this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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Amazing how American liberals are acting as though Iran choosing Ali Khamenei’s son as Supreme Leader is undemocratic while their country has very recently had Bush and Bush within 8 years of each other.
Also Trump just a few days ago called him an “unacceptable choice” after being the guy who authorized the killing of his father in the first place just days prior…
I'm sure some of it is plain lies people have been told that they've internalized, but it really appears sometimes like USians tend to be so used to having shitty shit shit shit for leaders, they have trouble conceptualizing the idea of people collectively liking their leaders and wanting more like them. It's like people's heads have been put on backwards. They think that the polarizing nature of many "liberal democracy [for the rich]" leaders means democracy is working and the often-liked nature of many anti-imperialist or socialist countries means it must be tyranny and the people secretly hate them. The idea that democracy could actually work and not be full of hateful mudslinging of one political party to another is out of the question.
USAmericans believe two things simultaneously: first, correctly, they believe their leaders are liars and thieves and crooks; second, falsely, they believe the US is the best country in the world. Combining these two together in their heads leads them to believe that every other leader must be at least as bad, or worse, than the US's leaders.
That's a good way to put it, yeah.
I'm not sure why this couldn't apply to most nationalities in the imperial core, though. I just noticed that doublethink here, because I (and most people I know) don't really trust our politicians to keep our best best interests in mind when doing their policies and would acknowledge that the system they enforce only works if you make enough money to not have to engage with it. Most people would still believe that any other place can't possibly be any better - enforced by an unofficial national slogan - and so they feel instincively suspicious of any long-reigning elected figurehead or dynasties among those. I remember sharing that feeling wholeheartedly not so long ago