108 points

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5 points

We’re pretty dense, two critically acclaimed series and a couple shitty, live-action projects isn’t gonna cut it.

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2 points

The non-KFC surface of the earth testifies to the fact.

We don’t want to be the arbiter we just kinda got stuck with it cause no one else was left. If you could all not kill each other for 50 years we would really appreciate it.

Everyone keeps arming bombers and shooting boats. This is kinda a no-no for us. Could ya not. We really don’t want to get involved in regional shit.

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1 point

I mean most of this shit is pretty unpopular with Americans. Unfortunately the US has been sliding deeper and deeper into fascism for a while now, so what we want is less and less important.

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67 points
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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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15 points

I’m American and am aware of this. Explain that!

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14 points

The One True AmericanTM

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4 points
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The alternative:

The representative of no one AmericanTM

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8 points
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Some zoomers and some millennials know it. Boomers don’t know or actually think it’s a good thing, with some rare exceptions.

Either way your take is extremely juvenile and simplistic. There’s a lot more at play with revolutions than people knowing their country did something bad. It takes a lot more than that to get people off their ass, with very few exceptions historically, and even those exceptions are usually led by rich people looking out for themselves.

People need to have their own livelihoods threatened before they do anything. And there are always power systems in place that deliberately make it hard for people to organize.

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-3 points

Power. Your fantasy assumes the weight of mere knowing outweighs the power wielded against the citizenry. No revolution started with the whole citizenry waking up. You know why. If not, read more and be less disingenuous.

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14 points

No revolution started with the whole citizenry waking up

Obviously not everyone lmao.

What every revolution has had is people informing others about what the issue is (often by pamphlets, news, etc), what needs to be done, and organizing. The vast majority of successful revolutions are only those that had organized revolutionaries.

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-7 points

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

What every revolution has had is people informing others about what the issue is

If most americans were sufficiently aware and organizing against it accordingly

The vast majority of successful revolutions are only those that had organized revolutionaries.

OK. I see your messaging is at odds with itself and you understand the assignment.

You got top spot on this here memetic sharing of ideas. Which message for the Americans at home who by virtue of reading you on Lemmy are closer to you than not?

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1 point
Deleted by creator
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41 points
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America is everthing Americans claim China and Russia to be.

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I’ve always thought that if you switch America and Russia/China in most events, it would better fit the narratives.

For example:

America brokered peace between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

America opened up factories in Afghanistan to provide jobs for the locals who are recovering from a war with China.

America is supporting their ally in Syria and combating terrorists supported by Russia.

Russia went to war with Iraq and killed a million people and destroyed all their infrastructure.

The incarceration rate in China is the highest in the world.

China accused America of spying on them with a weather balloon.

Russia overthrew the Libyan government, spiraling the wealthiest African country into a civil war.


Like seriously, switch the stories around and it better fits the narrative we’re constantly being fed. With the view that libs have of Russia, China and America, events would literally have to play out like this if their view was correct.

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1 point

Russia is killing people and destroying infrastructure, though. Do you not mind it happening if it’s in Ukraine?

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-5 points
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America is an endless expansionist that has illegally invaded multiple neighbours by force while calling it a “military exercise”.

America has a semi dictator that gave themselves full unlimited power after being elected once and has since then meddled in every election in order to win

Hmm, not really

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11 points

America is an endless expansionist that has illegally invaded multiple neighbours by force while calling it a “military exercise”.

Yes?

America has a semi dictator that gave themselves full unlimited power after being elected once and has since then meddled in every election in order to win

The US literally overthrew their democracy, and then when elections took place within a bourgeois ‘democracy’ interfered in those too. Russia post-overthrow of USSR could never have become a democracy, the US wouldn’t have allowed it.

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12 points
Removed by mod
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14 points

Is there a country in the Middle East that America hasn’t bombed or invaded?

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-5 points

Is there one that is part of the US now?

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6 points

@JohnDClay @turkishdelight Zenz repurposes the pro-life argument that reduced birth rates are genocide to make it look like Xinjiang getting free healthcare & women who had 3 kids already receiving tubal ligations/ etc. is genocide the same way KKK guys think modernity is white genocide. China literally trained these people to be bilingual realtors and stuff like that, it wasn’t even a mega trade program or something. They got people to white collar shit Xinjiang is rich

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7 points
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Were the tubal ligations voluntary?

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2 points
Deleted by creator
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1 point

Huh? Pretty sure Guantanamo Bay is still open to this day. Not on the same scale nowadays, sure; but the CCP never claimed freedom as part of its core values either.

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11 points

Reading comprehension really is a struggle sometimes. They specifically mentioned scale in their comment. Also, I kinda feel like being open about genocide doesn’t make it better.

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-5 points
Removed by mod
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7 points

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

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26 points
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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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-9 points

“Imperial Core” is from Star Wars and sounds like a cringe LARP.

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-13 points

I acknowledge the US has been the “imperial core”. The thing I take issue with is the finger pointing.

