When you live and travel abroad, you gain perspective on the world. One of the most drastic shifts is the sudden epiphany that America is both the
worst country in the world and the greatest. For me, that was living in Europe. I honestly hate America: the people are prudish, arrogant, uptight and fantastically dumb. Yet I still love America: we're innovative, welcoming, freedom-loving and are a passionate and principled nation. I sorely miss my Germans in the beergarten overlooking the Rhein, but I'd miss the hustle and bustle of Chicago too.
Humanity's downfall is the people who don't have or refuse this experience. These are the people who wish to squash the world into a simplistic us-vs-them box. That the "enemy" is all bad, and that "we" are all good. The world does not exist like that except in your imagination. Iranians are honest and wonderful people, who share the same hopes and dreams that we Americans do. Iranians care for their families, their careers and all of life's pleasures. There's not much that separates the Iranian people from the American people in both success and failure.
Another view on Iran. Documented by photographer Hossein Fatemi - Imgur
We do not stand for the jihadists that wish to bring war and destruction; nor do we stand for the Americans that wish to either.