The U.S. assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani has illustrated quite well how little many in the West know about the realities on the ground in the various Middle Eastern countries. The killing was instantly politicized domestically by Democrats, as if yet another reason to "remove Trump" in the ongoing attempted coup d'etat against the nation's elected president.
Remarkably ignorant Hollywood stars and the Democratic left reacted as though the military leader, head of Iranian covert operations and militia groups, were some kind of "peace dove" on endless diplomatic missions.
It seems to us Europeans that many in the United States live behind Soviet walls in their utter ignorant perception of the international world. The Herland Report recently spoke to Virginia State Sen. Richard Black on this topic. Hollywood actress Rose McGowan's tweet serves as an example: "Dear #Iran. The USA has disrespected your country, your flag, your people. 52% of us humbly apologize. We want peace with your nation. We are being held hostage by a terrorist regime. We do not know how to escape. Please do not kill us. #Soleimani."
McGowan, who states in her Twitter account that "I am here to make society better" (sic), actually says the United States is "being held hostage by a terrorist regime" when President Trump is the people's elected president. She thereby openly states that she does not respect the outcome of democratic elections.
When a president is duly and constitutionally elected by the people in the nation, McGowan thinks that makes it a "terrorist regime"? The stupidity is unbelievable. The Hollywood actresses who praise the Iranian system would not even be allowed to land in Tehran without putting on total Islamic veils and covering even the slightest part of her hair, arms, legs and so on.
Let them try to start demanding "free speech" in Iran, for example, and the building of Christian churches, for that matter. McGowan is but one example of the same phenomenon engulfing the West:
We have this chronic tendency to categorize reality into either "good" or "bad" nations or politicians. Some countries are considered "good," others "evil regimes," corresponding to the geopolitical quest for territorial dominion.
The left, whose "benevolent billionaires" own the U.S. media, do all in their power to demonize Trump. Anything Trump does is "evil," regardless of what the president says or does. Anything Hillary Clinton says, on the other hand, is "great, just and should be listened to." Had it been "the good" Obama sending off drones and killing Middle Easterners, chances are he would receive the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize for it.
We get it. The idea is that the world is divided between "good" and "evil" – "Trump is evil" and "Iran is paradise on earth." Israel is "evil" too. "All Jews are bad" and "all Iranians are good"? The degree of anti-Semitism today is unbelievable.
The childish, Disney-like portrayal of nations or politicians, idealized in a "black and white" setting, is extremely dangerous. It does not correspond to reality and sends its believers into a world of utopianism.
The categorization technique serves yet another purpose – maybe the most important: It gives a nation an outer enemy, something "evil to fight." Iran serves this purpose to Israel, and Israel to Iran.
Iran is particularly clever in the game of demonization. Anyone who knows this massive country is fully aware of its religious priesthood's clever usage of the fear of outer enemies to quench diverging domestic opinions. When you incite fear into a nation, its people are easily subdued into submission under their political rulers.
And how is it with free speech in Russia, by the way? Russia Today (RT) is remarkably great at criticizing the West and America, and equally very clever in avoiding criticism of Russia, their own president or their own power structures. If you have noticed, RT seems more and more to be about bashing only the West. What about reporting critically what happens in Russia?
Don't get me wrong: Russia is a wonderful place with a great history and people, Iran equally a great nation with such a rich history, not to forget the wonderful Iranian food. But that does not make these nations the saints of the world while President Trump "is always the devil." Power corrupts, regardless of race or culture. There is corruption everywhere, not only in Washington.
What we need is more unbiased knowledge about other nations, grounded in reality not progressive utopianism. Let us get realism rather than idealism and a balanced view on what is going on in the world.
Watch video interview with Sen. Richard Black: