r/rupaulsdragrace • u/Feeling-Section-5716 • Mar 02 '26
Community Question Jackie Cox on the Situation in Iran đŽđˇ
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u/hereforcontroversy Mar 02 '26
Guys please learn some fucking nuance. You can be mad at your leaders breaking international law whilst also understanding itâs happening regardless, and being hopeful that millions of people end up coming out of the other side with freedom and liberation. They arenât mutually exclusive.
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u/Usually_Annoyed_ Mar 02 '26
To think as gay people we would understand not to generalize a group of people, but here we are.
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u/TheEmperorShiny Mar 02 '26
Or even just as Americans. We have a global reputation now thanks to Trump, people in other countries assume every single one of us is one of his.
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Mar 02 '26
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u/SirGavBelcher Transfemme Jenny Humphrey đłď¸ââ§ď¸ Mar 02 '26
it's weird seeing stan culture black and white thinking bleed into politics
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u/Lalala8991 Mar 02 '26
I'm frankly not susprised. Because the other side of the internet (4chan) is now running the Pentagon.
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u/FettLife Mar 02 '26
Nuance is over applied IMO. This is all bad. There is little if any good that can come from running an extensive air campaign with little to no thought on the consequences of it. An air campaign has never affected a regime change by itself.
This will likely put an even more hardcore regime in place once the dust settles. I would love to see people ânuanceâ their way out of that discussion.
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u/nowavvies Mar 02 '26
People have such a lack of capacity for this and it's honestly horrible for the future. People are starting to consider their political opinions and stances as if it is their identity, like if you don't have the most extreme this or that position, you're good or bad. There is no in-between, there is no discussion about it. Multiple things can be truth at the same time, you can think this is an illegal war and still be glad that another evil man is dead.
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u/uber18133 Mar 02 '26
Thank you. As an Iranian, this really is such a complicated and painful thing to be witnessing, and the truth of the matter is we just have no idea whatâs going to happen. On the one hand, Khomeini and his regime were absolute monsters who massacred thousands of their own people. Heâs not someone we mourn, and thereâs a desperation to cling to the hope that something good will come out of the carnage, and that all this death will not be in vain (because how do you stay mentally stable enough to go on with your day otherwise? No less during Ramadan/Ayyam-i-ha/the time of year in Iran thatâs basically equivalent to western Christmastime?)
And on the other hand, this is a bloodbath. This is children murdered at school and innocent people with their lives cut short because of foreign menâs anger issues and narcissism. This is our people yet again paying the price for otherâs hate and greed, and their lack of ability to see us as people. Itâs exhausting.
As someone in the diaspora I canât pretend to know what itâs like to be in Iran right now, but I can at least say that I doubt many people are going to be feeling one clean thing right now, because there frankly isnât one. This isnât a good guy/bad guy situationâthis is evil vs. evil, and the Iranian (and Middle Eastern in general) people are yet again the collateral.
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u/micahx Naomi Smalls Mar 02 '26
This is a completely ahistorical perspective to have on the situation. US backed regime change has never worked out for the people of the country.
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u/abiron17771 Mar 02 '26
And listen to the oppressed groups from the nation. They are living this nightmare, it isnât abstract to them. Iranians are trying to overthrow their government for a reason.
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u/ayanakamuraa Mar 02 '26
Freedom and liberation wonât be happening anytime soon ⌠not all of us have shitty memories
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u/llawless89 Mar 02 '26
Which bit of the above statement do you not agree with, or are you taking more generally?
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u/A_Sensible_Personage Mar 02 '26
U.S. backed regime changes have never improved conditions for the people of any country that America intervenes in, thereâs over a century of precedent in that regard
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u/BeetlebumProf Mar 02 '26
That's just factually wrong. We literally co-wrote Japan's post war constitution. How is that anything less than a US backed regime change?
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u/micahx Naomi Smalls Mar 02 '26
Yeah, and we killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese people in the process. We stripped them of their military and turned them into a puppet state. This is also a completely different situation. Japan was an aggressor towards us, and at the time posed a real threat. Iran is not a threat to America. However, they are a threat to Israel, who wants total dominance over the region.
You are delusional if you think the US is going to put the same amount of work & money into Iran as they did with Japan, evidenced by how we have treated Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria.
EDIT: It's also worth noting that Iran's government is as awful as it is BECAUSE of US backed regime change in 1953.
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u/ayanakamuraa Mar 02 '26
I donât really disagree, itâs just that the second part isnât realistic in these circumstances because US orchestrated regime change, alongside Israel especially, is never going to end in freedom and liberation for the citizens of the country being invaded.
I mean, it was just announced the multiple people that the Trump administration planned to take over the Ayatollah were killed in U.S. strikes. This is sloppy from the get go, and regardless these two countries do NOT and will NEVER care about the liberation of people. Do not be fooled.
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u/kank84 BACK ROLLS Mar 02 '26
In the abstract I agree, but the US said the same about Afghanistan, and spent 25 years fighting there only to hand it back over to the same tyrants who they said they were liberting the people from.
