Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“As the US-backed atrocities in the middle east get uglier and uglier, I keep thinking about something that was said by an Iranian cleric named Shahab Moradi after the US assassinated Iran’s immensely popular general Qassem Soleimani in 2020. Moradi complained that Iran can’t even really retaliate for the assassination because the US doesn’t have any real heroes of its own like Soleimani, saying, ‘Think about it. Are we supposed to take out Spider-Man and SpongeBob?’ I’ve never seen a more incisive and withering critique of western culture …. There are no real heroes with popular support in the western empire, because everything that’s truly heroic gets stomped down here, and everything that gets amplified to popularity is either vapid distraction or directly facilitates the interests of the evil empire. Our own generals are busy butchering civilians for oil and geostrategic control.” (10/29/24)