Why America’s Protest Rhetoric Collapses on Its Own Streets
As selective images of protests in parts of Iran are amplified across Western media, Washington once again assumes its familiar role as the self-appointed guardian of freedom. As has become customary, whenever Iranian citizens — or protest movements in any country that challenges US hegemony — express dissent, the United States and its closest ally, “Israel,” move quickly to seize the moment. Human rights rhetoric is deployed, warnings are issued, and the targeted government is lectured on how to treat its protestors “properly.”
To those unfamiliar with America’s own history, the narrative has a persuasive rhythm: the United States as a defender of liberty, rising in righteous indignation when dissent is constrained abroad. A closer examination of the US record, however, tells a far less flattering story — one defined not by restraint, but by force, contradiction, and selective outrage.
When Protest Moves Home, the Mask Comes Off
When dissent emerges inside the United States, the language of freedom collapses almost immediately — beginning with the violence that provokes the protest itself. In May 2020, George Floyd was killed on a Minneapolis street when a police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd was handcuffed, pinned face down, and surrounded by officers as he pleaded for his life, repeating that he could not breathe. The killing was slow, public and recorded in full view of bystanders — not a split-second decision, but sustained, deliberate force exercised by the state.
Journalists documented protesters beaten, blinded, and shot with so-called “less-lethal” weapons. Officials justified the crackdown as a defense of order, echoing the same logic used at Waco, Ruby Ridge, and Berkeley decades earlier. In that inversion, a man killed slowly under a police officer’s knee became secondary, while those demanding accountability were treated as the real danger.
Waco and Ruby Ridge: When Dissent Turns Deadly
This contradiction did not begin in the 21st century. In 1993, federal agents laid siege to the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, over weapons allegations. According to reporting by The Washington Post, the FBI’s aggressive tactics culminated in a fire that killed more than 70 people, including children.
Just a year earlier, in rural Idaho, federal agents confronted Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge. According to investigations reported by The New York Times, US Marshals and FBI snipers killed Weaver’s teenage son and his wife, Vicki Weaver, who was shot while holding her infant child. Rules of engagement authorized lethal force preemptively — a stark illustration of how quickly constitutional protections vanish when the state feels challenged.
From Campuses to Streets: A Long Record of Violence
The history extends back decades. According to archival reporting by the Los Angeles Times, police and National Guard troops opened fire during the 1969 People’s Park protests in Berkeley, killing one demonstrator and injuring dozens. Then-Governor Ronald Reagan defended the crackdown, signaling that force was an acceptable response to political dissent.
Similarly, during the Vietnam War era, according to historical reporting by Reuters, National Guard troops shot and killed unarmed students at Kent State University, while police killed students at Jackson State days later. These were not rogue incidents; they were sanctioned responses to political opposition.
Infiltration, Manipulation, and Narrative Warfare
When protests are not crushed outright, they are often redirected. According to reporting and analysis in major US outlets, law enforcement agencies have repeatedly infiltrated protest movements, reframed them as extremist threats, or steered them into partisan confrontations rather than allowing them to remain focused on policy grievances.
This tactic mirrors Washington’s foreign playbook. In Iran, US officials and “Israeli” leaders have openly declared support for protesters, leaving little doubt about their intentions. According to Reuters fact-checking reports, social media campaigns have circulated recycled footage and AI-generated images to amplify claims of Iranian “brutality,” blurring the line between advocacy and disinformation.
The Cost of Hypocrisy
The United States has the right to criticize abuses wherever they occur. But moral authority cannot be selectively applied. A government that lectures others about protest while gassing, shooting, surveilling, and imprisoning its own dissenters invites skepticism, not admiration.
Until Washington confronts its own record — from Waco and Ruby Ridge to Berkeley and Minneapolis — its lectures on freedom will continue to ring hollow. Free expression cannot be treated as both a foreign policy tool and a domestic inconvenience.
The world is watching. And unlike carefully curated images and speeches, history does not forget.
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