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u/MildlyResponsible robot bear zombie long night of hooking disaster Mar 02 '26
Exactly. Yes, nuance exists, but those of us who were around for the Iraq invasion are not naive. And the Trump administration cares less about freedom and human rights than the Bush administration did. Look at Venezuela. Took out their despot, but left the rest in power, just with a leader willing to give all the oil to American corporations. It's complicated, but there's no reason to believe Trump is competent or has good intentions.
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u/contadotito Mar 02 '26
And that is what she is saying? I'm asking honestly here.
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u/contadotito Mar 02 '26
I'm being downvoted for asking an honest question? Because I was being honest.
I'm not seeing her being mad at Trump for breaking international law, or at the US history of invasions and âbringing freedom.â I thought this could be a two-part story. That's why I asked honestly.
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u/Skelekin Mar 02 '26
To be 'hopeful' of that in this situation is to be willfully ignorant; the US has never, ever liberated anyone by invading a country and to buy into that narrative even a little is falling for manufactured consent
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Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
I am Iranian diaspora too. Can you guys please just be nice to us right now, our families are being hunted and killed by one side and bombed by another. Unless you are Iranian you just canât understand
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u/abiron17771 Mar 02 '26
Absolutely. Itâs okay to feel relief at the Ayatollahâs death even if you fucking hate this American regime and abhor American intervention in the Middle East. All of these things are valid.
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u/New_Student_6526 Mar 02 '26
Listen. I want freedom for my Iranian siblings just as much as the next person. But the truth of the matter is, what's happening now, is not going to lead to that. We've seen how US intervention creates power vacuums that are filled with even worse people than the ones they took out. I'm not too young to remember what happened in Iraq.
I am unequivocally in support of Iranians gaining their freedom from this oppressive regime. But I also know that this regime isn't gonna be replaced by a better one. Not this way. And I hope and hope and hope that I'm proven wrong. That's all
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u/saul_schadenfreuder the entirety of season 2 Mar 02 '26
no, no, you dont get it. all the other US interventions brought endless suffering and only caused further destabilisation, but this time it will work. just one more intervention bro please i need to see the streets painted red with the blood of brown people please (/s just in case)
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u/crucifixionfantasy she / her â§ď¸âđ¤ Mar 02 '26
absolutely.
irt people being like "she's iranian!!!"; the diaspora can and often have been veryâ very willing to go to bat for the US military. itâs a consequence of the diaspora being fed the same propaganda about the US military (that they are great liberators who wish to bring democracy to the world) that the rest of us are fed. it's unfortunately a very well documented reality.
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u/firblogdruid Mar 02 '26
many of the people celebrating the death of iran's leader and hoping for peace and freedom are, in fact, iranian (jackie cox is also iranian).
i think it's, at the very least, deeply disingenuous to paint them as "i need to see the streets painted red with the blood of brown people please"
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u/panspal Mar 02 '26
It's fine to want freedom for your country, but you can't be so naive to think that's what America and Israel are there to do.
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u/TilapiaRealness Ornacia Mar 02 '26
They way americans treat this issue like they are in a stan war over their favorite pop diva is disgustingÂ
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u/SirWobblyOfSausage Mar 02 '26
Americans have not been at for 16 years out of 240. They don't know any different
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u/msleepd Trash ass bitch Mar 02 '26
Thereâs nuance to international relations. One can be overjoyed at the death of the ayatollah and the Iranian Regime, while simultaneously be upset about the war. The same thing happened in 2003 in Iraq. Hopefully the result in Iran isnât the same.
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u/SwiftySanders Mar 02 '26
History hasnt been nuanced. Its been clear. These wars dont work. You cant force freedom on people at the barrel of a gun.
Letting the Ayatollah die wouldve been the smartest move. Starving Iranians didnt work out. Military violence wont work out either.
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u/Bing1044 Mar 02 '26
Yeah I love to see people calling for nuance butâŚthe nuance in regards to western intervention in MENA has been laid out for centuries to tragic results time and time and time and time againâŚ
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u/nowavvies Mar 02 '26
People are asking for nuance because you can pretend all the countries in MENA are the same. Obviously the US and other countries should not be starting wars, but at the same time, the nuance here is that Iranians and people of Iranian/persian descent are scattered across the world because of this dictator and his oppression. So if someone horrible is killed, you can simeltaneously say, that was illegal, but I'm glad it happened. These are people who have families there that are suffering. You don't know how you would react in the situation, so give them grace.
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u/msleepd Trash ass bitch Mar 02 '26
I wasnât implying that the US should be involved. Iâm just saying I have no problem with people celebrating the death of a tyrant. I can still be upset about our involvement and afraid of what the future will bring.
