People want to understand. There is a need in everyone to understand and comprehend; a compulsion to set logic to the senseless, and then to make sense of the senseless by comparing that senselessness to a senselessness they are familiar with. This often leads to awkward moments like, "I have brain cancer." "Oh, that's terrible; I stubbed my toe today!"
People also like to jump on bandwagons, even if it's a wagon they don't like and a band they rarely listen to, and graft their issues onto the News of the Day.
So when I read diaries on Daily Kos, or blogs in other portions of the blogosphere, attempting to compare Issue X (whether the issue is healthcare, guns, or disappointment in the perceived betrayals of President Obama) to what is happening in the streets of Tehran, Iran I get it.
I See What You Did There
But, please, STOP IT.
There are no small issues in America these days and there are very few unimportant issues in America today. Rattle off any of your major concerns -- healthcare reform, gay rights, climate change and carbon legislation, drug policy reform, the economy and what kind of economy we'll have in future, the deficit and national debt -- and no one could cogently argue that those concerns are small concerns, those issues unimportant issues. But none of these issues is "like what's happening in Iran".
I understand those of you who feel "betrayed" by some, if not all, of President Obama's policies. I do not agree with most of you, but I can understand your feelings on some level. But still President Obama and whichever policy you dislike is not "like Iran".
Despite the failures of this country, which are many, we are still a privileged, fat, and happy country with a privileged, fat, and happy citizenry that borders on a narcissistic citizenry. Most Americans who read this little rant have no personal experience that would stack up to a fair comparison to what is going on in Iran right now.
You've never been rounded up and imprisoned for posting on Twitter, you've never been shot in the head at demonstration, you've never had to use transmission fluid to scrap away markings on your apartment to avoid capture by Religious paramilitary thugs, you've never had to go on the internet and look up instructions on how to dress a bullet wound for fear of being arrested by secret police patrolling hospitals, you've never had to tunnel out on a proxy server to blog about the issues you care about.
Sorry, but for most Americans your "BLANK" is not like Iran.
Show some respect for the Iranian Opposition. Show some respect for yourself and the issues you care about. Turn away from the easy, glib comparison and realize that, as important as these things are to you and to the rest of us, that, no, they are not like the 10s, possibly 100s, of people dying for freedom in the streets of Tehran today.