• CyborgMarx [any, any]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    Just what do you think “internal” is referring to? The theory is focused on HOW US elites interact with the country they rule, which is in a colonial fashion, lessons learned from overseas replicated and adapted to subdue working class demographics within the United States, particularly Black people who represented the most radical edge of the working class and as a hyper-exploitable class of people

    The theory is a Marxist derived formulation to explain both HOW and WHY the white working class and black elites protect the system that destroys themselves and the people who they should have a natural solidarity with; that through-line led directly to the development of the sub theory of Differential Segregation which, is a far more accurate description of HOW labor aristocracy actually works in the United States, that also does away with the false binary of either race or class determination

    • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      The thing I’m pointing out is that the posts being made here reframe the US as a country where parts of it are not part of an imperial core which is actually western europe and not the US itself, not the idea that the the US elite extracts wealth from the working class in the united states. The post you initially responded to literally just says “Parts of the US is poor so it’s second or third world and the standard of living is high in western europe so it’s first world”. It is literally stating that the United States, as an entity, is still the victim of European colonialism. Are you kidding me. It is not some deep analysis of the way in which the economy of the rust belt interacts with financial centers and the actual colonised countries of the world.

      • CyborgMarx [any, any]@hexbear.net
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        2 days ago

        The original commenter wasn’t implying Western Europe is the principal agent of exploitation within the United States, you’re being uncharitable

        They were simply pointing out the conditions of Western Europe do not resemble the colonialized local conditions of many parts of the United States, that’s true, because unlike the United States social democracy was allowed to flourish and the spoils of empire were more easily distributed then in the US

        The United States is still a colony, the European Empires just consolidated and moved their headquarters to the colony.

        I mean come on, do you seriously think op believes British elites moved their London mansions and castles to the US and secretly rule DC in favor of the secret North American British Empire?

        NO, obviously op was talking about the WASP elite of the United States, who do in fact rule this country through a mechanism of internal colonialism

        • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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          2 days ago

          The existence of a social democratic project does not elevate a country to the imperial core, that is not the difference between exploiter and exploited. Western Europe is part of the “First world” they are the colonisers and part of the imperial core because they benefit from the superprofits extracted from the imperialist and colonialist machine, not because they have a welfare state. If an exploited nation builds a social safety net it doesn’t become part of the imperial core, if France had a sudden economic crash but retained its colonial extraction it wouldn’t cease to be the imperial core. This isn’t fucking materialist analysis, this is just someone saying “Some Americans are poor so they’re not part of the first world”, it is pure nonsense that seeks to excuse Americans from their role as exploiters of the rest of the world, and acting as if I’m unserious because I point out that they’re literally saying that.

          Edit: The argument presented wasn’t “There are parts of the US that are internally exploited in a way that resembles the relationship America itself has with the third world”, it’s “The average Western European has better personal access to the spoils of empire in the form of a higher standard of living, so western europe is really the imperial core” and that is again literally what is being said.

          • CyborgMarx [any, any]@hexbear.net
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            2 days ago

            Welfare states are absolutely a sign of imperial coredom, for the simple fact their continued existence implies a lack of western bombs and coup attempts, operate your analysis historically not mechanically

            if France had a sudden economic crash but retained its colonial extraction it wouldn’t cease to be t he imperial core.

            Nobody said that, you seem to be fighting with phantoms in your head

            this is just you saying “Some Americans are poor so they’re not part of the first world”

            Nobody said they didn’t live in the first world, your hyper-moralizing is blinding you to obvious FACTS; are Native Americans not colonialized huh? Are black people not subjected to a militarized police state and systematic state depossession? Are Appalachian hollers not toxic wastelands disconnected from centralized power and resources

            Stop playing punisher in your head and analyze the real conditions, an empire can indeed eat itself alive

            • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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              2 days ago

              So how does this account for statements like

              The average American is an exploited colonial subject.

              and

              The average Western European materially benefits from the spoils of imperialism and lives a high quality life because of it.

              Because those are of course literally statements that the quality of life is what makes the difference between coloniser and colonised, completely ignores any power relation, and of course directly says that the average american is exploited by an imperial machine centered around Europeans. I can read, you can read, why are you lying?

              edit:

              Welfare states are absolutely a sign of imperial coredom, for the simple fact their continued existence implies a lack of western bombs and coup attempts, operate your analysis historically not mechanically

              Ok well my historical analysis tells me that the US didn’t neglect to distribute its superprofits to its population because it feared being nuked by the US.

                • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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                  2 days ago

                  Yeah man it’s wrecking to say that “The average American is a colonial subject” is a silly statement, my bad.

                  Edit: I just don’t find your argument of “Actually the thing that was said isn’t what was said, and if you take my totally made up version of the thing that was said and interpret it using a heuristic that wasn’t applied then actually it means something else. Also btw imperialism isn’t about capital relations but about whether there’s a functional welfare system. You’re such a wrecker for not getting that” very convincing.

                  • CyborgMarx [any, any]@hexbear.net
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                    2 days ago

                    There it is again, that obtuseness, that brain-dead caricaturization, 3 month old account huh?

                    What, did you think coming in here spouting half-baked simulacra of anti-Americanism while mentioning (not quoting) Settlers was gonna be decent camouflage to troll the lefties? Nice try