Inside Another State: What Do Statists In One Location Think Of Statists In Another?

Original:

Inside Iran: What Iranians think of stand-off with US?

People are the same everywhere. They live in fear of, and are deluded by, the State. It's true that the Western States are deliberately provoking and undermining the lives of people in Iran. That is what States do. They feed off conflict. They need an 'enemy'. They did it in the process of establishing themselves as the State in first place and it is only logical for them to continue doing it once 'in power'. "Who's not suffering?" asks one man rhetorically, referring to US sanctions. But what are 'US sanctions'? They're restrictions of free trade by a Statist power. People in Iran are just as accustomed to the State interfering in their trading relationships as the people in the US. Conflict enables the State to distract it's local population from the realities of their own oppression and focus on some external 'threat'. This is so well known that it is merely a platitude. However, people fall for it every time because it creates an 'acceptable narrative' within their own society. "'Iran' is furious" declares the article. As if a collective delusion can have an emotion like fury. It's the equivalent of saying 'Christmas is furious' as festive sales drop. 'Iran', like the 'U.S' or 'the West', is a man made construct. If I were to open a lemonade stall at the edge of a market in Tehran and a State official closed it down I might well be furious. This is because there is a principle at stake. He is using the delusion of State power to justify violent coercion to interfere with free and consensual trade between people. It is not a question of scale. My local State official doesn't suddenly become a righteous savior as a function of 'external' threats from even bigger bullies. Not understanding the true source of one's individual 'fury' can easily lead to channeling it into well established estuaries of thought that suit the Statist agenda. We're told "They were already on the margins before sanctions" and 'the economy is slumping', but reasons as to why aren't covered in this article. Suffice to say briefly here that the relationship between Statist interference and 'economic slump' is manifest.

So the 'People' slip into the simple narrative that 'their' State has prepared them for "I'm not sure what Donald Trump gains by hurting us," - the answer is the same thing he, and many, many others gain by hurting you (and the people of the US) - power and control.

It takes a Statist stooge to complete the delusion in case the 'People' haven't fully conformed to their programming:
"There is not going to be a war. Of course, it's possible somebody will make a mistake. But we do not want a war." How easily such a diplomatic statement would sit with the diplomatic jargon of earlier conflicts. Understood as a giant stack of Statist delusions it becomes clearer how each individual justifies his perspective without having to challenge the essential mindset that has created the tinderbox. In other words the diplomat who said this genuinely believes it and is sincere about not wanting to go to war. As are the vast majority of ordinary people. But, given pause for reflection, an ordinary person comes out with:

"Maybe it would even be better for us if a war happens," she said.

I asked: Why would someone want war?

"It might actually lead to a change in our ruling system. It might lead to a better situation. But if it's going to lead to a civil war then no, it's not going to be good at all," she replied.

Just as you might expect from any ordinary U.S./Western person she has forgotten that the real power lies with her and ticked all her Statist master's boxes: 'War could be good', 'I feel the oppression', 'but any kind of internal change is out of the question'.

These guys know that such a line of thinking can easily be harnessed to their purposes:

Bleating about 'oppression' is not a problem.

Same for these guys:

As the BBC puts it:

'But when Iran is confronted by America, most Iranians, conservative or liberal, will put their country first.'

So the answer is that they will think whatever their Statist masters want them to think, which is essentially not to think at all - merely to obey. That is no 'mistake', it is setup that way by design. The only mistake you can make is to fall for it ... (again) ...