LEGO – Style Revolution: How Iran Broke Out of an Information Blockade

Despite US efforts to suppress Iranian perspectives since 2021, Iran has challenged Washington’s information blockade by using innovative communication tactics to present its narrative worldwide during the ongoing conflict.

Washington’s Policy: Bombing, Insulting, and Threatening

On Traditionally Biased Western Media

Parties in Iran, including Explosive Media, foreign affairs minister Abass Aragchi, Professor Mohammad Marandi, and foreign missions, have articulated the country’s position in a style that has attracted the Western audience’s attention, breaking the information blockade imposed on Iran. In the past, nations facing Washington’s pressure encountered an insurmountable hurdle of presenting their point of view to the world or pushing back against US accusations. However, this reality may change henceforth. This problem was not only faced by small countries but also powerful ones, as recognized by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his interview with Tucker Carlson in February 2024. The Russian president noted how some countries have had to respond to absurd positions held by some Western leaders, since they lacked avenues of presenting alternatives, as they were smothered by the massive US media. While Russia or China had the wherewithal to respond, smaller countries could only endure being strangled by the West after being falsely accused of harming their own citizens, supporting terrorists, or possessing weapons of mass destruction. For instance, when President George W. Bush declared that Iraq, Iran, and North Korea were the new ‘axis of evil,’ the Western media and its pundits rapidly disseminated this position without investigating its bases. Meanwhile, the targeted countries lacked the ability to question these assertions or to clarify their position to audiences beyond their borders. The US and its Western allies have rushed to bomb some of these countries and others, such as Libya, using questionable media narratives as justifications. The same media have conveniently retracted these justifications after their governments have meted out destruction. Iran will likely escape this loop by pushing back against accusations presented by the US and Israel.

Iranians’ New Media Machine

Explosive Media has been posting short videos on social media platforms, including Telegram, X, Instagram, and YouTube (before its account was suspended). It shares videos full of satire and memes, showing strong familiarity with Western culture, especially through rap diss tracks. Rap is seen as resistance, while diss tracks lyrically expose an opponent’s weaknesses. Many of Explosive Media’s diss tracks criticize US leaders, especially Trump and Hegseth, and attract millions of global views, with some used in TikTok challenges. The song “L.O.S.E.R.” claims the US-Israel war on Iran stems from Trump’s ambitions. Another song targets Hegseth’s personality, alcoholism, and family issues and urges viewers to consider his sobriety to lead a department of war. Hegseth’s actions demonstrate a lack of sobriety, as he has advocated for the US military to disregard humanitarian law and bomb Iran back to the Stone Age.

Another song from Iranians is titled “Your Government is Run by Pedophiles” and suggests that powerful forces have been holding the US government hostage. It makes reference to the Epstein scandal, in which the late convicted sex offender with links to Israel is thought to have lured powerful men into pedophilia, through which he obtained compromising materials that he used to blackmail them. The song shows how Trump got elected by promising voters that he would put America first, only to put Israel first instead, through policies including a war on Iran. It shows that while Americans have been unable to push back against the fear imposed by the Epstein Class, Iran has been locked in a struggle against this class for years.

Another video titled “Vengeance for All” frames the current war as the final retribution for the US Empire for its crimes, including a genocide against Native Americans and Gazans, enslaving Africans, dropping nuclear bombs on Japanese civilians, and waging illegal wars on Vietnam, among others. This message may resonate with the audience, as the US has never faced retribution for its murderous adventures, which inspires recklessness in its ruling class. Past actions of the US empire, despite being legally and morally indefensible, earned Washington unquestioned support from Western European countries, and all these parties have conducted aggression against other countries. Iran is among the very few that have stood and fought against the US and its proxies. The LEGO-styled videos have succeeded not necessarily in winning minds in the West but in appealing to some to pause and question whether this war is necessary.

Innovation in communication is also seen in the entirety of the Iranian government. Aragchi has presented his country’s position with calmness and sobriety even amidst provocations and gaslighting. Also, Iran’s foreign missions have illuminated the distorted intellect and temperament of some US leaders. For instance, in response to threats to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, these missions educated the US leaders that the 7000-year-old Iranian civilization thrived when the West was in the Stone Age. Some informed the American side about King Cyrus of Ancient Persia, who wrote the earliest bill of rights in 538 BC, showing that the Iranian state pioneered human rights development. The Iranian Embassy in India informed the US leadership that it was bringing stone-age practices to the modern world by killing children. One Iranian mission mocked Hegseth’s poor understanding of distance. Through innovative use of new media and a deep understanding of Western societies, Iran has successfully broken out of the information blockade imposed by Washington.

The West’s Violent Nature Exposed

The use of social media by Trump and Hegseth exposes their arrogant and neurotic natures, which are reflective of Washington. Both have made threats that appear as if originating from European medieval chiefs. Trump even made a post of the US bombing a civilian bridge and hinted at using nuclear weapons on a non-nuclear state. Surprisingly, Trump faced no backlash from Western media or Western leaders, which exposes hypocrisy. As the information space is leveled, giving opponents of the West a voice, the West has been left exposed and is compensating for this reality by threatening to mete out barbarity that was previously laundered by the media.

Simon Chege Ndiritu is a political observer and research analyst from Africa

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