American Meddling Leads to Islamic Republic of Iran

     When many people in my generation think of Iran, we see radical clerics screaming about how evil the West is and spouting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. But this wasn't always the case. Once upon a time Iran was a liberal jewel in a sea of fundamental Islam. Women, up until 1979, could attend college, wore Western clothing, had Western style TV shows, and generally were, well, Western. It was even said that it was then Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who wrote a letter to then, more conservative Saudi Arabia saying, "Please, my brother, let your women wear mini skirts. Let them have discos. Let them see movies. Let them be modern." However, despite the Shah's progressive leanings, he was still an absolute monarch, promising democracy but never giving it. He enraged the conservative Shiite majority with his Western, liberal, reforms. To top it off, he was actually put in due to the ousting of a democratically elected leader, Mohammad Mosaddegh, who the U.S. and Britain thought was communist. 

     All of this culminated in the Iranian revolution of 1979. But there is a reason that I am boring you about this particular topic. Iran was once a Westernized, modern society which then got seduced by a radical fundamentalist. I feel that we need to be careful so that it doesn't happen again in the world.