We no longer recognise evil
As the Islamic regime in Iran begins to crumble, it is clear from comments of some politicians, academics, and activists that they no longer can discern between good and evil, right and wrong.
As United States and Israeli air strikes continue to decapitate the leaders and degrade the facilities of the Islamic regime - who for decades have held the Iranian people hostage to their mad religious ideology – I wanted to share a few reflections.
The key one being that many in the West have clearly lost their sense of what is evil and what is good; what is right and what is wrong. The second is that while this conflict may appear far off, this lack of clarity around what is right and good is already having implications here at home.
I will not outline how we reached this current geo-political situation. If you are reading this and do not understand the diabolical history of the Islamic Republic, its daily human rights abuses at home and weekly exporting of terror across the globe, then there is little one more commentator (me) can help you with.
What is becoming clearer however, is that many in the West no longer can tell evil from good. On every measure, the Islamic regime is evil – politically, morally, ethically, socially, and theologically. And yet, as I write, we have politicians, academics, activists, and commentators lamenting the regime’s demise.
Further still, we are seeing deliberate acts of inversion of reality, where those above accuse the likes of the United States or Israel of the crimes that the Islamic Republic has committed.
The acceptance of critical race theory, intersectionality, and cultural Marxist concepts has well influenced many in these ‘elite’ circles. It is a key reason why notions of ‘truth’ and ‘right’ have been replaced with moral equivalence and relativism. In this rather childish but dangerous mindset, the likes of the US and Israel (or New Zealand for that matter) are always wrong; the oppressor. Simultaneously, the Islamic Republic is the oppressed; the misunderstood good actor in all of this. The gross excesses of the regime are explained away by blaming others. We need only think of the recent murders of perhaps more than thirty thousand Iranian civilians by the Islamic regime, and yet where blame by these same elites was attributed, among others things, to the economic sanctions imposed by New Zealand and other countries.
Moral equivalence is also very much in play. Let’s be clear – there is no moral equivalence between this despotic Islamic regime and democracies such as New Zealand. Yet already commentators in sympathy with the regime are quick to say it is a legitimate state; that it should be left alone to deal with domestic matters as it sees fit; and that there is no problem with the regime seeking nuclear weapons. The argument runs that if it is ok for democratic states such as the US or Israel to have nuclear weapons, then it is ok for these mad mullahs to have them too.
I have written before that these arguments do not hold any water and require a remarkable degree of self-inflicted blindness to ignore the horrors of this regime. Part of this blindness though derives from deliberately inverting reality. As noted earlier, the crimes of the Islamic regime are transferred to democratic countries. So we have commentators and activists claiming that the United States is a dictatorship, or that Israel if a genocidal nation; that countries like New Zealand are colonial states and where young activists cry of how they hate this democratic land for how bad it is, while busily enjoy the very freedom to say this, and furiously abusing people via their iPhones and social media.
Of course, there is much talk of human rights and so on from the likes of Amnesty International and others. The irony is surely not lost on them, that groups such as the Islamic regime in Iran do not believe in human rights. Human rights are a Judeo-Christian derived concept, and not one the Islamic mullahs subscribe to. It is as clear as the burqas on the women of Iran, that the regime does not believe in equal rights or the rights of women; or the execution of civilians without fair trial; or exporting terror; or killing those who convert from Islam … the list goes on.
This does not mean that Western countries like our own should ignore those same human rights. The very fact that people are debating whether these air strikes are the right thing to do, or legal, is a sign of a healthy democracy. There is no debate in Iran while the Islamic regime endures.
My own view is that these strikes are justifiable.
I do not use these next words lightly, but the Islamic regime is evil, and it is right, good, and proper to eliminate it. Human rights exist for all people, and when we can move towards great freedoms and enfranchisement, then we should. Whether of course these strikes lead to a better Iran is hard to know, but the removal of the likes of Ayatollah Khamenei and his supporters is a positive step for human rights.