As if the United States is unique in seeking out and pursuing its interests. China and Russia may not be the “imperial core” but, all nations will do what’s in their best interest.

That’s the flaw with nations, the campist lens of “America bad, Russia and China good” isn’t productive. Das all I’m saying.

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7 points
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4 points

How so?

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0 points
Deleted by creator
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2 points

I don’t think America is communist.

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-3 points

Neither is China.

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5 points

Well, not “communist” capital C, but certainly socialist, or at least with socialist leanings.

For example private land ownership isn’t really a thing in China, making essentially all natural resources defacto state-owned. It’s actually a really interesting idea IMO.

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-1 points

Are you illiterate? That is the whole fucking point of my reply. x2

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-6 points

neither is China

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0 points

Are you illiterate? That is the whole fucking point of my reply.

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0 points
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38 points
*

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.

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19 points

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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6 points

A comforting/not comforting thought

I sort of believe that the vast majority of whoever from wherever would happily get along, but we still have wars.

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15 points
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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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5 points

Japan went from feudalism to an emerging modern industrialized state in what, 40 years? Industrial Revolution speedrun.

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12 points

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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10 points

Avatar is American, but it had fantastic cultural consultants.

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-7 points

Yeah the fire nation has way more similarities to Imperial Japan than anyone else. Island nation industrializes before their neighbours and just starts taking over. Style of dress, the archesticure, the names of the characters, all give a Japan vibe way more than an American vibe. But maybe drinking tea in a ceremonial fashion is something that’s part of American culture that I wasn’t aware of.

But currently the US is protecting global trade from pirates and sending weapons to democracies defending themselves from authoritarian psychopaths, which to some people is exactly how the Fire Nation behaved in Avatar I guess.

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10 points

We have stopped sending weapons to Ukraine but have continued sending weapons to Israel.

Nothing about what you describe as is cut and dry as you are describing it. The easiest way to protect global trade from pirates would be to stop using global trade to arm psychopaths.

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-7 points

So your solution is just to do whatever the psychopath Houthis tell us to do?

Neville Chamberlain tried a policy of appeasement, it didn’t work. And when you’re thinking that psychopaths that attack civilians working on a commercial cargo ship are the good guys, your world view is really messed up.

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37 points

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

Well at least most people I know.

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47 points

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.

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10 points

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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12 points

Propaganda. Lots and lots and lots of propaganda.

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4 points

Self sacrifice for family/church/country is a big part of their hero’s journey narrative.

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3 points

Bootlickers gonna bootlick

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2 points

Very true.

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2 points
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I thought the Empire in Star Wars was supposed to be Third Reich Germany. They literally both have “stormtroopers.”

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1 point

Originally i would agree but i am referencing how things are today as that’s what the meme is referencing.

If you asked Americans today if they are the rebels or the empire the folks I know concede that we are the empire. We are the ones going into other peoples home towns with military occupation.

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2 points

Fair. I was mostly thinking about it from the perspective of what the writers had intended at the time.

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1 point

Most people you know seem a lot more aware than the average American in my experience

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-1 points

I think we’re more like the Alliance from Firefly.

Most people are just trying to go about their day-to-day, and the war and major imperialism was done a long time ago. Now there are a few in the government who keep doing evil shit, but for the most part it’s a big useless bureaucracy.

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11 points

the war and major imperialism was done a long time ago.

This is literally a myth that papers over their current warmongering and imperialism

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1 point
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That people don’t know about because it isn’t covered in the media unless you actively look for that info. So it might as well have happened a long time ago

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-10 points

So…sure we are the baddies, but it’s OK because America?

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25 points

Enlightened 40Kism, we know we are the bad guys, cause there are no good guys, just worse villians.

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6 points

What is 40Kism?

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21 points

More like “we are the baddies, but the incredibly wealthy own the country and they want war, and none of us have to balls to start lopping off heads”

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12 points
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incredibly wealthy own the country

I wish people just said “the capitalist class”…

Makes it more obvious what the problem is and What Is To Be Done (working class revolution and overthrow).

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9 points

Don’t think that’s what OP meant.

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1 point

OP wants a fairy tail.

40K is just worst case Grimms.

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7 points

Yes, that is the justification most Americans use; western chauvinism tells them that no matter how bad they are, the other places are worse. How many times on Lemmy do you see people say “America bad, but China or Russia or Iran would be worse (therefore we’re justified in facilitating massive bloodshed)?”

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6 points

I’ve seen the former part of that sentiment on here, but I haven’t seen anyone use it as justification to go to war

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5 points

No, not okay. The monkey puppet reaction.

We are not shocked to learn we are the bad guys. I never said it’s okay, I just disagree with the reaction meme to indicate we didn’t know it.

Not sure where you pulled “it’s okay because America” from my statement but no need to jump to conclusions and put words in peoples mouth.

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1 point
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He pulled it from nowhere because tankies are incapable of nuance, especially if you hold an even mildly dissenting opinion. You’re either with them or against them, there is no in-between. It’s ironic how much they share in common with actual fascists.

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