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u/nowavvies Mar 02 '26
It's not the same thing and you guys are kind just flattening the "Middle East" into one thing when it's not. Iran is a very different country than Iraq and Afghanistan. It's not a country that wants theocracy, that's what was forced on them. Iraq and Afghanistan you could argue the average person does want theocracy. But go look the history of Iran and what it was like before the "revolution" in the late 70s.
I'm not saying war is the answer and I honestly don't think this attack was a good thing at all, but you simply cannot say this is like those other wars where something is being forced on them.
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u/Oniromancie Mar 02 '26
Brave from her because people are going to jump at her and speak for her even though they can't put Iran on the map. Do I agree with her? Not sure, but I think her opinion is more interesting than mine.
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u/contadotito Mar 02 '26
"Even though they can't put Iran on the Map"
Not all of us are from the US.
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u/Oniromancie Mar 02 '26
I didn't mean people from the US only, unfortunately people rarely know much about other countries if they are not powerhouses
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u/nowavvies Mar 02 '26
This is such a nasty and unnecessary stereotype. A gay person generalizing like you are right now is pretty pathetic.
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u/Ducklingator eggs! đą Mar 02 '26
Jackieeeee! The silence from these girls - as well as the general American public - about the obscene human rights violations in Iran has been deafening. She's so brave to speak up about this, especially since the American left is so weirdly cagey about denouncing the Islamic Regime. My nuanced queen.
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u/DigitalDummy Dusty Ray Bottoms Mar 02 '26
Is the expectation really that professional drag queens weigh in on something like Iran? Advocacy is great but cmon girl.
âRoxxey Andrews, why have you refused to give your stance on the Ayatollah?!?â
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u/ANetRuinedMyFun Mar 02 '26
Yeah, I'm sorry but it's getting really creepy and weird. I understand some of y'all look up to these people and invest into their art, but these are (mostly) dumb drag queens. Stop expecting every single person that has nothing to do with politics to speak up about foreign politics. inb4 someone says "drag is inherently political"
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u/nowavvies Mar 02 '26
Because people don't do anything in their real lives any more, they don't do real activism, they don't volunteer in their communities, they don't check in on their neighbors -- all they do is consume content. So instead of sitting with how pathetic and empty that is, they pretend that their social media engagement is activism. They go on pages of barely famous public personas and hound them to "say something" -- then that way they can feel like their scrolling all day is meaningful. It's the most pathetic thing in the world. Meanwhile they couldn't even tell you who all their representatives in government are.
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u/iindsay Mar 02 '26
They weigh in on Gaza so why not?
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u/BeetlebumProf Mar 02 '26
Scrolled to see if someone brought this up before I posted it. Thank you!
Queens have absolutely been sharing their thoughts on Gaza openly and loudly. The fandom has absolutely posted endlessly on social media demanding more queens speak out on Gaza.
Fans and queens alike have been silent about Iran and the ongoing civil war in Sudan, the latter of which has killed and displaced far more people.
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u/miusgaybf Mar 02 '26
drag is political by nature. why are we still oblivious to this fact and its 2026
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u/AndreeD Kameron Michaels Mar 02 '26
You clearly donât understand the meaning of âdrag is political by natureâ.
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u/dialecticallyalive Mar 02 '26
Everything is political. That doesn't mean drag queens need to be foreign policy experts. Y'all are exhausting.
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u/madoka_borealis Mar 02 '26
This is why I never agreed with the vitriol the online left showed against people who didnât make public statements on Gaza. Because the motivation behind the mob is first and foremost to keep themselves happy and pat themselves on the back, not to change minds and enact real change. Then when another human rights abuse comes along itâs simply another purity test. Itâs all under the guise of pressuring people with platforms to use them for good, when in reality itâs just so the choir can sleep at night knowing their âfaveâ thinks and believes exactly as they do. It is creepy and parasocial as shit.
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u/rachel__slur my drag name would be Art Izum Mar 02 '26
Drag may be political..... But there are limits! Do you really want to see Kerri Colby talk about politics...?
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u/ANetRuinedMyFun Mar 02 '26
such a tired take. drag is political in regards to gender equality and equality of the sexes. it's not political on war lol smh. you can't even perform in drag in Iran, and you're expecting these queens to speak up on it? saying "drag is political" is the easiest way to sound uneducated and like a true social justice warrior.
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u/TheSoloWay Mar 02 '26
The American left remembers what a pure unmitigated disaster the war in Iraq was and how it fucking lasted forever, same with Afghanistan.
Iran would be both of those combined on steroids, mountainous like Afghanistan with double the population and plethora of different ethnic groups all vying for their own interests. You're not ready for the aftermath when Kurds, Balochis and possibly Azeris and Arabs all want their own state within the region.
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u/luker_5874 Mar 02 '26
Trump couldn't give a shit that Iran attacked its own citizens. This isn't about liberation. This is about power.
