Americans’ muted reaction to the quarter-century anniversary of 9/11 reveals a waning zeal for the American imperial project. We tolerate it only because we believe it can’t end. But it can.
You know, I think some governments use “Socialism” the same way America uses “Freedom”. America has spent its whole life loudly proclaiming, to itself and the world, that it had “Freedom”, the most “Freedom”, the best “Freedom”. It became a Brand that became trusted more than the actual goods it packaged. A lot of Americans confused the Brand “Freedom” for actual freedom, because they had been taught the Brand Name version of freedom . And that trust in the Brand over the thing itself is the mechanism by which the thing itself, whatever version of it had existed before, withered, without anyone ever taking corrective action, if they even noticed. Many Americans still haven’t. Brand Loyalty is a strong force in human behavior, that’s why everybody exploits it.
Anyway I think the same thing happens with the “Socialism” brand.
that’s what your country does, right now and for the last century. every country is imperfect, but there is a consistent set of western countries actually executing most of that evil for a while.
who is participating directly or indirectly on all of the many world wars right now and mostly for the last century or so? who is the consistent power that’s always there causing mayhem or talking shit? just who always invades or interferes whenever any Socialism brand you talk about looks like it cames up by very visible popular willed revolution or even election?
which cold war is it, again? aren’t we on a thread about the apparent inevitability of the empire’s economic and political system upon the world?
I try to recognize similarities in systems, and I am more intimately familiar with US government than any other, so a lot of my political theory starts with identifying US patterns and trying to find similar examples. If I can find similarities, I try to identify them along with differences to sketch out a general hypothesis of what the pattern actually is. I do try to identify and account for American peculiarities, though it’s not always easy. Like, I think America’s gun culture is unique in the world, maybe in history, and it infects fucking everything in the US in ways that don’t have good analogs in other countries. There are lots of eccentricities like this but gun culture is one of the big ones.
I think confusing those eccentricities for part of the common pattern, either in ignorance or malice, are projecting. So it’s possible that I am projecting without realizing it. It has happened before.
But I really don’t think the US is the only nation on Earth that weaponizes and exploits Brand Loyalty. That I am pretty confident about. I’d go so far as to say every nation creates a Brand of itself, though most people use the term “national identity”. Governments abuse it for the same reason corporations do: it makes people feel like they’re part of the team, even if they’re not.
You know, I think some governments use “Socialism” the same way America uses “Freedom”. America has spent its whole life loudly proclaiming, to itself and the world, that it had “Freedom”, the most “Freedom”, the best “Freedom”. It became a Brand that became trusted more than the actual goods it packaged. A lot of Americans confused the Brand “Freedom” for actual freedom, because they had been taught the Brand Name version of freedom . And that trust in the Brand over the thing itself is the mechanism by which the thing itself, whatever version of it had existed before, withered, without anyone ever taking corrective action, if they even noticed. Many Americans still haven’t. Brand Loyalty is a strong force in human behavior, that’s why everybody exploits it.
Anyway I think the same thing happens with the “Socialism” brand.
that’s what your country does, right now and for the last century. every country is imperfect, but there is a consistent set of western countries actually executing most of that evil for a while.
who is participating directly or indirectly on all of the many world wars right now and mostly for the last century or so? who is the consistent power that’s always there causing mayhem or talking shit? just who always invades or interferes whenever any Socialism brand you talk about looks like it cames up by very visible popular willed revolution or even election?
which cold war is it, again? aren’t we on a thread about the apparent inevitability of the empire’s economic and political system upon the world?
I try to recognize similarities in systems, and I am more intimately familiar with US government than any other, so a lot of my political theory starts with identifying US patterns and trying to find similar examples. If I can find similarities, I try to identify them along with differences to sketch out a general hypothesis of what the pattern actually is. I do try to identify and account for American peculiarities, though it’s not always easy. Like, I think America’s gun culture is unique in the world, maybe in history, and it infects fucking everything in the US in ways that don’t have good analogs in other countries. There are lots of eccentricities like this but gun culture is one of the big ones.
I think confusing those eccentricities for part of the common pattern, either in ignorance or malice, are projecting. So it’s possible that I am projecting without realizing it. It has happened before.
But I really don’t think the US is the only nation on Earth that weaponizes and exploits Brand Loyalty. That I am pretty confident about. I’d go so far as to say every nation creates a Brand of itself, though most people use the term “national identity”. Governments abuse it for the same reason corporations do: it makes people feel like they’re part of the team, even if they’re not.