Is Kim Kardashian actively trying to corrupt young Iranian women? Maybe.

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Kim Kardashian has already arrived in Cannes. She’s been posting photos, and my guess is that she’ll be around for the big amfAR gala in Cannes on Thursday night. She’s also there to shill diamonds, judging from this exclusive interview she did with People Magazine – go here to read. She barely says anything about her family, but she makes sure to talk about the de Grisogono jewelry. So, basically, People published a little advertisement for de Grisogono and tried to pass it off as gossip. Which is just the kind of thing I would expect from an international corrupter of young people and women. Did you know that Iranian bureaucrats have a major hate-on for all things Kim K.? They think that she’s some sort of social-media Manchurian Candidate, only cat-faced and focused on getting people to look at her naked selfies.

Iranian officials are questioning Kim Kardashian West’s Instagram popularity. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp – an organization tasked with protecting the country’s Islamic system and preventing foreign interference – has reportedly accused Kardashian West, 35, of working with Instagram as part of a complicated ploy to corrupt the Islamic republic’s lifestyle, targeting “young people and women” with provocative photos depicting a lifestyle at odds with Islam. According to a report from Iran Wire, a news website run by a group of Iranian journalists, the Organized Cyberspace Crimes Unit of the Revolutionary Guards targeted Kardashian West during an Iranian news program Sunday night.

“Ms. Kim Kardashian is a popular fashion model so Instagram’s CEO tells her, ‘Make this native,’ ” a spokesman for the unit, Mostafa Alizadeh, reportedly said. “There is no doubt that financial support is involved as well. We are taking this very seriously.”

While talking to PEOPLE in Cannes, Kardashian said the accusations were news to her, as well: “What? For who?” she said of the claims. “I just landed and came here [from the airport]. I have not heard that one. Thanks for the heads-up.”

According to the report, Alizadeh claimed the aim of Instagram’s CEO Kevin Systrom is to make fashion modeling native to Iran and that Kardashian West is implementing his scheme for him. (Kardashian’s paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Armenia, which shares a border with Iran.)

“They are targeting young people and women,” Alizadeh said, according to Iran Wire. “Foreigners are behind it because it is targeting families. These schemes originate from around the Persian Gulf and England. When you draw the operational graph, you will see that it is a foreign operation.”

The actions and statements are part of the OCCU’s long-running effort to combat “modeling and vulgarity” and illicit Instagram and Facebook usage, cracking down on “secret supporters and operators of Instagram” allegedly attempting to subvert the “Islamic Iranian lifestyle,” reports Iran Wire. Several women in Iran have reportedly been arrested, and Iran Wire reports Javad Babaee, supervisor of the Prosecutor’s Office for Media Crimes, also appeared during the Iranian news program and announced they have already warned 170 individuals, 29 of whom are being targeted for prosecution.

“Our aim is to teach them a lesson and make them wake up,” Babaee reportedly said.

At least some of the targeted Instagram accounts remain online, including the pages of Elnaz Golrokh and Hamid Fadaei, though their owners have left Iran.

[From People]

It’s all fun and games until some poor woman gets arrested and thrown in an Iranian jail for posting a duck-lip selfie online. Personally, I love a good a conspiracy and I was sitting here, really thinking about the claim that Kim is some kind of half-government, half-corporate stooge/operative trying to convince disaffected Iranian youths to pursue lives of self-indulgent narcissism and superficiality. And when you really think about it, it honestly doesn’t sound that f—king crazy, right? The only problem with the theory of the scheme is that every time Kim posts a photo of how she’s traveled alone on a private jet to the South of France (see below), it makes me want to declare a class war.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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60 Responses to “Is Kim Kardashian actively trying to corrupt young Iranian women? Maybe.”

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  1. Kimna says:

    God, I really wish she did something good for the world. She does nothing and it is so annoying, If she has all this power, followers and influence she should pick a cause and do something decent and then I would actually respect her. As far as I am concerned she travels around and does nothing. Such a waste…maybe choose polar bears, global warming, animal rescue…SOMETHING…ugh…

    • H says:

      +30,000

      All that influence and all we get is selfies.

      • Megan says:

        The Kardashians’ job is to provide an alternative reality for working slob like me. It’s entertaining escapism from the daily grind. I don’t expect them to do or be anything more than they are.

