Even though we had a little bit of warning about federation, I think we’re off to a rocky start. Maybe we should have compiled a list of things we think that may make other people very upset. That way they can quickly get to know what we’re about and go hide in a social media bubble if it scares them.
I figure I’d start with a good one. America deserved 9/11. I’m burying the lede a bit with that one. I don’t think random acts of violence really accomplish much and I don’t think randos, albeit imperial core randos, should die. But this wasn’t a random act of violence, was it?
There’s a little something called Foucault’s Boomerang. Basically it’s the tools, means, and experiments carried out by imperial countries tend to make their way back home one way or another. Military gear gets tried out on the battlefield then next thing you know cops at home have the same equipment. It also works for cause and effect. America did 9/11 to itself.
After WWII America courted the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, who had some really “interesting” religious ideas at the time, to ensure a source of oil. Oil was very important to American manufacturing and the war effort. Our domestic reserves helped us get through WWII. We needed more. So the US decided to look the other way on Saudi foreign policy while they ensured us first dibs on the oil. The UK also made deals on building their infrastructure and finance needs, to which the US eventually pushed them of the back rooms where such deals were made. But that’s another story.
The US also backed anti-Soviet/anti-Communist groups in the Middle-East as they had in other parts of the world. This meant giving aide and weapons and training to those groups. In exchange they would beat up all the communists and pro-soviet people in their country and keep the borders open for US trade.
Not to “yadda yadda yadda” through a lot of interesting history but the US made a lot of enemies and ruined former alliances in these places because we valued the exploitation of their resources more than the actual relationships formed. Once the Soviets were gone, we could just do what we wanted to them and there was nobody left to oppose us.
So our former (and some current) friends stabbed us in the back. The imperialism boomeranged back home and we got a terrorist attack on US soil.
The people who died didn’t particularly deserve it but people die when an imperial power does imperialism. That’s part of why it’s bad. Imperialism will never benefit the common person, it will only hurt us in the end. You best believe all this funding, weapons, and shit going into Ukraine will come back on us too.
What are some other real-ass takes for our visitors who need disillusioning?
okay i know that i mostly talk to other people my own age so i’m surely biased, but outside of the US isn’t the 9/11 thing kind of a common opinion? or i guess the idea is more that they brought it on themselves
In australia, I could get away with saying “America both caused and deserved 9/11” without immediately being beaten to death, but i’d probably receive some grumbles or be looked at like a crank and would have to elaborate into a pretty lengthy conversation that might not get through at all
so idk, i wouldn’t say “common opinion” in the anglo core but “somewhat accepted”
Long ago I met some random ozzies (forgive the term) who told me that Australia needed to move away from the USA toward China. Australia is also a settler-colonial state and part of the imperial core but I think this is just a reminder that every country on Earth is more leftwing than the USA, which is therefore the most rightwing country on Earth.
Long ago I met some random ozzies (forgive the term) who told me that Australia needed to move away from the USA toward China
there’s actually a chance you were speaking with one of two former prime ministers lmao
(Kevin Rudd seemingly legitimately believed this while in office, and Paul Keating has definitely turned towards this in the last two decades)
That’s way too many words.
9/11 was used as a justification for wars that killed hundreds of thousands of people. We’ve had days where more people were dying every day from covid than from 9/11. The US armed and supported Al Qaida, Rambo II said “This film is dedicated to the brave mujaheddin of Afghanistan.”
We, like a lot of people, got sick and tired of it being blown out of proportion so we joke about it.
Like how did you stretch it out that far, adding that much text just makes it weird.
I like saying usa killed millions in the iraq/afghanistan wars so people will look it up and see it’s ONLY 300k+
adding that much text just makes it weird.
it’s a hell of a lot shorter than listening to Blowback Season 1. but I still liked that too. There’s more to it than “blown out of proportion”
Yeah but that’s all you really need. Like I’ve been making 9/11 jokes as far back as I can remember just based on what I said.
I’m pretty sure blockades are also illegal under international law. I think unilateral sanction regimes are, too.
I should explain what I mean. I was using the terminology in a way that’s somewhat of a stretch.
There’s an argument to be made that economic embargo serves the same purpose as blockade, and that the only meaningful difference is not having actual warships present. And moreover that it should be treated as similar to blockade because it inflicts many of the same harms.
The United States is the single greatest threat to LGBT+ people in the world. Not only are many parts of the country actively trying to deny trans people life saving medicine, they are helping to fund draconian anti-LGBT+ laws in various African and South American countries. They also helped and are probably still helping Saudi Arabia displace the indigenous Islamic traditions in favor of their more inhumane version, leading to queer people in Islamic countries to be even more at risk.
On top of that, because the US kills so many people, both directly through military action, and through sanctions, that statistically more LGBT+ people are killed yearly by America than all of the countries with the death penalty for homosexuality combined.
