon.
This is due to a bunch of big, powerful countries teaming up and bullying everybody else.
Why do you think it’s such a big deal if Iran has nuclear weapons? After all, the US has nuclear weapons. Russia has nuclear weapons. Israel has nuclear weapons. So why can’t Iran have nuclear weapons?
Because if Iran had nuclear weapons, then those big and powerful nations might have to give Iran a seat at the table. It wouldn’t be so easy pushing Iran around anymore, because if you pointed nuclear missiles at Iran, you’d have nuclear missiles pointing right back at you.
Personally, I don’t think that any country should have nukes. They’re too dangerous. I think that all countries should be working towards mutual nuclear disarmament. This can be done through treaties and so on. But if any country is allowed to have them, then every country should be allowed to have them.
That’s a really dangerous thought. Certainly no nation should have nukes, but increasing the number who have them just makes it more likely they’ll be used. Civilizational survival is more important than fairness here.
We survived the Cold War because of “Mutually Assured Destruction” and no one in their right mind would let this happen. But it came down to one person disobeying an order at least once. It would be insane to trust the survival of civilization on this assumption
It would be “mad” to multiply the number of ways we can destroy ourselves and believe MAD will save us
The US should be working towards disarmament, and they’ve been going in the opposite direction. It’s hypocritical for the US to demand that other nations not have nukes when they’re stockpiling them.
You know the fucked up secondary thing about this was I was telling my mom about him and how I was worried if something happened to him. And she was more concerned I was probably talking to a terrorist.
Right.
So he spends all this time designing models and building a following just to …I guess talk to random Americans about filament But is covertly trying to do a terrorism ?
I guess the “pro sanctions” argument would be that countries have very few ways to influence each other: political pressure (asking nicely), economic pressure (sanctions to make the country poor), and military pressure (bombs). And that hey at least it’s not bombs (until it is).
But just like with bombs, sanctions will always hurt a ton of people who were just trying to live their lives and did not want to be part of the conflict.
What a play.
Also I have a question. Maybe somebody can answer.
How the fuck is it that any country can impose all these rules on other countries?
So I knew a guy from Iran.
From Instagram. He made 3d printable models (really unique and interesting ones with the theme of dead head moths, tigers, other moths. Skulls. here is a link to a few pictures of ones I printed. https://imgur.com/a/uI3CnA1 )
Anyway. I chatted with him a bit. I suggested some filaments. And he disclosed he was from Iran.
That’s when I learned of some crazy shit.
He told me he couldn’t get the filament because it’s no one will ship filament to Iran except some sellers in China.
1 roll of filament ($25) is almost equivalent to a Full months income there for most people.
He said he had some off brand Chinese printer because no one else would ship him one.
And that the U.S bans other countries from doing business with Iran.
I asked him about how he learned his 3d skills. Said he was a medical device engineer as his day job. Said he often worked 12 hr shifts.
He made way more designing his 3d art models and selling the model files. He has a patreon like a lot of designers. So he makes like $700 USD a month through that, which is way more than he could make as a medical engineer in Iran.
He also told me no one in Iran is allowed to use PayPal. So it’s been hard to sell his art internationally.
He was married and had a kid.
A few months ago his Instagram was deleted. I don’t know what happened.
I don’t know if he and his family are okay.
I don’t know anything else.
I worry about him all the time. He’s just some artist. You know? Just like anyone else. Just trying to survive and give the world his art. And idk. I just think about how fucked all this is.
While the US is certainly to blame for that to a large extent, a lot of them problems are also home made.
Thanks for sharing this story. The care you feel for him comes through strongly in your comment. I appreciate being able to have a small insight into the life of one Iranian person; it’s not much, but I’ve found this kind of thing to be a helpful way to anchor my concern around the current conflict in compassion for my fellow humans, rather than disconnected geopolitics.
I think this story will stick with me. I wonder whether the weight of your worry will feel a little lighter now that you’re not the only person carrying it. I hope he and his family are doing okay. I hope he is able to someday see a world where his art can reach more people like you.
I tracked down his patreon and showed activity about a month ago. So maybe he just doesn’t have Instagram anymore. I will try to reach out to him on patreon.
This is due to a bunch of big, powerful countries teaming up and bullying everybody else.
Why do you think it’s such a big deal if Iran has nuclear weapons? After all, the US has nuclear weapons. Russia has nuclear weapons. Israel has nuclear weapons. So why can’t Iran have nuclear weapons?
Because if Iran had nuclear weapons, then those big and powerful nations might have to give Iran a seat at the table. It wouldn’t be so easy pushing Iran around anymore, because if you pointed nuclear missiles at Iran, you’d have nuclear missiles pointing right back at you.
Personally, I don’t think that any country should have nukes. They’re too dangerous. I think that all countries should be working towards mutual nuclear disarmament. This can be done through treaties and so on. But if any country is allowed to have them, then every country should be allowed to have them.
That’s a really dangerous thought. Certainly no nation should have nukes, but increasing the number who have them just makes it more likely they’ll be used. Civilizational survival is more important than fairness here.
We survived the Cold War because of “Mutually Assured Destruction” and no one in their right mind would let this happen. But it came down to one person disobeying an order at least once. It would be insane to trust the survival of civilization on this assumption
It would be “mad” to multiply the number of ways we can destroy ourselves and believe MAD will save us
The US should be working towards disarmament, and they’ve been going in the opposite direction. It’s hypocritical for the US to demand that other nations not have nukes when they’re stockpiling them.
Yeah I agree with you.
Every country should have nukes, humans are too dangerous
He wasn’t “just some artist,” he was your friend.
You know the fucked up secondary thing about this was I was telling my mom about him and how I was worried if something happened to him. And she was more concerned I was probably talking to a terrorist.
Right.
So he spends all this time designing models and building a following just to …I guess talk to random Americans about filament But is covertly trying to do a terrorism ?
I’m still angry about that.
Well, he’s Iranian. Aren’t they all terrorists? That’s what we’ve been hearing for the last half century.
I hope you find your friend safe.
My mother once asked me how I knew the people I was playing CS:Source with weren’t all pedophiles. I was 18 at the time.
Moms can be dumb.
Just wait til you find out about sanctions on food and medical supplies haha
I guess the “pro sanctions” argument would be that countries have very few ways to influence each other: political pressure (asking nicely), economic pressure (sanctions to make the country poor), and military pressure (bombs). And that hey at least it’s not bombs (until it is).
But just like with bombs, sanctions will always hurt a ton of people who were just trying to live their lives and did not want to be part of the conflict.
I hope your friend gets by OK.
This is nothing new https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Soviet_invasion_of_Iran