I don't want to trivialize what's happening in Iran right now.  It's hugely significant when a people rise up in great numbers like this.  So what if so-called reform candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi isn't exactly Mahatma Gandhi.  As one Iranian commentator put it: even Satan is to the Left of Ahmadinejad.  Democracy doesn't guarantee you'll necessarily have a good choice.  A lot of the time it's the lesser of two evils.  

But, aside from all that, it is always stirring to see people take to the streets in a revolutionary fashion.  And anyone who has been through one can tell you, revolution and fashion go hand in hand.  Especially when, as in Iran, roughly 60 percent of the population is under 30, and roughly as many of them are hot as anywhere else.  And I'm not even talking about their soccer team....


What is way hotter than hot guys chasing after a ball on the pitch?  Hot guys chasing dreams of democracy on the streets of Tehran!...


But the most iconic image for me so far is this one: 


Now, what makes this such a hot shot is that you've got the guy on the left, who's military, and the guy on the right, who's sheltering him, with the green shirt — that would indicate that he's a demonstrator.  The cop was getting the shit kicked out of him by a bunch of other demonstrators until this one came along and saved his ass.  "Randy young soldier rescued by tender-hearted rebel realizes the error of his ways and switches sides."  If that's not porn-hot, I don't know what is. 

We know that love is forged in revolution, and as terrible as the struggle against tyranny is, the bonds formed in rising up against it are immortal.