Time to Move Beyond the Simplistic Marvel Movie Worldview

If you still believe in clear-cut notions of Western goodness and Arab Muslim evilness, it's time to catch up.

Do you recall the time in your life when you saw your parents as these almost divine, flawless beings, incapable of wrongdoing? Then, with age and wisdom, you awaken one day to the realization; wait, are these two just ordinary humans? Not only that, but flawed individuals—imperfect, making questionable decisions that complicate our lives. Suddenly, a wave of insecurity washes over you; are these the people meant to care for me?

This past week, I experienced a similar feeling, albeit on a grander scale, regarding those in positions of power who are meant to represent us. These diplomatic titans, their hypocrisy, and daily deflection of their war crimes casually brought us to the brink of a world war.

Or did it? Is it all performative?

Seeing all we have seen for the past 7 months, culminating with Iran’s military response to Israel’s bombing of Iran’s Embassy in Damascus and Western governments’ comical lack of condemnation of one, but not the other; I wake up daily thinking I’ve seen the worst, yet get served another round of hypocrisy for breakfast.

One very wry Instagram creator once said - “America, are you a real country? You are a fart in the shape of a country!”

Germany?

For the past 80 years we walked around impressed at Germany’s ability to rebrand itself so masterfully after what they’ve done in WW2, when in reality, their rebranding was just a twisted tango of crying antisemitism to cover their tracks; deviously monitoring Jewish citizens of Germany who are campaigning to end the military occupation of Palestine, then going after them when they spot their Star of David necklaces.

German police, targeting and arresting specifically Jewish people who are campaigning and protesting Israeli’s genocide of the Palestinian people - Goebbels would be puzzled by this paradox. Germany, are you all right? Are you a real country?

Britain, Australia, France; are you a real countries?

Are Western governments, politicians, and people in charge of academic institutions actual human beings?

This past week was packed with extraordinary levels of hypocrisy. What’s been happening in this world is a pure sarcasm of logic, consciousness, and humanity. The measured, cool-headed way Iran responded to an obvious Israeli provocation and constant attempt to escalate the violence in the region was met with such blatant lies and mainstream media malpractice of manipulating you into this perpetuated myth of Western goodness versus Arab terrorist evilness. For an evil empire that the West has been trying to convince us they are for decades now, Iran’s response was measured, tactical, and thought out.

Very sensible analysis by Fadi Quran: 

“Netanyahu and the Israeli government prefer a quick hot and urgent war where they can pull in America. The Iranians prefer a longer war of attrition that bleeds Israel of its deterrence capabilities and makes it an ally for Arabs and the US that’s too costly to have. With the threat of a regional war that neither the US nor the Arab regimes want feeling nearer, it’s likely their pressure on Israel to back down will increase, making a ceasefire more feasible”.

Masks have steadily slipped over the past seven months, but this particular tête-à-tête by weaponry has been the most stark, yet.

There is a casually profound video I ran into on Instagram a few days ago, the author was not credited, but his words were penetrating:

“People who suggest that Israel was the final nail in American imperialism’s coffin are being too optimistic. But seeing Americans praise Iran, a country that has been demonized for as long as I’ve been alive and longer, seeing Americans praise them for giving Israel a taste of their own medicine is giving hope. This is a country (Iran) that was labeled explicitly as an evil terrorist state. But similar to how some of us are no longer drinking the Kool-Aid about Oct 7 or Hamas, we’re no longer taking the label terrorist seriously, especially given the context they so desperately trying to obscure. Evil terrorist states destabilize democratically elected governments for their own gains of that state's natural resources. Like I know the CIA is mad as hell that 70 years’ worth of Islamophobic propaganda went to waste in less than a year.

Nature is healing.

What we’re gonna have to do to free Palestine is going to change the world. It has to.”

Nature is healing.

While I may not align with every word he has said, the essence remains clear - the world doesn't neatly fit into the good-versus-evil paradigm of a Marvel superhero movie. No nation or religion is inherently evil. Differences in culture or customs don't equate to inferiority, and birthplace in the West doesn't grant you moral superiority.

“Islamophobia is created by the Western world because peace is in the way of power” - Luise Cansington.

Are you awake yet? We are, that’s precisely why the governments, the politicians, and the academic institutions in the West are scrambling.

The unraveling, watching their lies and hypocrisy fall in real-time has been the moment of our generation. Lord David Cameron being forced to concede, on air, by journalist Kay Burley that - “Iran was actually justified in attacking Israel on principle, just not on the scale it did - upending the (British) government’s entire approach”. - by Jonathan Lis.

