I don’t know much about Homeland- but I am aware that there is a character that is psychologically damaged from time spent is Iraq
And so why I am NOT going to watch Homeland is this-
I am so sorry that your ILLEGAL, UNFOUNDED INVASION of MY COUNTRY psychologically damaged
I am so sorry that YOU entering MY LAND without warrant hurt you
I am sorry that YOU are the VICTIM because God knows, WE, THE IRAQI PEOPLE, APPARENT AREN’T
A lot of people have told me “governments start wars, soldiers fight them”
To which I respond-
DO NOT feed me that victimization of soldiers rhetoric
THEIR ACTIONS are THEIR ACTIONS
They have the CHOICE, the RESOURCES and the OPPORTUNITY to learn about what being in the US military entails and many don’t take that chance
WE DID NOT HAVE THAT CHOICE
WE SIMPLY GOT INVADED
WE ARE THE VICTIMS
A lot of people have also told me “if not for the Americans, you’d still be living under Saddam! Don’t you get that?”
Buddy- as a SHIA IRAQI, believe me, I GET IT
I DON’T GET where the ILLEGAL American invasion comes in
I DON’T GET where this inevitable moral duty of the Americans to be OUR SAVIORS and to LIBERATE us from oppression comes in
I DON’T GET where the idea that we are INCAPABLE of removing our own tyrants comes in
When I see what’s happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Syria, Libya and Yemen,
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE,
All I can think is-
THAT COULD HAVE BEEN US
ARABS DO NOT REQUIRE WESTERN INTERVENTION TO FREE THEMSELVES FROM THE VERY DICTATORS THAT WESTERN NATIONS SUPPORTED AND VERY OFTEN INSTALLED
We are NOT a monolithic race of desert-dwellers, doomed to suffer in our tents until Uncle Sam and the rest of his WHITE SAVIOR army comes in
We can do it ON OUR OWN
So I don’t appreciate people dumbing my people down and robbing them of their agency and their ability to do it themselves
I ACTUALLY FUCKING HATE THAT
In conclusion-
I, PERSONALLY, AS AN IRAQI, will NOT watch Homeland because it engages in the victimization of the invaders of my country, MY HOMELAND, and because that victimization proliferates the White Savior stereotype and takes away from my people their agency and their RIGHT to feel victimized by the illegal invasion and occupation of our land and our lives
PS-I do not know how Homeland is as a show. For all I know, it could be excellent. I have heard mixed reports about its portrayal of Islam and Arabs so I will defer to those who have actually watched it because I will not.
Fuck that show.
