i've been having some convos with for lack of better words, normies more recently again and i've had a string of people just have NO IDEA how many countries the US has either overthrown, attempted to overthrow or have influenced in some way. Usually it all starts from explaining how the US is inherently a very right wing country and always has been. i've talked to a lot of different people about shit kinda like this for years and it's kinda wearing me down how little anyone knows anything about so much shit the evil empire has done. like i actually feel like the Charlie Day always sunny conspiracy board meme sometimes just carrying on a conversation, referencing some events or whatever. idk if anyone else feels this way sometimes, i just felt like venting a bit cause it made me feel actually bad in a way that i especially didn't like and felt like, i guess, alone??

  • spring_rabbit [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    My friends sometimes try to oversimplify my politics to "America Bad."

    But when it comes to foreign relations, maybe that's not that far off?

    • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Anytime someone does the "America Bad is not an ideology" thing, all I can think is "Well it's a damn good start".

    • emizeko [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      A Marxist understanding of capitalism leads to anti-imperialism. Anti-imperialism is understood by detractors as a simple rhetorical dressing over simplistic heuristics like “reflexive anti-americanism,” “history repeats itself,” and “the military-industrial complex needs contracts,” but all of these are reductive. Marxists understand that human political leadership in the imperial periphery, whether enlightened or tyrannical, will only be antagonized by empire for one single possible reason: it is getting in the way of market penetration. This is phrased succinctly by Kevin Dooley when criticizing Noam Chomsky’s support for a military alliance between the Kurds and the USA in Syria: “The difference between [Chomsky’s] position and a hard-line anti-imperialist position isn’t tactical. What he’s arguing is simply a violation of anti-imperialist principles based on a fundamentally different understanding of what can drive the empire to act in the world.” [16]

      from https://redsails.org/why-marxism/

    • 420blazeit69 [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      It's much closer to reality than "America Good," which is what you get from most media.

      If they acknowledge that U.S. media generally portrays America as good but will occasionally criticize it, say that's what you're doing from the other end. That could at least get you past that sticking point.