    • meme says:

      + a bajillion

      she could actually be a powerhouse if she chose to do something useful rather than take endless naked selfies of herself and have plastic surgery.

    • Trying says:

      They did go to Armenia for the anniversary. That was at least something and meant a lot to the people there. But yeah, utterly useless.

    • anna says:

      I think she is so successful BECAUSE she is superficial. She makes superficial people feel good about themselves – she actually sanctions their lack of aspirations. If she would pick a cause she would lose most of them. If she would be the one convincing millions of people with values and morals to change and embrace hers then she would be influential. But she s not. She appeals to the lowest in people s nature. Nobody or very few people change their ideas; they merely choose public figures to look up to when these figures touch on their existing values and beliefs.

    • Ashley says:

      The Kardashians, to be fair, do donate a percentage of all their earnings and do a lot of charity work that legitimately goes uncovered. So, there’s that.

      • RJ says:

        I call bullshit-they “donate” a lot to their sham of a church as a tax write off. Kim regularly does charity auctions on ebay where she only donates 10% of the auction proceeds. They are greedy grifters who lead an indulgent and vapid existence and contribute very little to the betterment of humanity.

      • Trillion says:

        I’m having a hard time believing they’d do anything that goes uncovered. Please include some legitimate links.

  2. NewWester says:

    Why is Kim in Cannes? She does not come across as the type of person to spend two hours watching a film.

  3. Willa says:

    Omg. She’s not that deep.

  4. Danielle says:

    Wait…are these pics recent? And kim is wearing a flattering dress? Someone call Kanye so he can intervene!

    • Melibea says:

      Lol

    • INeedANap says:

      Yeah the black dress looks flattering, comfortable, and just a little tacky in a fun way. But notice she’s not with Kanye, so…

      I have similar proportions to Kim so whenever she wears flattering clothing I take notes, but sometimes I think she should take notes from me.

  5. GoodNamesAllTaken says:

    So, wait…she’s a fashion model? That’s news. The Iranians seem to think everything is about them. It would be sort of funny if millions of women didn’t live under this kind of religious oppression. I can’t imagine the core of my faith being such fearful hatred.

    • Jill B says:

      I can imagine. I grew up in a religious family and we weren’t Muslim.

    • Nina says:

      The core of “their faith” may not necessarily be fearful hatred, but the objective of the political regime they live under clearly is.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      I didn’t mean to imply that these people speak for the Muslim religion or that Muslims are hateful. These people are to Islam what the Duggars are to Christianity, except arguably more dangerous because they are more powerful. I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear.

    • pinetree13 says:

      “Our aim is to teach them a lesson and make them wake up,” Babaee reportedly said.”

      That quote sent chills down my spine. So basically they want to punish women if they act with ANY AGENCY AT ALL about their own lives. They have so many restrictions on their real lives that maybe some Iranian women have found refuge being able to post what they like on Instagram.

      This whole post made me like Kim K a little bit….in that if she annoys these Psychos that’s a good thing to me! So sad for the women that were arrested. 🙁 Who knows what horrible fate awaits them. All for daring to express themselves harmlessly online.

    • Megan says:

      Religion is used as means of political oppression for both women and men in Iran. It is important to separate the politicalization of religion from the faith itself. They seldom have anything in common. Just look at Kim Davis. Pretty sure the central tenet of the New Testament isn’t hate and exclusion.

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        I completely agree.

      • Reddy says:

        Yes, living in Iran is no walk in the park. I work with young refugees who grew up there, most of them still have family living there, and even if they at some point do get a passport that technically would allow them to travel there legally, they have no realistic chance to ever do that as they very likely would not be allowed to leave the country again. So so sad.

