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Are we the baddies? (i.imgur.com)
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[-] Zehzin@lemmy.world 104 points 7 months ago
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[-] Arcturus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 78 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I like how some people are claiming americans are aware of this lol

If most americans were sufficiently aware and organizing against it accordingly (if they're not organizing, they're not aware enough) the imperialist gov would already have been toppled.

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[-] turkishdelight@lemmy.ml 65 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

America is everthing Americans claim China and Russia to be.

[-] FrowingFostek@lemmy.world 23 points 7 months ago

It's an international poker game and everyone is cheating. To see politics through a campist lens helps no one.

[-] Arcturus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 39 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Acknowledging that the US has been the leader of the imperial core — the countries that have been colonizing the rest of the world for 500 years now — since WW2 is the realistic, materialist view.

Only difference now is that it's changed form to mainly the economic subjugation (neocolonialism) of "former" colonies through unequal exchange under capitalism rather than direct military subjugation — though the US still has a major actual settler colony committing a genocide in Palestine right now.

Any country that tries to escape this system (by nationalizing its resources to prevent extraction by unequal exchange, usually by establishing a socialist state) is sanctioned (DPRK, Vietnam in the past, Zimbabwe etc), embargoed (Cuba), overthrown (Chile, Burkina Faso etc), or invaded (Vietnam, Libya, Korea, etc).

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[-] irish_link@lemmy.world 61 points 7 months ago

I disagree. Most Americans know we are the fire nation/empire from Star Wars.

Well at least most people I know.

[-] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 50 points 7 months ago

You forgot the important part

"And they're proud of it"

It's crazy how military families are so into being in the military, out how proud they are of being Marines, etc. They're literally doing the governments dirty work.

[-] Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago

The question is: why would they be proud of being marines?

I mean, marines are the cannon fodder in every alien invasion movie, so, with that knowledge, that military branch is composed of useless moving targets.

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[-] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 36 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

It's a not uncommon theme in anime: some large imperialist/war nation or one associated with fire or occupying Japan.

It's also worth noting that Japan had a history of imperialism and occupied a significant portion of the world around them not too long ago.

Japan has a pretty similar world view to us. I don't know a lot about Japanese culture, but I think a lot of its similarities contribute to anime's popularity in the US. We both have pretty rigid class structures, appreciate violence and capitalism and are enamored with technology.

I know that Avatar is American, perhaps I just wanted to air out a pet theory, however I think it's good for us to explore some of these assumptions with art and stories.

I think most of us aren't the baddies though.

[-] EvolvedTurtle@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago

To be fair Not all fire nation citizens are bad either

Usually when there's a imperialistic government it's very rarely every citizens fault

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[-] Wirlocke 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Japan has a similar worldview to Americans because there's been multiple points in history where we brute forced our ways on them, conveniently at times where their old ways were losing faith.

Forcing Japans borders open while they remained isolated with outdated weaponry, and the end of WW2.

Capitalism was drilled into their culture until it's teeth sunk in and they had their economic boom.

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[-] trafficnab@lemmy.ca 15 points 7 months ago

The irony of a diverse set of people from around the world talking about an American cartoon and in the same breath saying that American only knows war is not lost on me

The US cultural victory'd so hard that it's hard to recognize it sometimes

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[-] VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world 35 points 7 months ago

Surprised it's taken this long for people to grasp it.

We control the world's reserve currency, and hold the ability to fry any country's economy via economic sanctions whenever we want. We have the largest military in the world and that military is set up for the purpose of invasion. Yeah, China has a massive navy, but their ships are tiny, most likely for the purpose of defending their oceans and eventually taking Taiwan. We on the other hand have more carrier ships than anyone else, all for the purpose of being able to flex our might on anyone in the world.

People used to say that we attempted to police the world. I don't hear it nearly as much anymore, but it's accurate. We throw our weight around. We're the world's bully.

[-] Pilferjinx@lemmy.world 22 points 7 months ago

Yes, and to large extent NATO countries love to join in on the bullying. Britain and Australia jumped right in with the Iraq invasion for example.

[-] 0xD@infosec.pub 30 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Don't you think there are better, more recent examples of this?

(Oh, I missed the instance I was on lol)

[-] Arcturus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

? The most recent one is the ongoing genocide in Palestine that the US and its colony is committing.

No, "israel" isn't a separate entity. It was formed as a general western settler colony in Palestine using british colonization tactics, and has been functioning as an american one.

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[-] Arelin@lemmy.zip 25 points 7 months ago

Reminder that the empire from Star Wars is a stand-in for the US, while the rebels represent the Viet Cong.

US military playing 'The Imperial March' from Star Wars on a loudspeaker while heading to Gaza

[-] zbyte64 19 points 7 months ago

Fox news calling the US an empire is not new. How old do you all think the moniker "Empire State" is? It's wild how it's in our language but we just don't think about it.

[-] OscarRobin@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago

Most Americans are too dumb to realize the allegory in ATLA.

[-] Siegfried@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago

There are a lot of assholish nations that could easily take that place, but imo there are enough references to Dalai lama in the show to assume that the fire nation is china

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[-] FrowingFostek@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago

I think the only war we tried to show our military might "greatness" was the Gulf War. It did establish America as a coalition force to the world.

I think the meme is accurate to people who once supported the war in Iraq. I don't think it reflects people that opposed it or, people who have since changed their views on it.

[-] Shyfer@ttrpg.network 16 points 7 months ago

Basically every war we did during the Cold War was about "sharing" the greatness of capitalism over communism, too. We're still pretending our embargo against Cuba is just for the same dumb reason.

[-] ToucheGoodSir@lemy.lol 15 points 7 months ago

Big nation go ooga fuck around n find out; hamburgerland munition go boom

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this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2024
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