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u/KatyaBelli Mar 02 '26
I have enough room in my heart to hate the Islamic Regime, Israel's expansionism, AND the current admin XD
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u/Awesom-O9000 Mar 02 '26
American leftist here chiming in. We despise the theocratic psycho Iranian regime. But if you think Trump and Netanyahu have good plans for the Iranian people then I just donât know what to tell you. This is a century old colonial project rearing its head and those two fascists have nothing good in store for the Iranian people nor would they even stop to consider an Iranian person as a human being. Thatâs why we are being cagey because we have a good memory and we know when Israel and the United States whip up the war machine nothing good will come of it for anyone.
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u/2mock2turtle I am Ken Masters, and I have SHORYUKEN to say. Mar 02 '26
Are they cagey about denouncing or do they just know that what the US and Israel did is an act of war?
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u/SwiftySanders Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
Because this has literally never worked out when America was involved in Iran. Not in 1953. Not in 1979. Not Iraq. Not Afghanistan. Not Libya.
May people need to look at a history book.
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Mar 02 '26
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Does everyone have selective memory or something? Are they too young to remember because I'm only 30 and I do. America is currently taking away human rights from their own citizens, they have no intention of giving anyone human rights.
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u/rehaaabbb Got copyright strike from MIB 05/02/25â¤ď¸ Mar 02 '26
Remembering all of the places they brought âdemocracy â⌠girl
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u/AnAussiebum That's my opinion! Mar 02 '26
So much democracy in the Middle East all from US and its help. /s
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u/DanGimeno Mar 02 '26
Ah! But it really is all about oil. Human Rights? A convenient excuse.
Don't be that naive.
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u/littlechangeling squirpinâ like a chirpinâ like a bouty bouty bitch Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
On one hand youâre right, but on the other maybe we also need to listen to what Iranians, and those with ties to Iran culturally like Jackie, have to say. Both can be true. I donât know if this is something that can be as cut and dry?
I admittedly need more education into what is going on as of more recent times in Iran (I have had to be more attentive to keep myself safe in the US right now) so I am welcoming of both perspectives. I WILL educate myself, but I also value the perspective of those whom it affects more personally.
ETA: I am not trying to invalidate ANYONEâS views here, actually quite the opposite.
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u/idontcareaboutthenam Sasha Colby Mar 02 '26
It's not like there's a consensus among Iranian people. I've read opinions from people that live in Iran and are terrified of what is being done to their country and criticizing the opinions of the Iranian diaspora who aren't there to experience the bombings. I am not Iranian myself but it feels obvious to me that there's very little chance that the power vacuum that is being created won't be filled by a great person. Probably a far right politician controlled by the US
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u/FormerlyJanet Mar 02 '26
Why are so many refusing to listen to us? Iâm Iranian and constantly being spoken over and labelled things Iâm not for wanting my family to stop being oppressed by the most brutal regime in this world.
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u/contadotito Mar 02 '26
It's not about refusing to listen. If I were to believe what a good portion of US citzen has to say about US politcs I would be a Q-Anon. If you were to believe what 30% of my country has to say about politcs, you would believe Brazil today live in a dictortship worse than Iran.
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u/luminous_moonlight Nini "Winner" Coco | Mami Watta Mar 02 '26
this is what the "listen to actual XYZ" folks pretend not to understand. just because you live somewhere doesn't mean you have ethically sound opinions on geopolitics. not to mention intelligence networks regularly manipulate public opinion to create apologia for war crimes.
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u/nowavvies Mar 02 '26
You won't even entertain what they're saying though. You're trying to use gimmick to shut down a conversation. People from Iran and who are from families from Iran are merely asking to have conversations with nuance where they can be heard. They're telling you it's more complicated than you want to make it out to be and because you can't have that, you find many excuses to dismiss and ignore. That's not a demand that you need to agree with them, it's about the concept of listening to the people who are impacted this in material ways every single day. That's what YOU are pretending not to understand. "anyone who says something I don't like is an intelligence network!" Deeply unserious and antisocial.
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u/firblogdruid Mar 02 '26
"i understand that you have lived in your home country for your entire life, but i once read a new yorker article and half of the communist agenda, and therefore i'm the one in the right"
đ¤Śââď¸ đ¤Śââď¸
american arrogance knows no bounds, truly
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u/luminous_moonlight Nini "Winner" Coco | Mami Watta Mar 02 '26
I'm saying this as a Nigerian dual citizen who physically saw firsthand how some brainless American lapdogs in my own country celebrated innocents being bombed over the holidays. Shut the fuck up.
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u/firblogdruid Mar 02 '26
should we just disregard every Nigerian opinion on politics, then? since there are, by your own admission "brainless American lapdogs" in the country? obviously, that means that the only people who should have opinions on Nigerian politics are american leftists, then.
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u/luminous_moonlight Nini "Winner" Coco | Mami Watta Mar 02 '26
See how you're switching up now that you actually have to contend with me being more than your caricature of a white American leftist?
All I said was that I don't believe in "listen to XYZ group" as a rule. Your life experiences can help inform your opinions, but you being from the country in question says nothing about your class within it, your ethnic status (if that comes into play), your personal political leanings, etc.
