US Media Discovers 'Cost-of-Living Protests' Only Exist in Iran
Al-Monitor details protests across three Iranian cities, citing six deaths from clashes between security forces and demonstrators upset over high prices and economic stagnation. The story follows a well-worn path: dissent in 'enemy' states gets top billing, complete with human rights concern. One almost wonders if CNN has been asked to report on the same level of granular detail when Michigan
residents protest rising grocery prices and diminishing wages, facing their own breed of economic stagnation. Odd how the same outlets seem to forget that economic hardship is a universal human experience, not a special feature unique to nations targeted by U.S. sanctions. Perhaps the 'cost-of-living' isn't deemed a threat to democracy when it's happening at home, where unemployment benefits dry
up and healthcare remains a luxury. The difference, it seems, is not in the suffering, but in the narrative utility of the suffering.