The unraveling of Matt Miller, the State Department’s Gargamel, stepping on the White House Press podium, unable to explain why Israel’s attack on Iran’s Embassy (16 dead) is not worthy of condemnation but Iran’s response to Israel’s attack (0 dead) is, all while wrapping it up in his signature, repetitive bow - “At the fundamental level there is a bond between the United States and Israel, and that bond rests on our shared security”.

In the words of a brilliant Assal Rad on Katie Halper Show:

“It’s just so brazen when you look at the language that they use when they’re targeting the adversary state and the language that they use when it’s about an ally. That’s not how international law works. That’s not how the law works. If the law does not apply equally to people, it’s either prejudice or corruption”.

The arrogance of expecting ordinary citizens of Western nations, including you and I, to pledge allegiance to Israel? 

I owe zero allegiance to a foreign nation.

The arrogance of expecting the people in the West to be bullied into accepting the war crimes and international law violations of the state of Israel, funded by our tax money so that Israeli citizens could keep their privileges and politicians can please their donors? And expecting Palestinian people in the Middle East to accept being eternally bullied, killed, maimed, starved, bombed, imprisoned, tortured for land grab and colonial pursuits?

We owe them nothing.

The life, privilege, and safety of one group of people cannot be built on the destruction of another group of people.

Outstanding reporting by Breakthrough News:

“Israel is a country the US politicians are constantly insisting is our greatest ally. I want every American to think long and hard about what we have been told here. Would our greatest ally take billions of our tax dollars to buy weapons to massacre women and children and then blackmail politicians who descend? Would our greatest ally bomb another country's diplomatic facility to drag our country into fighting a war they couldn’t win? Israel is a great ally for military contractors, oil companies, and the imperialist strategists at the State Department. For them, it is the extension of their interests, but not for the vast majority of people.”

Or in the words of Colonel Douglas Macgregor on Judge Napolitano: “The people on The Hill don’t represent American interests but the interests of their donors.”

As always, Caitlin Johnstone:

“Israel’s allowed to bomb an Iranian consulate, but Iran’s not allowed to strike back. The US is allowed to surround China with war machinery, but it would be World War Three if China ever tried to militarily encircle the US. NATO is allowed to expand to Russia’s doorstep and amass proxy forces on its border, but the last time Moscow placed a credible military threat anywhere near the United States, the US responded so aggressively that the world almost ended. 

The “rules-based international order” that the US-centralized power structure purports to uphold just means an order in which the US makes up the rules and nations had better obey them. It means rules for thee but not for me.”

And in the words of my favorite insider into Israeli society, Alon Mizrahi: “No country should be able to veto freedom, dignity, and security for other people from other countries. This is tyrannical and a betrayal of the reason we have international institutions in the first place.”

Academic institutions.

It's not only Western governments and politicians displaying hypocritical arrogance; American academic institutions are also being exposed for their empty gestures that lack substance in real action, by the courageous students of Columbia University.

“Palestine is freeing us from any doubt that academic institutions serve the systems of oppression first and foremost, that of white supremacy, structural racism, and colonialism. Any sense of a facade has been completely shattered. There is no going back to the status quo.” - Yipeng Ge

Overreaching?

How else could you explain Columbia University including Edward Said as a required reading, then get their students arrested when they apply the knowledge gained from this required reading to engage with the current socio-geopolitical landscape?

Columbia University is a home to open spaces on campus where protests and demonstrations have historically taken place, such as Low Steps, College Walk, or the South Lawn. These areas are designed for gatherings, rallies, assemblies on campus, and other forms of expression. 

How else would you explain Columbia suspending their students so they can charge them for trespassing, calling the NYPD to arrest them for using the space designated for expression to peacefully protest the University’s continued financial investment in corporations that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and military occupation of Palestine?

How would you explain USC (University of Southern California) offering a minor in ‘Resistance to Genocide’, and when a student who took the minor used what she learned from it to inform her worldview and oppose the genocide in Gaza - penalize her for it and ban her from delivering her valedictorian speech at her commencement ceremony?

We’re on our own, people.

There’s no one in power looking for our best interests, they only work towards upholding their power. Peace and solidarity among all people directly interfere with their business plan of amassing more power. We need to take care of ourselves, we need to take action - what the students in Columbia started yesterday.

Western politicians veered from decency, logic, and humanity, but their kids remain resolute! Witnessing students at Columbia endure harassment, suspension, and arrest while holding onto their smiles, vigor, and conviction; confident they're on the right side of history - strokes so much hope for a better tomorrow.

If you still believe in clear-cut notions of Western goodness and Arab Muslim evilness, it's time to catch up with the rest of the sane, informed world. Get in!