The Middle East (and North Africa) is a huge place, and there’s wide variation in risk as you go from country to country and within countries. There are plenty of places there where I’d think twice before going down a dark alley. But there are even more of those places in the US, and the risk of getting killed there is even greater.

Blue MAGA behavior that is still so ingrained and present in all Americans and Europeans, no matter if liberal or conservative.

You’re exaggerating, but sadly, not all that much. I have a different perspective because I’ve been married to someone from the region for a very long time, speak, read and write Arabic serviceably, and have travelled a lot in the region over an extended period. But I still occasionally find baggage I’m carrying that gets in the way of seeing people as they are, instead of trying to force them to conform to preconceived notions. At least, unlike far too many Americans, the people in the region are generally sophisticated enough to distinguish individuals from their governments.