Captured

Scapegoating, Betrayal, and the Fragility of Empires

Good morning, my Lovies—

I wrote a few weeks ago about a conversation I had with my hairstylist, a lovely Iranian woman who shared the story of her life and her children immigrating here in the early 1980s.

“I have to tell myself that my country and my culture have been captured,” she said of Iran. “They met here,” she continued, “all of them at Camp David in 1978”—referring to the leaders from Egypt and Israel, brokered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The U.S. had backed the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and for many, the deal was perceived as part of a larger strategy to erase Iranian culture and religion.

A few months later, the Iranian Revolution exploded, and she fled to the United States—the very country she believed had helped orchestrate her homeland’s downfall.

I haven’t stopped thinking about her use of the word “captured,” and how it carries a deep sense of rage and sorrow—not only politically, but psychologically.

As our conversation continued, she expressed her grief—still raw …