this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2024
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US Authoritarianism
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The US wasn't even close to the worst offender when it came to imperialism or colonialism though. In fact we were quite bad at it, and actively stood against it for much of our history. The US actually played a big role in getting the European powers to give up their colonial claims after WW2.
This is just a quick list I can think off the top of my head: the trail of tears, slavery, Jim Crow laws, fighting Mexico to gain the west coast, fighting Spain to gain the Philippines, Florida, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, deposing democratically elected governments in Central and South America for cheaper bananas, isolating Cuba from the rest of the world when it turned communist but still keeping possession of Guantanamo Bay, putting down the Boxer Rebellion in China, invading Middle Eastern countries for their oil, fighting the communists in Korea and Vietnam, deposing the Hawaiian government and then annexing it for cheaper pineapples, and leveraging its position at the end of WWII to solidify its hegemony throughout the world via the petrodollar. I'm sure there are plenty of other things I've forgotten. The only other imperial power that would compare is England up until WWII.
Britain (which you mentioned), France, and Spain all have pretty awful imperial histories too. Not saying that to diminish the atrocities of the US by any means, but let's not pretend the rest of Europe didn't get up to some bullshit.
The reason that London has such great museums lol
We got screwed over, didn’t even get good museums out of the horrors and atrocities perpetrated by own government.
We got an entire beautiful, resource rich country from some of our horrors and atrocities so that's something.
Also the most museums per capita in the world with some absolutely amazing ones OP just hasn't been to.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1203021/museum-density-worldwide-by-region/.
Sure, most of them are tax dodges, however
And the Dutch! Don't forget about the Dutch
Kek
You thought that was a joke in Austin Powers?
No. Nigel Powers saw what they did in the Congo.
It's why he was so happy to aid in the Boer War-
Wait
That was Belgium - which TBF is just a bunch of French-speaking dutch people.
Sorry, all Frisians look alike to me
Good thing they've let go, like New Caledonia! ;)
I would add dropping most of the bombs left over from WWII (literally!) on Vietnam's neighbors because reasons.
This is underselling Spain which wreaked havoc in the Americas (and elsewhere - like the Philipines) for centuries before they got supplanted by us in the havoc-wreaking department.
A lot of this firehose is pretty marginal. The Boxer rebellion for example, the US was a minor player. Puerto Rico won self rule via the US fighting the Spanish so it's kind of weird to quote both. Also Spain is in NATO. Korea was a UN action. Hawaiians voted to become a state to escape the plantation owners from imposing new feudalism. Nobody is saying the US is without sins but these pale in comparison to things the major European powers did.
An appeal to hypocrisy doesn’t hold water here. Also, getting the Europeans to get rid of their colonial claims opened those former colonies up to our economic and strategic exploitation. There was nothing altruistic about it.
Ikr? As if anyones trying to dress up "removing the competition" as a good or noble act.
LOL, what a super apologist argument.
Seriously. Here's a map of US military installations across the world, plus the US has a stranglehold on large portions of South America. They may not treat everyone as poorly as the British did, but they sure love to kill brown people to get their natural resources.
Not going to defend America. We've done a lot of terrible things.
But when it comes to our military bases? Just imagine the world if we weren't there.
It wouldn't be a utopia. I guarantee that the regional power in that area would be grinding those people under their heels.
Especially the Emu. They faught a war against them. The Emu won.
Do you really want to live in a world with Emu hegimony!?
https://youtu.be/Bw-bz6RChUI?si=EwezgJbpzms9aBYM
Do emus even have heels?
Damn, I this is not what I expected
The raptors from Jurassic Park clearly took inspiration from the Emu. It's probably where the "farting into a Pringles can" growls came from .
These are basically dinosaurs of today.....
The US Military is in those countries at the invitation of those country's governments. Yup, even Iraq could tell the US to leave, and it's a contentious issue there whether or not they should. But like many countries on that map there's concerns that a neighbouring country might cause problems if the US leaves. And the countries that don't fall under that category are allies.
And how many of those governments are only in power because they are backed by US military power, otherwise their population would have removed them? Or were put into power by the US in the first place (either with direct military intervention or indirect military, intelligence, and covert op support)?
If you actually believe that, I have a bridge you may be interested in purchasing.
Its a map with red spots. I didn't know we controlled the UK or Australia? You are really stretching the idea of imperialism or colonialism to include where the US has bases. Ironically counter to your statement the map has very little of south america in red. Also or a another point of humor your map doesn't include Liberia. A country the US took over and dumped as many former slaves as they could there. One of main proponents of this action was Abraham Lincoln. Who preferred shipping former slaves back there rather than they remain in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia
Truth is the UK is responsible for more independence days around the world than any other nation. There is a meme about it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_that_have_gained_independence_from_the_United_Kingdom
I don't get what your point is. Your comment is primarily disjointed, rambling criticism. Are you just doing the ol' Reddit "I have nothing useful or interesting to add to this conversation, so I'm just going to criticize some comments so I can feel better about myself"?
I'm curious, what parts of thier comment confuses you?
Their reply was cogent, interesting, informative and importantly, correct.