its a curious thing to watch as 'our free press' parrots the official point of view of the empire. we're told we invaded iraq for various reasons depending on how the previous reason was received, but when they demand we leave all of a sudden its not them but nefarious 'actors' that orchestrate the demonstration. in the empire there is official truth and all the rest are condemned as fiction;

We live in an era of protests. Everyone feels they have to fight to change things. Unless they are comfortable in their work routine, are wealthy and indifferent, or cannot risk getting fired.

There is manipulation and mobilization of protests by given political actors to achieve political goals.

There is genuine resentment and anger.

There are people who protest for a variety of reasons.

But what we cannot accept is a simplistic narrative that distorts reality, no matter where it comes from.

As a graduate of “fine western universities”, I gradually learned (and am still learning) to avoid simplistic, black-and-white arguments. Academics think in more complex ways, make more nuanced arguments. One of the greatest contributions of the western academic world to the third world was, arguably, the introduction of complexities. The educated mind (receiver of an education paid for in money), and a mind that was not in fear, could make nuanced arguments, offer thoughtful analysis, not fall into the trap of black-and-white thinking.

As one who grew up in a fundamentalist environment, whose thinking was rigid and conditioned by violence and tension, the western university landscape opened my horizons. In a US academic environment single-pointed arguments that lacked depth could appear somewhat uneducated, (and who wants to appear uneducated unless he uses it as a tactic to deceive his enemy?).

But now I am discovering that the west has embraced fanaticism and one-sided arguments. It has embraced the backward unthinking mentality that cannot tolerate dissent or doubts. This is the same mentality adopted by fanatics and extremists the world over.

Masses of Iraqis took to the streets yesterday in a massive display of defiance of the US occupation forces that brought untold suffering and misery to their country. They took to the streets demanding an end to the illegal and immoral US occupation........https://www.globalresearch.ca/tale-two-single-protest/5701812