Azar Nafisi

They were blinded by their demand that the old system must go, without having any idea what they wanted to replace it with. Don’t you think that there is a moment in most political upheavals when people lose their individual voices and become one, when a sort of blindness takes over their faculties, and that is the decisive moment that can allow a tyrannical mindset to take over?

What if we had not given in to the frenzy? What if we had not remained silent and complicit? There are lessons here for those who live in democratic societies, who fail to see the creeping, insidious signs threatening an open society. “How could such a thing happen in Iran?” they ask innocently. One could respond by asking, “How could Trump happen in America?” We must not be blind to what has been happening in so many democratic societies, including the United States.

Trump’s rise to power in America was in some ways similar to Khomeini’s rise in Iran. Trump saw an opportunity. Meanwhile, a large number of people were deeply unhappy with the state of the country, and they lacked confidence in the political establishment. He understood how to captivate the media, and to use their obsession with him to his advantage. He entertained us with his buffoonery, and this blinded us to what was really happening, and what had been happening for years: the corporate mentality, the utilitarianism and focus on money, the neglect of civic responsibilities, the cynicism and lack of trust, all leading to the current state of affairs. Khomeini, you might say, was no buffoon, and, of course, you would be right, but he similarly mesmerized people with his talk of God and spirituality.