我曾经认为美国是最大的恶魔；以下是我不再这样想的原因。
我是一名30岁的土耳其男性，生活在伊斯坦布尔。我在成长过程中，看着土耳其新闻频道播放美国在伊拉克、叙利亚和阿富汗轰炸的可怕画面。昼夜不停地投下炸弹，无辜的人们在夜深人静时被从家中拖走；丈夫们常常在家人面前被逮捕或杀害。维基解密发布了视频，显示美国士兵在攻击直升机上愉快地向记者和其他无辜者开火。我还看到了穆斯林囚犯在阿布格莱布监狱遭受酷刑的可怕画面。
随后，大量移民开始涌入土耳其——数以百万计，随着乌克兰战争的爆发，更多人陆续到来。住房、购物和其他一切变得极其昂贵。年轻人找工作变得异常困难。美丽而好客的土耳其文化发生了变化，取而代之的是对难民的巨大种族主义和仇恨。这一切都源于来自美国摧毁的国家的大量难民。因此，我对美国充满了仇恨。
后来，我因为对软件工程的浓厚兴趣开始学习英语。我逐渐习惯了美国媒体和美国人的日常生活，开始意识到美国本身是多么被侵占，整个体制是如何被少数人劫持并服务于他们的。最近，美国关于伊朗的战争宣传彻底改变了我的看法。美国民众似乎反对在中东发动另一场致命战争。我开始在YouTube和X上观看美国退伍军人的视频，阅读他们的博客；几乎没有例外，他们都反对这场战争。尽管如此，庞大的宣传机器却开始为战争辩护，我终于意识到这一切背后真正的操控者是谁：是谁在操控所有这些战争，谁在控制整个美国的政治领域，谁在推动中东的战争和政权更迭行动，谁在压榨普通美国人，给他们提供世界上最糟糕的医疗体系、最劣质的食品和最差的社会保障体系，同时每天通过庞大的媒体机构、好莱坞和社交媒体公司彻底洗脑他们。
我曾经认为，“这是中央情报局、国家安全局、老大哥，”或者“这是五角大楼、共产党、中国共产党、军工复合体。”尤其是在观看了一位前中央情报局间谍的播客后，我意识到他们都不是蛇头。确实，军方体制中总会有一些官员想要战争，但我意识到他们并不是这一切战争狂热的主要推动力。而美国人民呢？他们似乎对自己的税款是如何被使用的几乎一无所知。我意识到，他们和那些被侵略国家的人一样，都是被一小撮我甚至无法在这里提及名字的人所坑害；这就是他们的强大之处。
这就是为什么我不再仇恨美国。我恨那些利用他们的人，把他们当作有用的傻瓜，就像对待我们其他人一样。
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I am a 30-year-old Turkish man living in Istanbul. I grew up watching Turkish news channels show horrific pictures of US bombings in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. Day and night, bombs were dropped, and innocent people were hauled from their houses in the middle of the night; husbands were often arrested or killed in front of their families. WikiLeaks published videos showing US soldiers joyfully firing at journalists and other innocent people from an attack helicopter. I saw horrific pictures of Muslim prisoners being tortured in Abu Ghraib prison.<p>Then, a huge flow of immigrants started coming to Türkiye—millions of them, with more arriving after the war in Ukraine. Housing, shopping, and everything else became incredibly expensive. Young people started having a terrible time finding jobs. The beautiful, hospitable Turkish culture shifted, replaced by immense racism and hatred towards refugees. This was all due to the large number of refugees coming from countries the US had destroyed. As a result, I hated the US's guts.<p>Later in life, I started learning English due to my strong interest in software engineering. I became accustomed to American media and the daily lives of its people, and I started realizing how invaded the US itself was and how the entire establishment was hijacked by and served a small group of people. Recently, the war propaganda in the US regarding Iran shifted my view entirely. The American population seemed to be against another deadly war in the Middle East. I started watching US war veterans on YouTube and X and reading their blogs; almost without exception, they were against the war. Despite that, the huge propaganda machine started up in favor of it, and I finally realized who was behind it all along: who was behind all of these wars, who was controlling the entire US political realm, who was pushing for wars and regime change operations in the Middle East, who was squeezing everyday Americans, serving them the worst healthcare system in the world, the junkiest food, and the worst social security system, all while completely brainwashing them every day via the huge media establishment, Hollywood, and social media companies.<p>I used to think, "It's the CIA, the NSA, Big Brother," or "It's the Pentagon, the commies, the Chicoms, the military-industrial complex." Especially after watching a podcast of an ex-CIA spy on YouTube, I realized none of them were the head of the snake. Sure, there will always be some officials in a military establishment who want war, but I realized they were not the primary driving force behind all this warmongering. And the American people? They seem almost completely oblivious to how their tax money is being spent. I realized they were as screwed as the people of those invaded countries. They are screwed by a handful of people whose names I can't even mention here; that's how powerful they are.<p>This is why I don't hate the US anymore. I hate those who screw them over, treating them like useful idiots, just like the rest of us.