The American understanding of Iran is a triumph of geopolitical minimalism, writes M. Reza Behnam, reducing a country with millennia-old legacy as a sophisticated and culturally vibrant civilization to a holy trinity of stereotypes.
Tehran’s Azadi “Freedom Tower” monument. (Shayan Hamidi /Unsplash)
Absorbing the revelations in the book Regime Change by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, I posed a question to an American colleague: why do figures like Donald Trump continue to get elected? With his signature measured calm, he offered a chilling truth. He suggested that Americans have not felt history’s harsh winds blow with hurricane force since the Civil War, which has left U.S. society dangerously naive and perilously unserious.
On the global front, many Americans are poorly informed about the geopolitical realities of other countries, particularly regarding West Asia. Consequently, they have historically been susceptible to Israeli-aligned narratives, allowing Zionist and pro-Israel influencers to disproportionately shape U.S. public opinion and foreign policy in Israel’s favor.
This dynamic especially applies to Iran, which has been severely impacted by the widespread consumption of a distorted and overwhelmingly negative narrative.
The American understanding of Iran is a triumph of geopolitical minimalism, reduced to a holy trinity of stereotypes: the veil, the beard, and the bomb. This trim, three-item checklist serves as the entire curriculum for a superpower that, despite boasting of the most powerful military on earth, treats one of humanity’s oldest and dynamic civilizations as a one-dimensional cartoon villain.
It is a masterpiece of intellectual efficiency. Decades of propaganda have deeply colored the perception of Iran. Hence, the country is rarely associated with the staggering architecture of Isfahan and Persepolis, the deeply moving poetry of Rumi and Hafez, or with its millennia-old legacy as a sophisticated culturally vibrant civilization. Instead, the mind defaults to a monochrome montage of ominous men with long beards and turbans chanting in the streets, anonymous women entirely obscured by black veils and a glowing apocalyptic nuclear weapon waiting to go off.
Tachara Palace at Persepolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Iran’s Fars Province. (Hamidespanani – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0)
This reductionist view is not a tragic accident: it is the culmination of decades of headline-driven “diplomacy” and the relentless cable news machine. After all, nuance does not command military budgets, nor does it fit on a 24-hour news ticker. Stereotypes, however, have proven useful tools in relegating a nation of 93 million Iranians to a problem to be removed by force.
For example, the “veil” has operated as a symbol of cartoonish oppression, a one-size-fits-all visual that allows Western politicians to pivot effortlessly to facile reductive rhetoric. The stereotypical “beard” has served as the embodiment of rogue state malevolence, projecting a timeless, medieval fanaticism.
Finally, the “nuclear bomb” rounds out the trinity of tropes. It acts as the ultimate powder keg that has been used to justify escalating sanctions and military attacks. It is a narrative that entirely ignores the complex realities of U.S. Congressional Research Service reports on Iran, that describe Tehran’s strategic posturing as primarily defensive in reaction to U.S.-Israel aggression.
For decades, the public has been served a steady diet of tropes, conditioning the public to view Iran as an ominous monolithic threat instead of a country, like any other, with internal nuances and problems.
When the veil, the beard and the bomb are stripped away, the lived experiences of Iranians contradict the comic artificial geopolitical framework that Washington and Tel Aviv have sold the public for generations.
Official Washington and its allies have ensured that public perception of Iran remains stagnant. The three-item checklist has been doing the heavy lifting successfully for decades. It is the perfect American geopolitical souvenir: light to carry, simple to understand and completely useless for comprehending reality.
It is not just “the American understanding of Iran … reduced to a holy trinity of stereotypes: the veil, the beard, and the bomb.” The entire Western world, along with a significant portion of the Global South—including Iran’s own Western-oriented secular class—has developed a rather comical view of Iran and the state of Iran. Decades of propaganda have so deeply colored perceptions of the country that even educated, well-informed, and largely progressive elements in both the West and the Global South have lacked the courage, self-esteem, or understanding to support Iranians’ struggle—albeit one with their own unique brand of religion and identities—for independence, freedom, and justice in the face of imperialism’s obstructions, often using these made-up stereotypes as an excuse.
However, a combination of factors—such as Trump’s (the U.S.) and Israel’s reckless threats and wars—has awakened a large segment of the world’s population to the reality of U.S. intentions.
It seems that U.S. soft power, exercised through propaganda and narrative control, is no longer working—not just on poorly informed Americans about the geopolitical realities of other countries, but anywhere at all. We stand at the cusp of a new world order, where people across the globe are increasingly open to considering alternative narratives as well.
An excellent comment to complement an equally excellent write-up that prompted it, I should say. Some elucidations are called for, however : this “holy trinity of stereotypes : the veil, the beard and the bomb” used to be slightly different historically before : “the veil, the beard and the sword” as applied to a broader swath of the Muslim world. In nearer history, as Muslim states too develop some nuclear footing, the sword had been replaced with the bomb. Anyway, to revamp those sarcastically as a “holy trinity” wouldn’t be entirely right. The veil and beard are rightly holy but neither the sword nor the bomb could be accorded a sacred aura, because simply there is little that is sacred about them; these were and are merely instruments to strike terror in the hearts of the infidels not into the heads of the naturally naive or the sophisticatedly brainwashed ! Like the authentic original holy trinity of father, son and the holy ghost, the former symbolically merely stands for the mother, son and the unholy roast, as it might.
