Featured image: (Pacer Graphic / Sophia Phillips)

There is a strange pattern in American politics: We are told something is urgent, dangerous and necessary, and most of us accept it like sheep following a shepherd.

Scroll through TikTok or Instagram and watch political speeches, and one huge message becomes clear: Iran is the enemy.

It is treated like something every American citizen should know and has to know. It is something ingrained in us from childhood. Some of us, from the south in particular, where there is a lot of Islamic hate, phrases such as, “The Muslim state are terrorists,” or, “Don’t trust the women wearing burkas; they’re suicide bombers for the Iranian state.”–is stuff that we have heard growing up.

It is not just speculation that most Americans do not understand it–even experts agree.

“There’s a 40-plus-year history of hostility between Iran and the United States,” said Dr. Richard Garlitz, a history professor specializing in Middle Eastern relations. “Americans have been conditioned to see Iran as the enemy, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they have a deep understanding of the issue.”

That word he used, conditioned, makes people pause.

Once you start looking at the cold, hard history, things get far more complicated than the good vs. evil narrative we are fed.

The tension did not appear overnight. It traces back decades, especially to 1953, when the U.S. helped stage a coup in Iran. The U.S. removed Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh after he tried to nationalize oil. For many Iranians, this is when the idea of America nosing into their business began.

Yes, let’s make one thing clear: Iran has acted aggressively, and yes, its government has a terrible human rights track record. But history has made one thing clear: Our relationship has never been simple, so why is everyone giving such simple answers now? Part of it comes down to propaganda.

“Propaganda is a loaded word, but it just means the way the government sells its messaging,” said Garlitz. “It can be truthful, or it can be spinning reality, but the reality is probably more complicated than what we’re hearing.”

This is where things get messy and start to feel confusing. If this conflict is so urgent and necessary for the survival of the U.S., why can’t anyone clearly explain why?

“The administration keeps saying the goals are clearly defined,” Garlitz said, “but they can’t seem to articulate that.”

That should be a red flag to all of us American college students who are of military age.

Are we trying to tear apart the Middle East? Are we trying to destabilize a government?

“If the goal is something like removing a leader, you can do that,” Garlitz added. “But does that fundamentally change anything? I doubt it.”

Recent history does not exactly make American leadership look competent. Think about the Afghanistan withdrawal, when our contacts were trying to claw their way onto cargo planes headed to the United States to escape execution by the Taliban — people who helped us, who took care of us when others wanted to kill us.

The most interesting thing is the divided reaction.

Opponents of President Donald Trump say the involvement is downright dumb. But even some of his supporters are hesitant.

Many Americans, especially younger ones, are just burned out by politics, and the biggest feeling is uncertainty.

“The rationale for strikes like this seems to change,” Garlitz said. “The reality is, we as the public can’t know exactly why this is happening right now. There are a lot of unknowns.”

We are used to certainty and comfort as Americans. We are used to having things easy because we are the big, bad United States.

But it is not that simple at all.

The real question behind all the headlines is: What are we sending our boys and girls to die for?

Only time will tell, and we can only pray that Trump knows what he is doing with our military.