Posted on 04/02/2026 8:24:45 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
“For Americans who came of age before the Iranian revolution, the defining event regarding Iran was the hostage crisis of 1979-1981, in which 52 of their countrymen were held prisoner for over a year at the captured U.S. Embassy in Tehran...”
“That crisis dominated news in the United States for an extended period. It even spawned a nightly television program (which became ABC Nightline)..."
American children who came of age in as late as the 1970s and early 80s will likely recall the Iran of their childhood as an infamous adversary, much in the same vein as the Soviet Union, so much so that the World Wrestling Federation’s top villain for a time was the Iranian-American “Iron Sheik...”
But for many born in later decades, "(they) are too young to have lived through news of that crisis and have not had the same perception-forming experience..."
Beyond growing up in the shadow of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, they are now in their 20’s and see how war could affect them personally. “Younger respondents are also more likely to be of fighting age, which could color their views of war..."
Beyond the formative experiences, how the different generations consume media matters too.
President Donald Trump is 79 years old. Vice President JD Vance is 41. Both men have been known to have different and even seemingly contradictory views on occasion regarding Iran, at least in the past.
They’re not alone.
(Excerpt) Read more at responsiblestatecraft.org ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
“perception-forming experience...”
Yes, being familiar with the facts puts Boomers at a disadvantage.
/s
Hang ups is a Boomer phrase
Well, ya being familiar or having had encountered the facts does give boomers a particular viewpoint. Gen Z could use knowledge of history Well maybe they’ll learn the hard way.
70+ years of Network TV have taught the Boomers all they know
Yeah, all this foreign affairs stuff is just about people’s hang-ups man, it ain’t real.
Say what? Hitler was before my time but it was not hard for me to understand what evil people do.
Additionally, they know the Saudis attacked us on 9/11 and they and the Gulf States helped big with ISIS.
And they look at our leaders slobbering over Saudi Leaders, they see the ISIS Leader (now Syrian “President”) hanging at the White House, shooting baskets on Obama’s Basketball court. They see Wesley Clark tenderly asking him at the UN if he’s getting enough sleep.
So they don’t get why Iran is worse.
It’s like asking a kid in 1945 to be mad about the SPanish American War.
Additionally, an aside, I know several young kids in the medical field. They have countless Iranian coworkers... to them -that- is what an Iranian is.
Different world.
NO!
It’s all about Shia Islam...
Every generation has to learn the age old lessons.
RE: the World Wrestling Federation’s top villain for a time was the Iranian-American “Iron Sheik...
Before I got to that line I had already discerned that this publication was not a peer reviewed university journal or Foreign Affairs.
From Face Nation. Oh, wait. From somewhere else....
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2XPzTlY7qzw
I'm turning 70 in August. I learned a long time ago that Network TV is captured by the left. It is not to be trusted as a source of information. I shut it off completely in 1999.
Too young to remember 9/11 ??
I’m a boomer. Haven’t watched network news in decades. Everything I know about Iran has come from other sources.
Give it time. They will.
Sunni Islam is not much better than the
Shia stuff.
It all eventually needs to go, much like thAT mARXIST STUFF.
[Cap lock notwithstanding]
Because they know so little and so much that is wrong.
President Carter was a fool.
The Shah of Iran, “Reza Shah Phalavi” trusted Carter. Carter betrayed him and thus started the return and accession of the Mullahs.
Then “students” captured our American Embassy in Tehran. They were not students and direct products of the new government of the Mullahs. In effect Iran had declared war on the United States.
This all could have been easily stopped by Carter. He did not have the balls to do it.
1. Select a target of a military base with little civilian population and drop a small nuke on it. Prior tell the people to get the hell out.
2. Inform Iran of all the next sequence of targets to be hit using low kiloton bombs thus with the least civilian causalities. Tell the people to get the hell out or die.
3. Inform them that the USA Embassy will be ground zero for a 10 megaton bomb in the next 4 days if the hostages are not released. It would have killed millions including our hostages.
Fear works if your enemy knows you will do it.
PS
I Live in Iran as a kid. It was good duty for us. It was modern and pro-western. What is sad about today is the vast majority are the same today but suffer from the insane Mullahs. I wish them no harm. I wish my childhood friend next door no harm. His name was Ali. I was most privileged as a kid to drink tea with him and his dad in their house and served crackers and caviar with the grown men in their tea room. I was very privileged to have this. At the time I did not know how privileged I was. In effect they were accepting me and of course Ali as it was his father’s house.
I miss those days of innocence.
That was in 1960. I am old now. I hope Ali is old now and not dead. His dad was an officer in the police. He WAS NOT SAVAK! He was just an honest police officer.
Ali was my dear friend at 12 years old. We were both innocents. I miss Ali. I hope he is just an old man at home with his family and alive as I am.
Forgot to add this:
When it snowed, Ali’s and my house were separated by a low wall, it became a snow war. We spent much time throwing shovels of snow against each other until we became tired. Then we had tea. I miss it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.