> Surely the best way to convince people you are the peaceful victim is to continue to demonstrate peaceful intentions even when others don't reward you for it.

> Surely the best way to convince people you are the peaceful victim is to continue to demonstrate peaceful intentions even when others don't reward you for it. This is the international relations version of asking protestors to just show up unarmored and let police beat the shit out of them. It is entirely ineffective in both cases for the same reason: there is an American news empire that centers the state's narrative. The state will attack, and will spin the resulting images of destruction as entirely provoked by the victim. (Given that everyone knows that's what will happen, you might as well get what you paid for and show up ready for violence. That's what Iran is doing.)