> it's probably just easier to ignore the inconsistencies here

For people who actually actively think of both, that may be the case?

But "ignoring" presumes the comparison feeling potentially valid to them in the first place. It's not ignorance or even an inconsistency if the comparison would feel so apples-to-oranges that it doesn't even occur to them.

Maybe my view is distorted here, so here's a question to check that. Among the people you see complaining about how little attention is being paid to Iranians compared to Palestinians, (a) what fraction of them are themselves Iranian (excluding those with, say, loved ones in Israel), and (b) if you feel part (a) is small, then what is the largest group of people (and what percentage would you say it constitutes) that you would say you most often find making this comparison?

I think they’re overwhelmingly white, conservative, American, and usually are religious. We may be indirectly saying the same thing. The Palestinian cause is wrapped up in a number of other issues where the demographic overlap is not likely to include the same people I observe being upset about the lack of coverage of this protest movement in Iran. I don’t have a good explanation for that phenomenon, other than the perception that Persians are not members of a group-type that would otherwise elicit sympathy on the dimensions of identity, ethnicity, and so on.

I'm not saying you're wrong (or right), but that you're simply jumping to a much more complicated explanation than what I'm seeing. My point was much more straightforward than that.

All I'm saying is: you addressed (b), but what about (a)?

That is, if you believe this comparison is merited, then surely Iranians would at least be making it themselves reasonably frequently? Now I don't know I'm living in a bubble, or if I'm just not keeping up with the news (I know for a fact there is a lot of news I'm missing, so I wouldn't put this past me by any means), but I simply don't see Iranians themselves going, e.g., "Why was there so much worldwide support for Palestinians but not for us?!"... is this something you do see?

If so, I'd love to hear more about it (links or even anecdotes would be great)... but if not, I'm suggesting that maybe the comparison just isn't apt, is all.

In fairness (to myself, I guess) I did start this thread out by saying that I do think this is more complex.

With regard to your question, my mistake I thought I implied an answer to (a). Of the people I see complaining about this, a very very small fraction are actually Persian. It's really just one person, and she's someone I met through my wife while living in LA. There's not that many Iranian ex-pats living in the US relative to ... people who are not Iranian ex-pats, I guess, so if the point you're making is "Iranians who do not live under the regime don't care about this criticism" it's certainly possible you are correct, as I have n = 1 evidence to the contrary. My commentary was more on the general case, though, and I'm not sure how meaningful it is to try to discern the exact percentage of "Iranians not living in Iran are upset the media isn't covering the regime murdering its own people". This would be par for the course, no? It's not like it would be a surprise. So, what does it matter if the percentage of Iranians complaining about this issue is high, or low?