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orflast Friday at 10:57 PM1 replyview on HN

Out of interest, what sequence of actions by which country in particular led to the modern Iranian regime?


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troadyesterday at 11:15 PM

The 1979 Islamic Revolution was staged by Iranians, in response to the despotism of the Pahlavi dynasty, founded in 1925 by Iranians.

It is a disease of the Western mind - and particularly Western academia - to deny agency to others, especially people in the Middle East, as you're doing here with your painfully unsubtle attempt to link US support for the Pahlavis in 1956 to the 1979 Islamic Revolution 23 years later. Worth noting that the Pahlavi dynasty started out as autocratic as it ended, well before the US ever showed up.

This is a lazy reverse Orientalism, where people in the Middle East are othered and cast as a perennial victim incapable of taking any role in, or responsibility for, what happens in their own countries. It's disempowering racism in academic garb.

Iranians caused the Islamic Revolution and only the Iranians can undo it. I wish them the best of luck in doing so.

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