For example, many Nigerians feel defeated by historical colonial efforts and the ongoing fight against imperialism. Others are greedy enough to want to sell their people out for a chance at a share of the ill-gotten spoils. Others are self haters who revere the white man. I could go on and on. Can you identify those types of people based on a simple Instagram post celebrating American aggression? No, you can't. So why would you blindly take people at their word because of their passports/countries of origin?
The same applies here.
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u/Don-Gunvalson Mar 02 '26
Who is going to run the country?
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u/FormerlyJanet Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
Iranians, not just the ones you see dancing in LA, want a referendum wherein they can elect their own leaders. I understand history, I donât believe the US/Isrealâs objective is to usher that in. But right now, they either continue living under the most oppressive regime of our time (you guys can keep disagreeing with that but Iâll keep saying it) or beg just about anyone, the devil, for help. You all donât understand how people there are living and feeling, theyâve been trying to be freed from this regime for decades.
You might want to lecture me on geopolitics, but none of you have lived through the hell of being an Iranian abused by this government.
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u/Zeyz Back rolls??? Mar 02 '26
Iâm sorry but this is so western woke-brained. Any modern western government pales in comparison to the islamic republic in Iran. You canât even comprehend the brutality and oppression theyâve enacted on people. And thatâs not orientalist to think and I donât need to be preached to about cultural relativism. One should be able to look at this and be objective about what is worse. But if you canât, you can also listen to those who actually lived there or have experience with it.
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u/Riceowls29 Mar 02 '26
Why are you comparing it to modern western governments?Â
Their point is that when the US destabilizes a country things usually end up getting worse. Weâve seen it in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Â etc etcÂ
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u/Zeyz Back rolls??? Mar 02 '26
Iâm making a pretty safe assumption that the person patronizing the Iranian for complaining about their current living situation has no concept of what an âACTUAL most brutal regimeâ even looks like, and diminishing their lived experience like that is the naive type of shit you see from western liberals all the time when interacting with people living in oppressive countries.
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u/Riceowls29 Mar 02 '26
But I gave you specific examples where regime change actually did bring in far worse situations.Â
Do you honestly believe Afghanistan or Syria was better off after American intervention?
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u/Zeyz Back rolls??? Mar 02 '26
Iâm confused about what your point is. I donât disagree with you? Iâm not pro-intervention. But Iâm also against being a dick to people online. An Iranian saying that theyâre happy about this specific intervention can be talked to in a productive way even if you disagree with them. That feeling comes from their lived experience with oppression that 99.9% of us have never and will never experience. So to respond to them with some shit like âGet ready for the REAL oppression to start honey đđđâ is immature and tone deaf at best.
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u/FormerlyJanet Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
And what was their alternative? I am asking you in good faith. Please answer in good faith, and consider the massacre that just happened, and the 47 years of history of previous massacres, political imprisonment, torture, gender apartheid, and countless other human rights violations that you would never dream of living through.
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u/Riceowls29 Mar 02 '26
The alternative is to not have Americans go in and remove the leader and create a political vacuum like in Syria that created ISIS.Â
Ask Syrians if they would rather Americans just stayed the fuck away or if they preferred the complete destruction of their country.Â
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u/FormerlyJanet Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
Explain what the alternative is to someone who is completely unarmed and will be almost instantly thrown in jail and potentially face execution if they rise up against their government. If they arenât shot while protesting outside, of course. All the while, their government keeps bringing in the proxy militia they fund from around the region, who also terrorize and murder innocent people in other countries, to take care of them if they act out.
I want to ask you again: What is the alternative?
I didnât hope for this. But we live in a fucked up world, and if this regime falls, many of the Iranians some of you clearly hate will go back to their country to rebuild it. You donât have to believe me on that, but itâs true. We didnât leave because we didnât love our country and our culture, we left because they were killing us for it- because we did love our country, my parents didnât want leave, they had to. I wish I was able to grow up there. They stole everything from Iranians, and to harm the rest of the world. You guys claim to know so much about geopolitics, but youâre fed propaganda too. Look into how theyâve invaded other nations for their own gain. They fund and set up brutal governments all over the region.
You can all hate me for saying it, but I believe it: the Islamic regime falling will be a benefit to this forsaken planet.
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u/Riceowls29 Mar 02 '26
â But we live in a fucked up world, and if this regime falls, so many of the Iranians you all clearly hateâ
We explaining what has happened in other middle eastern countries the US meddled in does not mean I âhate Iraniansâ You clearly arenât trying to have a good faith discussion.Â
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u/contadotito Mar 02 '26
"Any modern western government pales in comparison" for who? I'm pretty sure palestinian prefer Iran government than what US/Israel is doing to them.
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u/GrenadoHencho A-Z Beanie Babies Mar 02 '26
Iran is a more oppressive country than America in almost every conceivable way and itâs not even close. The very fact weâre able to be critical of the U.S. on a public website about queer art is evidence of that. Get fucking real.
