Iran’s Islamic revolution was the first electronically networked modern revolution

Evidence

The Islamic revolution in Iran was the first truly modern revolution of the electronic age. Khomeini was the first charismatic orator who sent his oratory from abroad to millions of his compatriots at home on cassettes; he was the first revolutionary leader in exile who directed his fol­ lowers at home by telephone, thanks to the direct dialing that the shah had introduced in Iran. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1124

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what did cassette-distributed sermons change about how religious authority circulated versus the mosque network that preceded it?
• SEED: An essay angle: the technology paradox of the 1979 revolution — the shah’s own modernization infrastructure (direct dialing) was turned against him by the clerics.