US Citizens' Criticism of the Los Angeles Wildfire and Comparing it with Gaza Condition

Following a massive fire in Los Angeles, public opinion in the city has compared the incident to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and criticized the US authorities' actions.

News ID: 85589

Date: 12 January 2025 - 09:53

TEHRAN (Defapress) - In recent days, a massive fire in Los Angeles, one of the largest cities in the United States, caused significant damage and attracted public attention. The incident, which led to the destruction of homes, the evacuation of residents, and the creation of fear and anxiety among citizens, naturally became the subject of heated discussions on social networks and the media. But what attracted more attention this time was the comparison that some citizens and social activists made between the fire and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

On the one hand, many social media users expressed their sympathy for the victims of the incident by posting pictures and videos of the Los Angeles fire. They called for immediate action to help the victims and prevent such incidents from happening in the future. However, along with this expression of sympathy, some also took the opportunity to compare the event with the deplorable conditions in Gaza. They pointed out that while the Los Angeles fire is rapidly covered in the media and international aid is rapidly flowing to the region, the people of Gaza have been involved in war, fire, and destruction for months, but the global attention to them is much less.

There are several main views on why this space has formed in public opinion and comparing the current conditions of Los Angeles with Gaza among social media users:

1) Retribution for supporting the Zionists:
Some social media users interpret the fire in Los Angeles as retribution for the United States' support for the crimes of the Zionist regime in the Gaza Strip. These views, with various religious and non-religious approaches, stem from a belief that is interpreted in Iranian culture as "retribution for action."

2) Deliberate arson:
Another group of users, relying on some unusual incidents that have recently occurred, describe this fire as intentional. The main citation of these users is the action that insurance companies in Los Angeles took some time ago and unilaterally canceled the insurance policies of a number of buildings in California.

This group describes the Biden administration as the perpetrator of this intentional arson, which has set fire to the richest states of America in the last days of his administration to cause trouble for Trump. Others describe Trump himself as the perpetrator of this intentional arson, which he has done to destroy Biden and the Democratic Party and will take extensive advantage of it from now on.

Looking at the above points, this big question mark still remains in place; why is global public opinion comparing the conditions in Los Angeles to the Gaza Strip?

This comparison is being made with 3 different approaches:

1. The approach of Muslims and supporters of Palestine
One of the reasons for comparing the effects of the fire in Los Angeles with the Gaza Strip is the ideological perspective. As mentioned above, Muslim users, relying on the principle of the elimination of oppression and falsehood, consider this fire to be the result of America's oppressive support for the Zionist regime, so by comparing these two situations, they try to prove this perspective and Islamic principle.

2. Point of view of opposed Americans
A significant portion of Americans - especially those who have a negative view of the United States support for the Zionist regime - consider the fire in Los Angeles and the failure to control it to be the result of neglecting infrastructure. These American citizens believe that the continuous political, financial, and weapons aid of the United States to the Zionist regime and the sending of surplus firefighting equipment from the city of Los Angeles to Ukraine led to neglecting infrastructure and, instead of spending on meeting domestic needs, spending money on waging war in the world. They believe that funds that could have been spent on equipping the fire department and on measures such as clearing dry grass were spent on producing and sending weapons to the Zionist regime and the Ukrainian government.

According to world public opinion, America no longer plays a role in world peace and, by fueling crimes and wars, especially in West Asia, has imposed costs on the entire world and itself that it can no longer support its domestic needs and social issues, alleviate poverty, and other needs.