Mass executions in Iran reflect revolution, not Islam or Iranian culture

Evidence

This kind of ferocity, this resort to ruthless, large-scale, summary trial and execution, however, is not characteristic either of Iran or of Islam. It is very characteristic of revolutions. Of the three components, Islam, revolution, and Iran, it is rather to the revolutionary than to the Islamic or Iranian aspects of what has been happening that we should look. This does not of course mean that such things are unknown in either Iranian or Islamic history. In the early days of the revolution, at the height of the anti-American campaign, one of the accusations that were frequently brought against the United States was that the CIA was responsible for instructing the Shah’s men in torture and repression. This would be rather like accusing the Iranians or the Arabs of having introduced sharp business practices to the United States. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1517

Categorization

• XREF: Reverse of Orientalist blame-shifting — echoes Said’s critique of attributing political violence to an essentialized Islam rather than structural historical causes. — connects to: A tortured Iranian writer distinguishes fundamentalism from Islam as cause — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 732
• CANDY: The swipe that accusing Iran of teaching torture is like saying Iranians taught America sharp business practices is a quotable jab.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1517