[pphysch]

> Others believe that people have a right to live and organise in a manner of their choosing

"I hate the government, not the people" is a thinly-veiled neocolonial trope when applied to sovereign nations like Iran. It translates to "I don't like it when those people govern themselves".

[usrusr]

Possibly, but not necessarily. On the other side you have that pattern of "True, they are brutally oppressed, but that must be what they all want if the oppressor is of their own ethnicity, right?" It's perfectly fine to have an opinion about the form of government in a foreign country that isn't all positive.

[pphysch]

> True, they are brutally oppressed

What you deem oppression is entirely cultural. It's your choice to project that on others.

The Western liberal views the Iranian woman as oppressed because they can no longer freely sell their bodies.

The Iranian revolutionary may view the Western sex worker as oppressed because capitalism effectively forces them to sell their body to buy shelter and food. Or something about spiritual oppression. I don't really know, to be honest.

> It's perfectly fine to have an opinion about the form of government

About as fine as caring about what your neighbor is doing in their bedroom. Which is to say, pretty weird, albeit normalized in imperialist societies. It's literally none of your business.

[andrepd]

But they don't govern themselves, do they? There's no sense where you can say that the people of Iran are free to govern themselves and do so. You can hardly say that about western liberal democracies, let alone Iran.

[DSingularity]

And then when challenged on this they will say “no no, those countries are oppressing their people and limiting their freedom”.

Ignoring how those governments operate in an adversarial environment of nations where if you don’t sell out your people you face endless assignation or coup plots by the Israeli Mossad or the American CIA.

People today don’t realize the extent of the present evil and the depth of the historical of the west. Take communist China. How can you ignore the fact that Britain was literally a cartel for opium sales in China? When the emperor banned opium to get ahead of the epidemic what did “Great” Britain do? Respect the sovereignty of the Chinese people?