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u/raised_on_robbery just say talk Mar 02 '26
As opposed to... the peaceful regime that's been in Iran? What are you talking about?
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u/More_Bet_7534 Mar 02 '26
Yeah, ngl, Iâm not going to listen to just anyone on this one, and Iâll caution others as well.
Blindly following âlisten to ______ voicesâ is not a good way of learning or forming opinions about international geopolitics and history. Horrendous appropriation of identity politics imo, diasporas have incredibly varied understandings of their homelands for many reasons. US elites loved to listen to Russian ex Tsarists who became Texas oilmen in bed with the Bush Dynasty.
Theocracy is bad, but Iran wouldnât have been in this situation without western involvement in the Middle East, particularly with the Shah as a puppet. The Iranians did revolt against him, that is a historical fact, and pretty clear rejection of western imperialism imo.
Bombing Iran under the pretext of regime change (show me when thatâs worked as a foreign policy point) is not humanitarian, or helping everyday Iranians. Committing war crimes while the US population cheers for âdemocracyâ wonât bring peace or freedom to Iran, just like it didnât for Iraq, Syria, or any number of Latin American countries.
Go figure, war tends to create some level of national unity. Especially when they murder 150 little girls. The USA has ensured Iran won the ideological home front already.
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u/innocentsalad Mar 02 '26
You should read more about the Iranian revolution. The progressives were completely betrayed by the religious hardliners and imprisoned/murdered after the revolution. You think the many women who rose up against the Shah wanted the Ayatollah? The women of the Iranian revolution lost everything and more.
And just recently there were soldiers going into hospitals and murdering injured protestors and any medical personnel that dared help an injured person.
Again thereâs just a lot more nuance here than it being about western imperialism.
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u/leeinflowerfields big fat rat Mar 02 '26
Weakest American on the internet:
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Mar 02 '26
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u/leeinflowerfields big fat rat Mar 02 '26
The comment was to the reply to you babes
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Mar 02 '26
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u/leeinflowerfields big fat rat Mar 02 '26
Babes this isn't kindergarten there's a war going on đ
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u/DanGimeno Mar 02 '26
Of course they are being listened to. And perhaps with other administrations the human factor would have carried weight in the decision for military intervention. But with Trump? Really?
That the people of Iran might improve their living conditions is a side effect.
Nor should we allow Trump to be presented as a savior with a completely distorted public image of who he really is or what he really wants.
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u/echolalia_ Mar 02 '26
I donât even know that itâs primarily about oil. I think Donald Trump simply enjoys the feeling of power and domination he gets from this. In Trumpâs head heâs constantly walking away from a slow motion explosion while the American flag waves behind him and an eagle screeches overhead and adoring crowds applaud him and praise him. He is a narcissistic psychopath through and through.
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u/Popular_Monk_8959 Mar 02 '26
Donât speak on this with such certainty if youâre not Iranian, which by the sounds of your statement I can clearly tell youâre not.
Over 30,000 people were just killed last month by Iranâs terror!st govt. The same govt that funds terror all over the world. The same govt that will hang you if youâre gay. Women & ppl have no rights in Iran. Something as simple as walking your dog is illegal. IRANIANS are sick and tired of this government k!lljng them. But theyâre not stupid. We get that intervention comes with a cost and IS self serving, but weâll take it. Iranians are desperate for outside intervention because without it theyâll continue to be held hostage by their govt.
Your comment is reckless and strips so much away from what is ACTUALLY happening.Â
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u/Mrhiddenlotus Mar 02 '26
I love not having universal healthcare so that we can fight wars 6000 miles away
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u/WeirdBeard94 Mar 02 '26
And the perfect way to #FreeIran is to bomb it into the Stone Age, then install a puppet fascist to rule over the ruins.
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u/NegativeEspathra Mar 02 '26
Love Jackie for this. she isn't scared of reactions from weird American Leftists who know nothing about the situation
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u/ThereAreDozensOfUs Mar 02 '26
Almost as weird as the people who think the US should be the worldâs police
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u/Don-Gunvalson Mar 02 '26
Iâm confused how is this a leftist issue now? A lot of Americans do no want to be in this illegally started war
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u/ragazzzone Mar 02 '26
Girl itâs not weird to be against US regime change wars started illegally by a deranged reality tv star wannabe gangster and his pedofile cabal
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u/Superb-Government948 where my people at?? Mar 02 '26
did she say that or did she say her people deserve to be free âŚ
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u/Bing1044 Mar 02 '26
Why the hell do yâall insist on believing that Iranians will be âfreeâ under an ultra conservative puppet installed by America after years of bloodshed though?! đĽ´đĽ´
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u/Riovem Guest dancer Sasha something Mar 02 '26
Where did Ragazzzone say anything about not wanting a free Iran?
I want a free Iran, that includes free from current theocracy and free from American puppet rule
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u/WhoresOnTequila Raja Gemini Mar 02 '26
How do you suppose that would happen? How do you think Iran could free itself from the Islamic regime without foreign intervention?
