The obligatory Iranian brothel post

General Reza Zarei, chief of the Iranian vice squad, was arrested in a Tehran whorehouse with six hookers.

In Iran, couples can get hassled or arrested for holding hands in public, and homosexuals can be sentenced to death. Yet prostitution flourishes, and the exploits of Gen. Zarei suggest why this is so. A little bribe, a little corruption, a little hypocrisy.

Actually, this arrest is perhaps a promising sign for Iran. If the whole society was into the fanatical Shi'ite Islam trip, then prostitutes and pimps would live in fear of their lives. Their neighbors would inform on them to police, or they would be beaten to death by mobs of devout Shi'ites. Instead, the whorehouses proliferate, the people look the other way, and the police are in on the scam.

Ergo, Islamic fundamentalism is not really pervasive among ordinary Iranians.