March 5 is the anniversary of a defining event in American history: the Boston Massacre. And as United States troops fight to take down an Iranian regime that has not only killed many Americans and Israelis, but also many of its own people, I think it is not inappropriate to reflect on both the 18th century American Patriots and the 21st century Persian Patriots.
It is rare that a revolution is motivated by high principles and selfless courage — revolutions are more often spurred by revenge or power or bitterness, like the French Revolution, rather than like the American Revolution. But I think it is accurate to say that the anti-regime Persian protesters in Iran are really motivated by love of freedom and self-sacrificial courage, and in that way they have much in common with our Founding Fathers and our U.S. national philosophy.
American Revolution.org explains the context of the Boston Massacre:
On the evening of March 5, 1770, two British soldiers guarding the Boston Custom House got into an argument with a local apprentice, leading one of the soldiers to hit the boy over the head with his musket.
A colonist who witnessed the assault began arguing with the soldiers, and gradually a mob formed, surrounding the British troops on the steps of the Custom House
Eventually several hundred people gathered, and more British soldiers arrived. Some members of the crowd threw snowballs and stones at the soldiers, who fired into the crowd. Three Americans died instantly — the first and most famous was Crispus Attucks, an African-Native American Indian sailor — and two more received fatal wounds, while about eight suffered injury. It proved the spark that set off the powder keg of Patriot sentiment. For years the British had been imposing unjust taxes, quartering troops in private homes, violating trial rights, and more, but the deadly face-off in Boston set the seal on Patriot fury.
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The Boston Massacre was controversial even at the time and continues to be so to some extent today, but one thing we can say for certain is that many of the Patriots in that crowd were willing to face danger, even possible death, for what they believed. And while those present at the Boston Massacre might not have known that they were going to be fired upon, many other Patriots inspired by that event did take up arms to face British soldiers across a battlefield.
The Boston Massacre resulted in fewer than half a dozen deaths, but the massacre the Islamic regime of Iran committed on its people who dared to defy its tyranny this year resulted in between 30,000 and 40,000 deaths. That's difficult to comprehend, and represents one of the worst single massacres of modern history.
I do not compare the Boston Massacre and the massacre of the Persian protestors because there is any parallel at all in the number of deaths, but because the former helped spur a revolution based on love of liberty and the selfless willingness to die while fighting tyranny, and the latter was an attempt to crush a revolution also focused on liberty and selfless heroism.
The U.S. and Israel have come to the aid of the Persians, and hopefully will destroy the evil terror-sponsoring regime in Iran once and for all, and indeed while Persia has a very different history and culture from that of Western civilization, we do have certain ideals in common. How inspiring it is that even in the 21st century, there are so many people in Iran, in America, and in Israel willing to risk death to defy tyranny and champion freedom.