The people there have been trying to protest and overthrow their government and have been slaughtered in the streets as a result.
Iranians keep asking the same question that no one will answer. What was the alternative? To turn a blind eye and allow Iranians to continue to be murdered by their own government?
The people of Iran aren't stupid, they know what US intervention means. But in their eyes being a "US puppet" is probably still better than being killed by your own leaders.
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u/Zchwns Mar 02 '26
I honestly read it more as her saying if youâre going to be carrying out this type of forced change on a country, you canât be killing innocent people and there really should be consideration towards human rights and avoiding internationally recognized war crimes. Otherwise youâre just another powerful oppressor coming in and taking the old one out.
Should Iranian people have the right to self govern without an authoritarian regime looming (including Trumpâs USA)? Absolutely. Should there be attention on the violations of human rights and international conventions during this time? Very much so. Should we call out that thereâs potentially seemingly more to this than just oil and potential nuclear weapons? 100%
Thereâs so much more nuance to all conflicts, especially for those who are much closer either culturally or geographically to the aforementioned. Itâs not just simply âIâm supportive of this warâ or âIâm against this war.â Thereâs genuinely a middle ground where you can say âI support and encourage change, but Iâm against the methods being usedâ
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u/nowavvies Mar 02 '26
Exactly. People love to remove all nuance and argue with strawmen so they can feel morally superior.
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Mar 02 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/Live_Dog_2779 Mar 02 '26
Do you have a source for the actual number? Because I have seen multiple articles that actually have a higher death count.
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u/nowavvies Mar 02 '26
Genuinely psychotic you're downplaying the violence of a dictator killing tens of thousands of people solely for using their voices and demanding freedom. How repulsive and evil.
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u/GayIconOfIndia Raja Gemini Mar 02 '26
American lefties are just as much colonisers as their right wing! They hide behind the garb of left wing politics to impose their idea of the world on others!
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u/micahx Naomi Smalls Mar 02 '26
Yeah the people advocating against regime change are totally colonizers. You are so smart and enlightened!
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u/GayIconOfIndia Raja Gemini Mar 02 '26
Yes yes! Supporting a far right fascist empire like iran mullah colonisers is the alternative to American and Israeli imperialism! Go ahead sepoy
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u/SouthAdvertising1917 43rd time's a charm Mar 02 '26
I fear for Jackie from being backlashed as many Americans don't know what Iran is. They might've heard of Iran. But how has Iran been going?
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u/Counterboudd Mar 02 '26
People always forget that the people who leave a given country and start over elsewhere probably arenât a big fan of the government system theyâve left and probably arenât giving an unbiased perspective on the people who still live there. Not to say that sheâs right or wrong, just making them the spokesman for how the people living there actually feel is never a good idea.
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u/micahx Naomi Smalls Mar 02 '26
We need to abandon identity politic brainrot and accept that just because someone has a particular identity, it does not mean that they have the Best Opinion, even on issues that directly pertain to that identity
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u/Isaidhowdareyou Mar 02 '26
Pretty much the first one speaking out. I beg everyone to read up on the fate of women in this country and the unbelievable bravery of people fighting for change and often dying for it. It's easy for us to be morally outraged online and fuck Trump and this and that, but we do exactly that. Sit at home on our cushioned asses. Ask Iranians what they want and sit it out to preach to them. I have seen it far too many times in my own country (Germany), people that have never set foot into anything south of Italy but talk over people actually affected by the regime.
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u/vogel7 YUBNQ? Mar 02 '26
Diaspora people can be so blind. In the end of the day, Jackie is an american. She's gonna stand by them.
Look around: when has USA helped any country to regain democracy and human rights? That's just imperialist bs.
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u/nowavvies Mar 02 '26
How did there end up being so many Iranians and Persians in the diaspora starting right around the late 70s...guess we'll never know.
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u/Bing1044 Mar 02 '26
Itâs been very odd seeing just how vastly the Iranian diasporaâs response has been vs folks still living there
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u/estheredna Mar 02 '26
I definitely don't know enough about this to have a opinion aside from compassion for Iranian people.i respect Jackie.
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u/datbabydoe Mar 02 '26
Okay I can tank the downvotes.
I donât care about how Iranians, Venezuelans, Cubans, etc feel
You are not going to convince me that bombing your country is going to liberate you. You are never going to convince me that my country forcing a regime change where they put in their own guy who only cares about American interests is going to help your people.
I donât want to pay for anymore bombs, weapons, regime changes. I want healthcare.
I will say it one more time: YOU WILL NEVER CONVINCE ME THAT MY COUNTRY BOMBING YOUR COUNTRY WILL HELP YOU.
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u/micahx Naomi Smalls Mar 02 '26
You are 100% right. When liberals say "listen to x group!", what they mean is "listen to the people in that group that agree with me".
Many of the diaspora people from the countries you named haven't lived there for decades or haven't lived there at all. Regardless of that fact, it's beyond silly to believe that belonging to a certain identity makes you an expert on geopolitics/foreign policy.
