As John Limbert, the erudite Iran scholar and retired US diplomat (taken hostage in Iran for 444 days) once reflected on the 1979 Iranian revolution, “Our liberal-minded Iranian friends proved to be helpless in political turmoil....[T]hey could write biting editorials,” but lacked the stomach to “throw acid, beat up opponents, organize street gangs...and engage in the brutality that wins” in political uprisings.
正如约翰·林伯特，知识渊博的伊朗学者和退休美国外交官（曾在伊朗作为人质被关押了444天），对1979年伊朗革命的反思：“我们有着自由主义思想的伊朗朋友在政治骚乱中被证明是那样地无助……他们可以写一些辛辣的社论”，但是却缺乏勇气“投掷硫酸、殴打反对者、组织街头团伙……以及使用暴力来赢得”政治地位的上升。