Theocracy Is Bad, Actually

"America bad, enemies of America good" is tremendously stupid politics.

Last week, Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi died at age 56. Her graphic novel, mostly memoir, tells the story of a girl named Marji who lives through the overthrow of the Shah in Iran, a brutal war with Iraq, and the rise of theocratic rule before escaping to Europe. In 2024, Satrapi published “Women, Life, Freedom,” another graphic nonfiction book documenting the massive protest movement that emerged after the Iranian regime murdered 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, with women removing their veils and demanding an end to the terror of the morality police.

And so of course she’s being smeared as “orientalist,” “racist,” and “Islamophobic,” and accused of spreading anti-Iranian “propaganda.”

But, plot twist: Those smearing her aren’t right-wing Iranians who support their despotic and murderous government. They’re largely American and European leftists.