No. USAins don’t get to extract themselves from this. The spoils of empire are unevenly distributed but the USA is the fucking great Satan, you are complicit and the fact that you get ripped off in the deal doesn’t change that. The American heartland isn’t a fucking colony, it’s a neglected region.
the fact that you get ripped off in the deal doesn’t change that
What deal? When does the typical American sign it?
I dont accept the dichotomy of colony-or-neglected-region. It’s ruling class versus the working class, always has been.
It’s not realistic or useful to conceive of entire societies as class-conscious conspirators. No country has ever achieved that kind of uniform ideology, not even the Soviets nor communist China.
Abstract theory is of far lesser importance compared with the material circumstances of one’s own life, in terms that one understands. This generally means issues local to one’s town, neighborhood, and household. Thinking larger than that is pretty much unnatural and requires dedicated effort.
A backward family in, say, rural Kansas is going to be mostly aware and educated of their immediate issues, like the success of their farm and the stability of their family. All other issues of politics are viewed through this lens. When Junior joins the military, his family celebrates because it’s a path to economic stability for them, and they have little reason to doubt US foreign policy propaganda. They have no tangible experience that might be had in Ferguson or Philly or NYC. They’re basically ignorant (though not necessarily more ignorant in every way compared with the urban proletariat)
No. USAins don’t get to extract themselves from this. The spoils of empire are unevenly distributed but the USA is the fucking great Satan, you are complicit and the fact that you get ripped off in the deal doesn’t change that. The American heartland isn’t a fucking colony, it’s a neglected region.
What deal? When does the typical American sign it?
I dont accept the dichotomy of colony-or-neglected-region. It’s ruling class versus the working class, always has been.
It’s not realistic or useful to conceive of entire societies as class-conscious conspirators. No country has ever achieved that kind of uniform ideology, not even the Soviets nor communist China.
Abstract theory is of far lesser importance compared with the material circumstances of one’s own life, in terms that one understands. This generally means issues local to one’s town, neighborhood, and household. Thinking larger than that is pretty much unnatural and requires dedicated effort.
A backward family in, say, rural Kansas is going to be mostly aware and educated of their immediate issues, like the success of their farm and the stability of their family. All other issues of politics are viewed through this lens. When Junior joins the military, his family celebrates because it’s a path to economic stability for them, and they have little reason to doubt US foreign policy propaganda. They have no tangible experience that might be had in Ferguson or Philly or NYC. They’re basically ignorant (though not necessarily more ignorant in every way compared with the urban proletariat)