By Nesrine Malik
Publication Date: 2026-03-23 06:00:00
TThe war against Iran is not real, even as it expands and destabilizes the Middle East and the global economy. This is how the Trump administration portrays it. War is a video game, a spectator sport, a social media festival of dunking. The architects of this war made a virtue out of stupidity, supported by an amazing information ecosystem. The US-led conflict appears to be the first of its kind in modern times: decidedly distant and deeply ignorant.
A week into the war, the White House uploaded to its social media channels a clip of montages from Top Gun, Braveheart and Breaking Bad with the caption “Justice the American Way” – itself a repurposing of a Superman motto. In another, titled “Touchdown,” NFL players tackle each other and upon contact, boom, footage of a strike explosion is shown, tagged “unclassified.” SpongeBob SquarePants also shows up and asks, “Do you want to see me do it again?” And then…
