Deciphering Truth
from Pageantry
Investigative journalism is the
most riveting form of literature on the planet. There is something that is
unparalleled in the feeling of writing with a purpose. Using your words and
intellect to report empirical truth and facts to your readers is bar none,
especially when reporting what is still considered to be, the unknown. All
journalists whether they are aspiring or seasoned, love nothing more than to
dissect a story down to its juiciest and most palpable essence in order to find
the real, “meat” or content to the story. But just like any other profession,
sometimes it’s just not that fucking cool. Sometimes, the news just is what is,
and is in need of no other explanation.
The problem with that is there are a
surplus of media outlets that are far more invested in the market of selling, “the
other explanations” just so long as they are the most captivating source
reporting the story. The recent and very brief coverage of Iran was the perfect
example.
As soon as the literal smoke had
cleared and General Qasem Soleimani was declared
dead from a US air strike on the 3rd of January 2020, the world geared
up once more for violence in the middle east. And not seconds after the story
hit the mainstream media’s radar, they were quick to start in with the failsafe
tactic of speculation in lieu of knowledge.
For something to the tune of eight or so days,
the media was manufacturing a state of unbridled hysteria as they presented
only incredibly small portions of an incredibly large story to the public. Providing
only stories purely rooted in fear. They exacerbated the fear of another war and
the fear of the Iranian people in order to further propel their agenda. The
media made everything about Trump’s timing of the attack and the surge of US
troops being sent to Iran. While those two elements are most certainly worth their
time in proper discourse, they are not the entire story. Eventually, the story
lost traction and these reporters just up and vanished. Leaving behind a
monstrous trail of misinformation and catastrophic injustices done by the press
in regard to Iran. The worst of all these iniquities was committed in the way
that they presented the Iranian people to the rest of the world.
We were being shown massive funeral
precessions of people supposedly mourning one of their fearless leaders, Qasem
Soleimani. However, that seems a little far-fetched due to the fact that the
General was a terrorist and a literal manifestation of oppression to the
Iranian people. According to Masih Alinejad, a journalist for The Washington
Post, she reported that the only genuine grievance being felt towards
Soleimani is from political party “hard liners and regime loyalists”. In an effort
to save face the regime has forced citizens to attend the funeral in droves.
They’re conducting all of this pageantry so they can cover up the fact that their
regime is currently facing large amounts of civil unrest and push back from
people who have once again had enough of a life lived under rigid subjugation.
This is not the first time an
uprising like this has happened in Iran. In fact, this is the third (major)
time in less than one hundred years that the people of Iran have risen up
against the powers that be. The first time was a joint effort between the
Iranians, the British Special Intelligence, and the CIA to overthrow a Prime
Minister by the name of Mohammad Mossadegh. (Side note: There is a lot of
conspiracy surrounding that particular coup. It’s quite interesting and I
encourage you to read up on it. But, without going on a long drawn out tangent
I couldn’t do that story the proper justice it deserves while already in the
middle of this one). The second coup began in the 1960’s. When a man, Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khamenei started speaking out against Iran’s corrupt leadership. As a
result, he was exiled but not silenced. His influence and speeches regarding
the corruption of the Shah (Iran’s ruler at the time) and the Iranian hierarchy
as a whole, were felt deeply by the citizens of Iran who took his message to
the streets. As a result, a lot of Iranian people were killed by their own government.
This particular instance of raging against the machine, was nothing short of
explosive. There was unparalleled political and civil unrest in Iran at this
time. The hostility became so tremendous that the Shah whom was being protested
literally left the country out of fear for his own life. Upon his departure, Ruholla
Khamenei was received back into his country with open arms. Soon after, Khamenei
declared Iran an Islamic State and once again transformed his homeland into a
violent shithole. The only difference is he was having Iranian citizens tortured
and killed for religious, rather than political, shortcomings. This is still the
regime they live under today and have been viciously protesting against since
2017. When their economy took another downward spiral, with the nation’s poor
being the targeted victims of massive budget cuts.
All of that historical information,
and so much more, was ignored by the mainstream media as they reported
selective little bits of information on what was actually going on Iran. Instead
they saturated the media coverage with worthless opinion pieces that made it
seem like the tumultuous state of things in Iran was something new, which
clearly could not be farther from the truth. Iran has been in bad way for a
long time. The air strike on Soleimani, which gave birth to this journalistic
nightmare, was not some random act of insanity or an excuse to quench a thirst
for war. And it was certainly not as magnificent or imperative as the media
made it out to be because they’re not fucking droning on about it anymore. Are
they? The story was simply that of a man deserved of death reaping what he had
sewn.
Earlier in this article, just a few
hundred words were provided to serve as a short synopsis of a history so calamitous,
it rightfully deserves its own encyclopedia in order to cover all the details. However,
that brief history lesson was meant to serve as small reminder that the whole
story, the whole truth is always out there. It just may not always be as
riveting or bone chilling as you may have anticipated. But nonetheless it is
the truth, and that is all that matters.
Sources:
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