Animosity With The West

Note: this blog is incomplete. I am still working on it. But you are welcome to make comments based on what I already have anyway.

Why do people in Iran chant "Death to America"? I have seen it regularly during the Friday Prayers. I know the general answer - "Because America has done us so much wrong." or "Because america is evil and is always planning something evil against Iran or certain other nations." But really, these are too generic and have no specifics. I guess my question breaks down into parts.

1) What is exactly meant by "America" here?

Do Iranians who chant these slogans desire for all American people to be dead? I don't think anybody in Iran would want that. One would have to be insane to desire that. Clearly, not all Americans are evil people. So what is the actual desire? I think this is very important because I know quite a few Americans who have asked me why Iranians want Americans dead. It is a serious source of confusion. I think clarifying this issue will go a long way in improving Iran-US relationships.

Well, maybe they don't mean all Americans. Maybe they mean the American government. Do they want American government dead? Hmmm. What does that mean? They want everybody in the US government dead? I mean, what about a rather simple clerk? Should he be dead too? Obviously, this cannot be the goal either. Again, one would have to be insane to want everyone working for the US government dead! Well, maybe they want just the top officials dead. OK, but even if that were the case, how do we decide who is a top official? Does it depend on their pay? Does it depend on how long they have worked for the government? Another viewpoint that could help clarify this issue is how do we exactly want these individuals dead? I mean, do we just line them up in front of a firing squad and shoot them? And then the next day everything in the world will be nice, sweet and peaceful? Is that what these people want?

You see, I don't think that these people have ever actually thought about this. It is most likely just a bunch of exaggerated emotions which are piled on top of vague and undefined reasons or issues?