  6. guest says:

    I don’t know. Kim Kardashian is a lot of things.
    She’s not a good role model. I don’t care how many times celeb say,” I don’t want to be a role model” well you are. Everyone is.
    Anything and everything you do can and will be up for judgement.
    People can look at your life and choices ,then could be inspired to do something similar.
    Kim teaches women to not stock up other areas in your life that isn’t how you look outwardly. Kim teaches women that how much money and how well known you are is all that matters. Kim promotes artificial beauty, and nothing else. Rather she means to or not this is what she and her family put out there.
    That is harmful to young girls and boys who think that working on the outside is more important then being a well adjusted,interesting,smart individual.
    Though, I’m not sure about this claim.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      It’s harmful, I agree. But in a free society, you have all kinds of ideas and information at your disposal and YOU decide what to take in an what to reject. These people want to control what their women see for fear that they might not do exactly what they are “supposed” to do according to these perverts – serve men and stay covered up and out of sight, without opinions or rights. It’s sickening.

    • Mare says:

      She may claim that she doesn’t want to be a role model, but everything she does screams the opposite.

    • Otaku Fairy says:

      She’s definitely not someone to put on a pedestal (not a good idea anyway, no matter who we’re talking about) but between the two choices- some vapid reality tv star who’s just there vs. a group of powerful government officials using a religion to control, abuse, and brainwash people- she’s definitely not the worse role model of the two here, or the one who’s mentality I’m more scared about men, women, and children imitating.

  7. Naya says:

    “Kim is some kind of corporate stooge trying to convince disaffected youths around the world to pursue lives of self-indulgent narcissism and superficiality.”

    ftfy

  8. Goodnight says:

    Honestly? Yes, it does sound fucking crazy lol
    They are completely paranoid, it would crack me up so badly that anyone would think Instagram (which is completely devoid of substance) would be making this stand against Islam and family except women have actually been arrested so it isn’t funny.

    • swak says:

      Apparently two models are also on the run (one male, one female). It truly isn’t funny. Plus, she’s not the only one who uses instagram to post selfies – and naked ones at that.

  9. Melibea says:

    While talking to PEOPLE in Cannes, Kardashian said the accusations were news to her, as well: “What? For who?” she said of the claims. “I just landed and came here [from the airport]. I have not heard that one. Thanks for the heads-up.”

    Nobody believes that Kim, we all know you google yourself all day long!!

  10. paolanqar says:

    I would love to see what she would do in a distopian world where there is no electricity, like in that tv show called ‘Revolution’.
    A life with no internet and no reason to brag about her life?
    She would die within minutes.

  11. DiamondGirl says:

    “Iran? That’s, like, silly. I never ran anywhere, like that would be really hard in these shoes.”

  12. MrsBPitt says:

    As offensive as the Kardashians are, I am grateful that I live in a free society, were I have the right to watch and make fun of everything these “do nothings” do! MY CHOICE!

  13. Elosaurus says:

    Can someone get rid of this person already? She doesn’t want to leave us alone!

  14. ItDoesntReallyMatter says:

    Islam, the “religion of love”- unless you are a woman, LGBT, or not Muslim. Sigh. I can’t even fathom living somewhere that arrests women for not covering their hair or stones them to death if they are thought to have had an affair.

    So glad I live in the US, even if I have to be exposed to naked images of the Kardashians… 😉

    • Bros says:

      it may surprise you to know that well over half of university students in Iran are women-highly educated female population. women can drive (as opposed to Saudi arabia), start businesses, get loans, etc. If I had to pick one place to be a woman in the middle east, aside from Tunisia, it would be Iran.

      the conservative factions of the Iranian government (Revolutionary guard corps, loyal to the supreme leader and not president rouhani, judiciary, and the conservatives in parliament) is right now freaking out because the nuclear deal has thrown the doors of Iran wide open and they are seeing a huge influx of foreign investment, foreign tourism, and the media borders seem more open than ever, which means a constant stream of information from the West, threatening whatever lock remained on the media environment that the government was trying desperately to maintain. This has them in a tail spin as they are very nervous about being able to preserve the values and spirit of the revolution in the face of this overheated race to Iran, and that is why they are targeting models on instagram, dual-nationals who return home to do investments (calling them economic spies etc), and other kind of random, illogical, and unpredictable things. They are afraid of maintaining influence and control as the country moves inexorably in another direction.

