On paper, the regime in Iran should represent everything that Western progressives reject. Women experience brutal oppression and are treated like chattel belonging to male family members. The economy centers on the nation's military-industrial complex, with the IRGC controlling 40% or more of the nation's economic output.
Don’t forget how the mullahs treat the LGBTQ community, religious minorities, indigenous peoples, and so on.
And yet, the mainstream media waited nearly two weeks to report on the uprising in Iran. Progressive publications like The Nation, the New Republic, and Slate never mentioned it. The Golden Globes vented about Trump and ICE—but remained silent on Iran.
Why the silence? As Yascha Mounk wrote on Monday, the Left’s hatred of the Western democracy makes Iran’s theocratic tyrants their natural allies. Their silence is their expression of grief that true liberty may prevail in Tehran and vindicate Western values.