Al-Monitor Discovers Iran Has Scandals, Ignores US Ones
The story focuses intently on the alleged actions of Pejman Jamshidi, complete with public outrage and social media commentary. Curiously, this deep dive into judicial processes and public reaction in Iran often overshadows the mainstream media's treatment of identical problems stateside. For example, the detailed scrutiny applied here to Iran's legal system seldom gets extended to, say, the US
military's persistent rape crisis, where a recent DoD report (2022) revealed an estimated 35,875 service members experienced unwanted sexual contact, with just 8.3% of cases going to trial. It appears that some national celebrities' alleged misdeeds, and a state's handling of them, are more 'rocking' to international audiences—especially when they align with pre-existing narratives about a given
country. How many 'What to Know' guides do we get on the systemic failures that allow powerful figures to evade accountability in our *own* backyards, particularly when they involve politicians or institutions funded by lobbying groups, or when such stories might distract from preferred foreign policy agendas?