We already hear though the appeals to international law and endless hang wringing by academics and others. I fear many think international law functions like domestic law, but that is wrong on so many levels. What they are actually saying, including the UN Secretary General and the likes of Helen Clark, is that they are happy for the status quo – the tyrannical abuses – to continue. They lament the killing of Khamenei yet say little of the tens of thousands of murdered civilians. Another inversion.
These voices will talk of more negotiation, more reports, more UN motions, and diplomatic efforts. They will talk of failures but hope that this time – this time – things will be different. They point to Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which I could see was idiotic back in 2015, and just as idiotic and ineffective today.
All such talk is willful blindness, shrouded in kindly words, while allowing evil to spread. As Edmund Burke famously said, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” All the entreaties with the Islamic regime have achieved nothing but the propagation of evil. If you know much of the regime and the Middle East, then you will know that compromise is seen as weakness. As the UN, diplomats, and academic activists endlessly seek more negotiations – even though every earlier session was flagrantly flouted by the Islamic regime - the regime just became more emboldened. Negotiations have only achieved one thing – more time for this despotic regime to build more weapons, continue nuclear ambitions, and kill tens of thousands of innocent civilians.
And paradoxically, these same activist voices are now decrying air strikes against the leaders of the regime. It is as if they prefer the slide towards evil than taking the steps necessary to secure peace.
As I keep suggesting, many have lost a sense of what is evil and what is good. If people cannot see the evil of the Islamic regime, or pretend our own nation(s) are as bad, we know things have been badly inverted and perverted.
Yet this is what we face, including here in New Zealand and not just around the question of Iran. The same dynamics of confusing evil for good; for inverting reality; and embracing the likes of critical race theory exists. To be clear, this is not inflating the horrors of the Islamic regime with what is happening here - but the underlying philosophies are the same, including a disdain of our society’s Western foundations.
The same people here supporting the Islamic regime are amongst the same to say biological men can be women; that children can be chemicalised and mutilated on the altar of gender ideology; or that our country is a corrupt colonial institution. The same ones who demanded New Zealand leave the likes of Afghanistan and now lament the state of women there. The ones who talk so much of ‘fake news’ and yet willingly promote the lies of the Islamic regime or other terrorist groups. The ones who ignore the murderous legacy of the Islamic regime but burst into tears if you use the wrong pronoun.
All of this is what is increasingly referred to as ‘suicidal empathy’ - critiquing one’s own culture into the ground, while ignoring the same or worse in other cultures. The idea that what the Islamic regime has done, and is doing, has any equivalence in the likes of New Zealand, Australia, Israel, or the US is ridiculous. As I wrote in an earlier Substack, it is a serious of deliberate and false moral equivalence.
A final few points. When the Iranian community is calling for freedom, and yet many elites side with the Islamic regime, we know the latter have lost any understanding of what is good and right. It appears to me that their self-indulgent self-interest overrides the clear will of tens of thousands of Iranians here in New Zealand, or those risking their lives within cities across Iran to celebrate. It is also a warning about these same elites’ views on other matters within our own countries.
The Islamic regime is evil. Its downfall will be a cause for celebration, no matter what the future holds. But beyond this regime, we should also have our eyes wide open to those supporting the regime here in New Zealand – explicitly or tacitly – for their reasons embody the same destructive dynamics that are anathema to human flourishing.
Brilliant! Unfortunately too many still believe the UN will solve all the world's problems. What a joke. What Trump and Israel have done is the right thing for humanity in Iran. Forget all the TDS and think of how people actually had to live under this regime. It wasn't very long ago the people were rioting as they had no money or food and so many lost their lives for this. As a woman, would any other women like to live under the rules of Islam. Doubt it very much.
Thankyou Simon a good piece.
I count on the fingers of one hand the best takes today and yours is one if them.
Like you I refuse to debate the morals or legitimacy of this set of strikes with those who have not the capacity nor show understanding of the history and human rights crimes of the Islamic regime.
The ability to tell right from wrong is a proper upbringing, and consequences.
There are plenty of good reasons why the Khomeini had to go. The ability to read the situation appears to be both subject to ignorance and influence. NZ needs a better education.