You mean the US's middle East policy hasn't been driven by realpolitik? That it was idealistic? Why the has the US propped up so many dictatorships? Saudi Arabia?
I think most people believe their own country's propaganda. :-)
In Sweden, since that is the subject, we really used to be naive and trust what we were told.
Some of the typical characteristics you saw, all the way back to before written history, is that we are group oriented and do what we were told. This made for a high trust society, which is probably what made the place work.
But no more, the society elites are really destroying this trust now.
That the democratic world supports Saudi A is an extreme example of realpolitik, of course. We need stability in that part of the world.
