IT’S NOT POLITICIANS, IT’S US CULTURE THAT IS TAKING THE WORLD TO WAR

Vince Dhimos answered a question at Quora.
 
https://www.quora.com/What-will-it-take-for-the-West-to-go-against-the-US-Trump-in-the-latest-escalation-with-Iran/answer/Vince-Dhimos
 
WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR THE WEST TO GO AGAINST THE US/TRUMP IN THE LATEST ESCALATION WITH IRAN?
 
Vince Dhimos, Editor-in-Chief at New Silk Strategies (2016-present)
 
The problem is, it is not clear whether enough Americans are unhappy about the killing of Soleimani or not. It’s all in the numbers. And of course, we then also face the issue of whether the Democrats are much different from Trump when it comes to war and security. If not, there is little point in rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, so to speak. All Democrat politicians said the same thing as Trump about Soleimani, calling him a terrorist, Their only criticism about Trump is that he used the wrong method to kill Soleimani, ie, they think Trump should have coordinated this murder with Iraq or the “international community.” And we all know that they do not consider Russia, China, Syria and their allies as part of that community. Perhaps most Americans agree? All US politicians on both sides of the aisle know that the average American has been brainwashed for years to believe that Iran is an evil nation led by evil people. Are there really enough American voters who do not accept that myth? If not, what’s the point of rearranging the deck chairs? The Titanic is going down.
 
Not one US politician would dare to state plainly that Soleimani was not a terrorist, that he was a talented strategist who fought against the US in the Iraq War to free the Iran ally Iraq from the real terrorist, ie, the US Establishment. (I showed here that the US-led West sponsored ISIS). He also fought ISIS. How does that make him a terrorist? How does Iran fighting ISIS in Syria make that country a terrorist supporter there? But that is the belief hardwired in American culture – this means that it can and will be used by politicians to garner votes, even if that means taking the world to the brink of a war. The fact is, the only motive the US Establishment (both parties) has to consider Iran a terrorist supporter is to please Israel and Saudi Arabia. But stating that can destroy a politician’s career or get even an ordinary citizen in hot water, for example, on social media, which simply do not allow any debate on core issues touching on deeply held beliefs of Evangelicals (http://www.newsilkstrategies.com/international-relations/christian-zionism-has-taken-the-world-to-the-brink-of-war-but-has-no-basis-in-scripture). The main cultural trigger when supporting war is a religion that falsely claims to be based on the Bible, the most widely exploited, and abused, cultural trigger in America, and one that has transformed US christianity from Christ-centered to Israel-entered.
 
Thus, all politicians will use the cultural trigger of Iran as a demon, and therein lies the problem. As long as they continue the demonization of Iran, and as long as the myth of Iran as a demon remains part of grassroots US culture, there will be no real change.
 
I wrote a paragraph at Quora on these cultural triggers:
 
Vince Dhimos's answer to Is Iran really that much of a threat to the United States of America?
 
Excerpt:
 
Westerners live, grow up and, for the most part, die in a kind of labyrinth similar to the matrix in the movie by that name. The labyrinth is designed and tended by the US war/banking Establishment and the genius of it is that it does not just herd the people like sheep, but makes them want to do the Establishment’s bidding because they are gently indoctrinated through media sleight of hand, using selected cultural linguistic triggers, and through powerful undercurrents of their own culture, particularly “Christian” Zionism, to think they want the things the Establishment wants. Every word out of every politician’s mouth, and every word written or spoken by corporate “journalists” reinforces this induced desire for the very things the citizen would ordinarily abhor if it were not for this combination of propaganda and cultural triggers. They routinely wake up from their induced trance after the damage is done, as in the case of the Iraq War and the revelation that there were no WMDs. Remember that US "conservatives" supported GW largely because he claimed to be forn again.
 
Their entrapment in this culturally induced labyrinth is labelled “freedom.” It has led to a ballooning debt and endless wars.
 
End excerpt
 
Now, if you are interested in how US culture, particularly “conservative” culture, thinks about Iran, you can go to Breitbart and search for Soleimani. I opened this site: Pentagon: U.S. Airstrike Killed Iranian Commander Qassem Soleiman and in the forum under that article, found that there were almost 10,000 posts from Breitbart readers. This was a kind of anthropological study for me, showing me the mind-set we are up against. I read a few dozen reader posts and found not a single one that saw the Iranians and Soleimani as a people/person deserving of life. They all agreed that he had to die and that the Iranian government must be destroyed. They all agreed that Obama was a traitor for signing on to the Iran deal. Obama as a traitor and Iran as a demon are some of the cultural triggers embedded in American – particularly “conservative”— culture but also among Democrats. It would appear that most Americans harbour this trigger in their minds. These triggers are not open to debate. They are like religious beliefs. If you question them, you are a bad American and a traitor and are worth no more than Iran or Soleimani or the Khamenei.
 
There is no point in arguing with most Americans over these hardwired notions, which are generally regarded as “facts.”
 
In other words, it is not only the Establishment (which some erroneously call the Deep State and assume it is only a group arrayed against Trump) that forces its policies on the people. It is the people themselves that unwittingly accept disastrous policies because of the attitudes and myths hardwired into their culture.
 
It is hard to face it, but the only thing that can change America is external force.
 
The way Russia changed America by sending two Tu-160 nuclear capable bombers to Venezuela, forcing Trump to relinquish his plan to invade that country.
 
Something equally powerful will have to back down the US from its potentially disastrous plans to invade Iraq. Otherwise, the world is truly headed for WW III — driven by a man who promised to end the endless wars.
 
So will electing a Democrat president save us? Interestingly, it may have been Trump’s respect for Putin that led him to relinquish is plans to invade Venezuela. But the Democrats have no respect for Putin. What would a Democratic regime have done in that case?
 
War is lurking no matter who is president. At bottom, the American people and their culture, are driving it. The politicians are just giving them what they want – or think they want.

The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?
                  Jeremiah 5:31

Relevant:

http://www.newsilkstrategies.com/international-relations/christian-zionism-has-taken-the-world-to-the-brink-of-war-but-has-no-basis-in-scripture