The first sentence of this article is WRONG, and should be stated as to why the system (electoral college) elect men like Trump, which is a no brainer. The system supports itself. To ask why the populace vote for people like Trump is moot since they are not responsible for the presidency, so this question posed is a semi-clever tactic in blaming the populace at large when in fact do not have a say.
You have hit the American political nail right on its guilty head ! The learned author of the write-up must have meant it lightly without wanting it to be analytically precise.
Just as the complete and utter eradication of two cities, Hiroshima and Nagisaki, were “justified” … how can one possibly justify the complete and utter eradication of the people, the schools, the universities, the historic monuments, the art, the music – innocent men, women and children – There is no justification. There is only the attempt to eradicate the inhumane, immoral actions undertaken by those who followed orders, those who gave the orders, those who invent the weapons.
Gaza resembles Hiroshima and Nagisaki in every way: the complete and utter destrction, the killing and maiming, undertaken by those who follow orders, those who invent the weapons, those who give the orders and any members of the public willing to accept a rationaliztion for inhimane immoral actions.
It does not surprise me that images and videos of Tehran’s busy streets and lovely cafés full of women, many not wearing a veil, never make it onto mainstream media.
I am particularly struck by the observation here that the because the U.S. inflicts war on distant countries that are not able to respond in kind, Americans’ experience of war is more abstract than real.
Clearly, this has left U.S. society “dangerously naive and perilously unserious,” as stated — easily manipulated to perceive people murdered by the U.S. war machine as one-dimensional caricatures and oblivious to the consequences if actual war is actually brought to U.S. soil.
Very true. But of course few in the U.S. want truth or justice for anyone but themselves:
1. Most citizens are too young, uneducated, or inexperienced to see beyond simple MSM narratives;
2. Few seek truth via evidence and reasoning: most simply go shopping for the happiest narrative;
3. Glimpsing the truth leaves many feeling terrified and helpless, so they retreat to MSM narratives;
4. “The average man avoids truth as diligently as he avoids arson, regicide, and piracy on the high seas, and for the same reasons: it is dangerous, no good can come of it, and it doesn’t pay.” (H.L. Mencken)
It is the old case of the means justify the ends.
Defamation of character was used by the Roman empire to steal religions and demonize leaders and countries for strategic lies All the western empires have excelled from then on so brazenly if has become our self justifying religious code as an empires of its own with the weaponized monotheism.
It was even drafted for use in Afghanistan as the new hope against the USSR then revised.
Now our genocidal history is coming back to haunt us in reverse engineering.
I no longer have patience with the people of the US with regard to their world view despite the propaganda we have all been exposed to. They love their fairytale illusions. When you attempt to broaden their understanding of people on the receiving end of US foreign policy, they become very agitated and defensive. Cognitive dissonance is a convenient excuse to stay in one’s comfort zone. Frankly, I’m sick of it. Time to grow up.
Tyrants demonize the “other” tribe, and demand spoils for supporters, from demonized groups, so tribalism always leads to aggression. It is the tyrants who oppose and prevent communication to find common ground, who praise their lord and wave their flag while betraying the group values. In severe conflicts of group interests, negotiation is merely a show for the tyrant.
Without respectful debate of the issues, entrenched conflicts cannot be resolved without mass suffering. See CongressOfDebate dot com for solution details: suggestions and comments are appreciated.
Thanks. Now let’s hear about the myriad ways in which the current political economy of Iran defangs the stereotypes.
Americans are generally like children; largely oblivious to their country’s foreign policy, and even its impacts on the home front. The nightmarish realities of war are filtered and curated by Pentagon-approved Hollywood movies. Vacuousness and an absence of intellectual curiosity is debilitating in ways that only become apparent when sufficient economic suffering compels Americans to connect the dots. To their credit, most people in the United States have lost the jingoistic fervour that rang across the nation after 9/11. Americans are beginning to recognize that hegemonic aggression against a country like Iran only dims economic prospects for themselves. Support for Israel is at an unprecedented low. But the xenophobia and racism underpinning stereotypes of Iranians and Arabs can only be remedied by a willingness to educate oneself. At least American’s growing empathy for Palestinians suggests that this dehumanizing propaganda can be undermined – albeit, as a result of the worst imaginable atrocities being committed against them. If most people in the United States were aware of the bloodbath inflicted on the 168 school children in Minab, I suspect sentiment about the U.S./Israel war of aggression would sour on moral grounds beyond domestic deprivations.
This is another good comment that captures the rapidly changing political ground realities across the USA at the present times. The existence of alternative media to the syndicated propagandistic MSM play no small role in this rather belated mass reawakening. If it can also result in Americans salvaging their original democracy from the plutocratic rape it is undergoing currently, they will be well on their way to win back their noble reputation and respect from the rest of the world.
To understand the reality that is the Islamic Republic of Iran, I can strongly recommend the book “Going To Tehran” by FLynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett.
Excellent detailed and documented history of US and Western attempts to bring the Persian state under Western control, and deny it sovereignty. Although published in 2013 it accurately points out where the US was headed and how Iran was prepared to resist. It is amazingly prescient in its review of both US policies and Iran’s strategy to resist.
Unfortunately, this is the one and only one. This tells us a lot.
Brilliant