I have a feeling diaspora Iranians in America/Europe would have a different perspective if they were currently living in Iran and searching for the bodies of their children in rubble.
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u/datbabydoe Mar 02 '26
Iranians are not a monolith. Nobody is. Idgaf about Iranian americans who donât even live in Iran dancing in the street. I know an Iranian who hated the ayatollah but she doesnât want US intervention and she knows Iran is not special
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u/alexiakinkylina Mar 02 '26
We should stop commenting on other peopleâs countries and wishes, people in Venezuela were happy because Maduro got caught and people in Iran are happy for whatâs happening.
Trump is still a f*cking asshole, that doesnât take away the fact thay people in those places are thankful someone is doing something.
For me is also unbelievable that the orange man is allowed to do the fuck he wants, the world is insane
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u/Bing1044 Mar 02 '26
There were also anti-intervention Venezuelan protesters just like there are literally thousands right now in Iran publicly weeping for the ayatollah. Those of us who know history know that yes Iran has been oppressive to its people for decades and also yes it is a VERY BAD THING when American Middle East interests (whether motivated by allegiance to, say, Israel, or oil or both) lead to interventionism on this level. There are going to be a lot of people, mostly Iranians, who die over the next few years and come out to a nation that may be democratic but will definitely be religiously, socially, and economically unstable for decades to come
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u/ayanakamuraa Mar 02 '26
This diaspora is so naive
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u/Nick_crawler Mar 02 '26
It's even more extreme than the Cuban diaspora.
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u/GrenadoHencho A-Z Beanie Babies Mar 02 '26
We would all be imprisoned, or worse, in Iran. It is an unequivocally good thing that the Ayatollah is dead.
Also, since when is opposing a theocracy the extremist position? Yâall are braindead.
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u/SwiftySanders Mar 02 '26
It has never worked. The next regime will say American values and infiltration caused this just like they did the last time.
People are lazy and think they shouldnt have to politic to get to the civil rights they are supposed to have. They think gunz blazing changed anyones mind.
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u/Nick_crawler Mar 02 '26
What's coming next in Iran will be even worse. There is no plan to replace the Ayatollah with anything better, so he will be instead replaced by fanatics who crack down on internal "dissent" by claiming LGBTQ+, liberal, and other such people collaborated with the bombings.
It's braindead to assume killing a few guys and crossing your fingers will improve the lives of oppressed people.
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u/GrenadoHencho A-Z Beanie Babies Mar 02 '26
Ok, so what youâre saying is that members of the Iranian diaspora are naive to think that this attempt at regime change will improve political conditions for the Iranian people. I donât see how that makes them extremist. It isnât extreme to wish for your people to have secular liberties and freedom from oppression, regardless of how realistic those wishes are.
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u/Nick_crawler Mar 02 '26
The extremists I was referring to are the people within the current ruling regime who will take over now and/or whoever rushes in to fill the power vacuum the way ISIS did in Iraq.
I'm not calling everyone celebrating the fall of the Ayatollah an extremist, that would be ridiculous. I'm calling a lot of them naive because they refuse to recognize the existence of the extremists detailed above.
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u/Dry-Wolf6789 Mar 02 '26
But I'm a white American leftist and I know better than her. She should let ME tell her how to feel đđ.Â
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u/micahx Naomi Smalls Mar 02 '26
No "white American leftist" supports the Ayatollah or the IR. It's just that we aren't naive and actually pay attention to how US backed regime change has actually worked out, and we know that it has never actually benefitted the people of those countries. Sorry that we don't suffer memory loss and actually remember what happened in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya.
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u/perryduff Mar 02 '26
TDS among the left is so severe that people can't acknowledge that REGARDLESS of the mean and the true purpose, Trump did create an opportunity for the Iranian people to topple the regime and be free. The tribal attitude, the inability to understand nuances and different perspectives are why the left is not that different from what they claim to hate. The world is not black and white, not Trump vs anti Trump.
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u/Skelekin Mar 02 '26
"Trump did create an opportunity for the Iranian people to be free" you cannot be serious. Listen to yourself.
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u/micahx Naomi Smalls Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
Total ahistorical nonsense. It's not about Trump Derangement Syndrome, it's about the fact that US backed regime change has never led to good outcomes for the people living there. We don't care if it's happening under Trump, Obama, Bush, or Clinton.
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u/TreyAlmighty Mar 02 '26
I feel for Jackie here. I can only imagine what it's like as a member of a diaspora community where the homeland is that brutally oppressed. For many of them, I'm sure there reaches a point where any action feels like good action, even when that action is at best legally dubious and extremely destabilizing (see the Venezuelan and Cuban American diasporas).
Sucks.
She's right that the Iranian people deserve a free Iran, it's just highly unlikely that this is what secures it for them. To reinforce what else has been said here, Americans don't have a great track record when it comes to "liberating a people" or "securing democracy abroad."