Hot on the heels of Iran's parliamentary elections, Iran's Culture Ministry has just closed nine movie, celeb, and lifestyle magazines for publishing pictures and stories about the life of "corrupt" foreign film stars and promoting "superstitions."
Waiting until after the election (counting is still under way, though it's expected that the conservatives will retain power) was a move some suspect would discourage retribution at the ballot box. To see the official reason for the shuttering of the pubs and what this means for the future of Iran, read more.
The ministry closed down the mags for,
using photos of artists, especially foreign corrupt film stars, as instruments (to arouse desire), publishing details about their decadent private lives, propagating medicines without authorization, promoting superstitions.
The closures may be a harbinger of more government censorship to come. Iran has already seen a wave of newspaper closures amid a confrontation between reformers and hard-liners in the past ten years, and the judiciary has shut down more than 100 pro-reform newspapers jailing dozens of editors and writers since 2000.
While access to pictures of celebrities might not seem crucial, it's a canary down the mineshaft of freedom of thought. Do you think this is a step closer to tyranny, or just a government protecting the religious sensibilities of their people? What would you do if your government denied you access to PopSugar or Us Weekly?
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Ooh, I would be like so pissed.
1Sad state of affairs.
2
Ridiculous. Just one more step for them to control everything.
3
if my government refused access to popsugar? Well I'd take that rifle that as an individual
I'm allowed to own (thanks to the second amendment), I'd get cine and cabaker and shop and we'd 
all the way to the White House.
4i can understand that there a differences in cultures and what's acceptable and the sort - but i think that sometimes things are taken a bit too far. i'm sure i'd survive w/o US Weekly and things of that nature - but i'm glad that i'm not in a place where i have to worry about that.
i like my popculture!
5
Syako! 
I would die w/out my Popsugar, FabSugar, and Citizensugar!
6It makes work go by soooo faster!
7Arousing desire? Oh no, we cant be having that!
8Syako! I am IN!!!!!!
9This hyper-sexualizing view always makes me laugh here at home as well. It reminds me of the huge kerfuffle over Janet Jackson's nipple and the draping of the Statue of Justice by Ashcroft to hide her historical breasts. If we MUST have censorship, what I would rather see censored is graphic violence. In this latest spate of gratuitous torture films for example, which sexualize torture. (Anyone else find that a disturbing trend?) It is interesting to note that a very recent DVD in which a woman is kidnapped and tortured - that is the entire plot evidently - was delayed in its release because despite the graphic images of torture on the back of the cover, there was also a nipple! And that was one nipple too many!
Is the government protecting me from the sight of a nipple a canary indicating things to come?
10Am I missing an angry
?
Count me in. I don't know what we are protesting but I need to get rid of some of my spare torches.
11im an iranian, and my government has blocked thousands of websites such as music and games and more, but ofcors no1 does any thing about it, because no1 dares to but i would feel so sad if i didnt have my sugar network any more coz i really come to like it
12I would die.
13good thing I'm not a celebrity
14of course how can you resist the power of Reese's adorable smile?
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