Meme title, but this is a serious post, lol.
Those who accuse others of being authoritarian should scrutinize their own government and acknowledge the extent of its cruelty. Liberals often claim opposition to 'authoritarianism,' yet if we define it as the use of political violence while in power, then the United States, also appropriately recognized by some as the Great Satan, is remarkably proficient at it. It has created numerous wars and committed countless atrocities worldwide. However, liberals do not perceive these actions as authoritarian because they do not target white people. In fact, at the 2003 Oscars, renowned documentary director Michael Moore was booed when he criticized Bush and the Iraq war. Those who condemned Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine with utmost contempt also supported George W. Bush's illegal invasion of Iraq. Patriotism permeates every aspect of American society, including the entertainment industry, known for its liberalism and pro-war stance. Movies like American Sniper glorify murderers, while video games such as Call of Duty depict war as thrilling and honorable, always involving conflicts with heroic white guys against foreign bad guys. For decades, Hollywood movies have vilified Arabs and Russians, shaping the American subconscious through endless propaganda films. When not in a WW2 setting, in the game Call of Duty, Arabs or Russians are depicted as villains, both with exaggerated accents, hailing from supposed authoritarian countries. George W. Bush is seldom labeled a tyrant because liberals did not consider Iraqis equal to themselves; instead, they deemed them innately guilty. In contrast, Putin is denounced as authoritarian because Ukrainians are perceived as white and innocent. At the same time, Russians are depicted as brutish orcs, a pejorative frequently used against them on social media. When it comes to Palestine, Muslims are assumed guilty simply by existing, while Israeli settlers are viewed as innocent by virtue of their whiteness. According to the USA, all races are created equal, but one is considered more equal than others.
Liberals think of Russia and Ukraine as two completely separate states, even though they were once united. Yet, many contest the validity of that unity, claiming that Ukrainians never wanted to be part of the USSR. Today, liberals wrongly believe that threats of violence made them remain until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite being similar societies, liberals consider them two distinct nations. One is a white nation, and the other is a nation of 'brutish orcs.' Joe Biden's remarks on the day of Russia's attack on Ukraine emphasize this. "The next few weeks and months will be hard on the people of Ukraine. Putin has unleashed a great pain on them. But the Ukrainian people have known 30 years of independence, and they have repeatedly shown that they will not tolerate anyone who tries to take their country backwards."
He was referring to 30 years of "independence" from the USSR.
On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation committed its worst offense yet: attacking whiteness, its influence, and its power. Biden stated in this same speech, "This is a dangerous moment for all of Europe, for the freedom around the world... It was always about naked aggression, about Putin's desire for empire by any means necessary — by bullying Russia's neighbors through coercion and corruption, by changing borders by force, and, ultimately, by choosing a war without a cause. Putin's actions betray his sinister vision for the future of our world — one where nations take what they want by force. But it is a vision that the United States and freedom-loving nations everywhere will oppose with every tool of our considerable power."
It's framed as liberation when the whites engage in political violence, whereas it's labeled as invasion or terrorism when different people do the same. When the U.S. invaded Iraq, killed its people, and stole oil, they were not deemed guilty of any crimes. One of the first laws Americans undemocratically enacted in Iraq was the privatization of their oil. Similarly, Zionist settlers who perpetrated countless atrocities against Palestine, then and now, are regarded as innocent and freedom-loving people. On October 7, 2023, Hamas committed an evil crime; they tried to defend their oppressed people against white supremacy and killed "innocent" settlers. They have committed the classic and unforgivable crimes of fighting back against white supremacy.
The terrorist attacks against the Great Satan on September 11, 2001, had nothing to do with Iraq; nevertheless, it did manufacture consent for U.S. aggression. Iraq was considered guilty just by being an underdeveloped Muslim nation, and Palestinians deserved to be replaced by settler-colonists on a similar basis. The WMD lie was quick to convince liberals of war due to their belief in Iraq's involvement in those terrorist attacks.
A Washington Post poll was conducted two years after 9/11 and revealed that 69% of Americans at the time believed Saddam Hussein was “personally” involved in the 9/11 attack. Even more staggering, 82% believed Saddam provided assistance to Osama bin Laden. Both were utterly false.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/9-11-and-iraq-the-making-of-a-tragedy/
They deemed Saddam Hussein guilty by association, blamable simply for being Arab. Racism and prejudice against Arabs/Muslims run deep within the fabric of Western society. A poll in 2015 found that 30% of Republicans and 19% of Democrats approved of bombing the city of Agrabah, the fictional city in Disney's Aladdin.
If it sounds Muslim, it must be bombed, in their opinion. On a related note, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a gas station owner who had a beard and wore a turban related to his Sikh faith, was wrongly profiled as an Arab Muslim and murdered by a white American. The murder occurred four days after 9/11. Any Arab, or perceived to be such, is guilty of the crime of being nonwhite and thus deserves to die.
If we define 'authoritarianism' as an infringement of personal freedom, then, too, the Great Satan is an expert. In Joe Biden's speech on the first day of the Russo-Ukrainian war, he concluded with, "... Liberty, democracy, human dignity — these are the forces far more powerful than fear and oppression. They cannot be extinguished by tyrants like Putin and his armies. They cannot be erased by people — from people's hearts and hopes by any amount of violence and intimidation. They endure. And in the contest between democracy and autocracy, between sovereignty and subjugation, make no mistake: Freedom will prevail."
What is this freedom and democracy that Western politicians keep speaking of? In 2016, the United States was one of three countries voting against an anti-Nazi resolution at the United Nations. Ukraine and Palau were the other two that voted no. Russia and China have promoted this resolution for more than a decade, and the international community, that is, the Western world, has voted no or abstained every time.
In the Global North, freedom means the right to spread intolerance rather than guaranteeing that people victimized by bigotry are safe from it. Freedom is the ability to criticize your government rather than having the power to transform it fundamentally. Those dangerous liberties in the Western world are letting people be homeless and jobless instead of providing them with a home and a job. In America, at least, you are free to sleep outside, as liberals will proudly proclaim.
When the Great Satan declares itself as the world's central authority, questioning and challenging it becomes the responsibility of all. The USA, without a shred of self-awareness, claims to be the supreme authoritative figure of this entire planet, and they accuse all who challenge them of being dictators. A country whose population is less than 5% of the world, currently with over 20% of the world's prisoners, was acting concerned regarding the Soviet's gulags. Those who perpetrated a war on a Muslim country and killed hundreds of thousands are now worried about Uyghurs in China. If someone points this out, liberals express their superior impenetrable wisdom and say we are engaging in 'whataboutism.' The liberals consider themselves all-knowing; anyone else is deemed to be inferior and, therefore, must obey them. They insist on peaceful debates with political enemies, and they expect oppressed people to uphold this principle—meanwhile, Western governments pillage the Global South and kill its people. I wonder if people in Palestine, Africa, or South America care about their knowledge of fallacies. Or their obsession with 'Western democracy,' virtually fetishizing ancient Greece at this point. Liberals don't need to read books or research a subject; instead, they only wish to win debates using their self-perceived superior logic skills and innate enlightenment. About the Uyghurs, those who have never researched the subject, who can't even spell Uyghur correctly, are certain that China is killing them en masse. Of course, they are merely parroting Western media. They do not understand that profit-driven entities have a capitalist bias; this includes the whole of the imperialist snake—the Western world.