Governments can spend decades teaching people to hate each other, and then some restaurant will put up a Route 66 sign and ruin the whole story.
A video from Iranian creator Sharghzadeh shows American-themed bars and restaurants in Iran, the same kind of lovingly silly Americana you find all over the world: neon signs, diner vibes, burgers, cowboy stuff, movie references, and décor assembled from the global dream of “America” as much as the actual country.
That dream is often corny. It is also real.
That is the part that war propaganda has to flatten. It needs “Iran” to mean a regime, a flag, a threat, a target. It cannot really handle Iranian people building the same goofy American theme restaurants that people build everywhere else, because that suggests something dangerously humane: curiosity, affection, humor, and recognition.
The people are usually better than the countries pretending to speak for them.
I wonder how many people in the US really realise the colossal damage Trump has done to the country's international reputation? Eighty years plus of soft power burned up eighteen months of spite.
There are a huge number of people, (me included), who have variously studied in America, worked in the US, travelled through the country, fallen in love there, met the most amazing people, seen the most extraordinary sights, inhaled the culture - and are heartbroken by the contempt, viciousness and threats coming from this Administration.
It's such a horrifying contrast to the welcome we've had; and then being told that our culture is rotten, that our politics need 'fixing' and that even some of our countries need to become American - were we ever really friends?
In communities like this, we can remember there are huge numbers of Americans we would love to have as friends, share a meal and do fun stuff together - but every day, Trump and his toadies make it harder to rebuild the relations. So - American BoingBoingers - we're here for you when the nightmare is over. The we can have wings and the blues and talk about nice things again. Keep fighting, we're with you.
It’s interesting that “American themed” venues abroad are seen as basically a theme park, but non-American venues in America can be ruthlessly policed for their “authenticity”. If people in Iran enjoy visiting what is essentially a caricature of American culture that is mostly a reflection of what was on TV in the 1970s I’m glad they are having fun. But it doesn’t more signal any real interest in or sympathy for America today.