      • ItDoesntReallyMatter says:

        My BIL is Iranian and my sister has visited twice. I agree, the people want freedom and I wish they had it. 🙁

      • pinetree13 says:

        Yeah they’re university educated and they can start their own businesses if they have money…but will they get anywhere if they work for a corporation? No. The society is incredibly sexist and against women. It’s no Afghanistan, but it’s not a society that’s any where close to as fair to women as the “western” world is (not to say, of course, that the western world is fair too women but at least it’s closer)

    • Lex says:

      In the 70s, Iran was progressive and a great place to live generally. There are photos of women at Uni wearing ‘western clothes’ – then the oppressive regime came in and it was back to the stone ages – cover this, hide that, don’t do this etc.
      It must be so hard for men and women in their 50s and 60s to see their kids and grandkids growing up in this world when they had it literally SO much better as youth. It’s normally the other way around – the world gets more progressive with time, not less… Sad 🙁

    • Ange says:

      A lot of us from outside the US look at your crazy right wing Christian ideologies and are rather glad we don’t live there.

      • Lady D says:

        I’m outside the US and I would pick it over Iran in a heartbeat. The States at least give you the choice of joining a religion.

      • Sheila says:

        I think you’re confusing “what a group of loud people try to make other people like” with “things the government can make you do”. We (the US) have so many wacky religious groups because we’re *not* a theocracy. The government is *not* allowed to tell people what to think or believe, *including the crazy fringe groups*.

        It is literally written into our constitution. I mean, I live in a state which has the highest population of atheists in the country, and even the people who belong to an organized religion have the lowest reported number of attendees of regular religious services. And here’s the thing? No one has come to force these people to go to church. Or told them what color nailpolish they’re allowed to wear (our only law about clothing is that you must be wearing some)

        the mere fact that Kim Kardashian is famous and that her way of getting famous is not considered particularly strange or novel but in Iran, she’s considered a threat to their entire way of life, indicates that there is a SIGNIFICANT FRIGGING DIFFERENCE between the US and Iran.

        Also funny to me- everyone’s commenting “why doesn’t she do something serious?” But when she called out the WSJ on their approval of an Armenian Genocide denial ad, people mocked her and complained “why doesn’t she just shut up, no one wants to hear a socialite’s opinions on politics”.

    • Leen says:

      Not all Muslim-majority countries are like that. I’m an atheist Palestinian woman and I live in Palestine, and we’ve got bars and clubs here, where alcohol flows and women can wear whatever they want. surprisingly, there’s also a hookup culture (I spotted two people going at it in the bathrooms of a bar in Ramallah, so there ya go).

      I lived in Europe and the states for 6 years so I’m aware of the liberites and lifestyle that these places offer but other places aren’t that bad really.

  15. Zuzus girl says:

    Never thought I would be Team Iranian government! lol. (I kid… or do I?)

  16. Lynnie says:

    Wait so is Instagram use banned in Iran? Why would they arrest models for posting selfies? That’s their job?? I hope everyone arrested makes it out ok.

    • Bros says:

      instagram is blocked, but everyone uses VPNs and circumvention tools to use it. it’s not their job to post selfies without hijab, because hijab in ‘public’ is compulsory. the internet is considered semi public, or at least ‘policeable.’ people who want jobs affiliated with the government or at a university, for example, are careful not to post pics of themselves on facebook without a headscarf, or drinking alcohol, because it is common practice to check someone’s facebook profile during the hiring process (even though facebook is also blocked). modeling in Iran is not a true ‘industry’ like it is here, and exists mainly marketed on online social network platforms, like instagram and facebook-it’s an underground economy. see my above comment for why the gov is going out of its way to crack down on stuff it’s been ignoring for a number of years.

  17. Persephone says:

    Glad to see there’s good use for her. It’s very easy for Westerners to not understand just how oppressive it is for women in these countries where they’re all forced to cover head to toe in a black (in extremely hot weather) uniform with severe consequences for not complying. The idea behind full covering is that any woman who is not is ‘ uncovered meat’ and therefore asking for sexual assault. That’s a dangerous mentality that keeps women in fear and imprisoned within patriarchial culture.

    In Iran now there’s a lot of rebellion among the young (naturally), when everybody agitates together there is less ability to crack down from the establishment and greater chance of achieving freedom. Images are important because they change the mentality and mentality is what changes the culture which is why the religious are so fearful. They know once they lose control there is no going back and that images are more important than words. Hence why advertisers use imagery rather than lectures to sell their products.