this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2025
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Iran isn't even trying to build a nuclear weapon. This is madness, all these lies and now these morons can't even understand what is real and what is not.
If i were Iran id be seriously rethinking that right now tho. If the US is threatening nukes that would just make me want to make one now. I wouldn't be surprised if we see an Iranian nuclear test, and an announcement that they've got a couple ready to go within the next few weeks or months.
As an atheist I do see a few advantages of a theocracy. The Khomeini actually deeply believes that weapons of mass destruction is deeply wrong and a sin and against the will of god. They've experienced chemical warfare in the US backed Iraq-Iran war.
I mean i don't think you need religion to think that way lol. I think most people would agree. But if the evil empire has them and the only way to not have them be used on you is to have your own... you really don't get a choice in the matter.
But what do people believe in if you don't believe in god? Money/ Wealth? Power? Nationalism? American exceptionalism? Consumerism? Those are the easy things to induce in a population if you don't push back against it.
There is a great documentary by Adam Curtis "Can't Get You Out of My Head" that looks at the rise of Russian nationalism because of the "economic shock" that was subscribed by the west when the USSR collapsed. Because there was obviously no prosperity to believe in there was nothing else to believe in than nationalism.
Obviously we do need a refined "humanist philosophy" to believe in that does not require religion but can somehow unite humanity and provides powerful antibody against both capitalist propaganda and militaristic thinking.
The problem is that in the west ideology is a lie, the real ideology is greed is good, win by any means necessary, and protestation to the contrary are just to win votes. This is not due to the quality of ideology but due to the power imbalance and over decades slowly growing and chipping away.
So even if there are many thigns wrong with Iran, the believe in something higher and the Khomeini and the guardian council are a powerful counterweight to these influences.