leadore @ leadore @lemmy.world

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1 yr. ago

Yes I oversimplified because the post was getting so long and the topic is American imperialism specifically, but of course there are exceptions. South Africa being an obvious example, where you had white rule and the oppression of apartheid up until not long ago. Point is, Europe is where it all stems from. Before you come back with exceptions from ancient history I'll say that I'm talking about modern history (which is the post middle ages period).

Here's my view:

The North American colonies of the European imperialists had one very significant difference from the other colonies of the European imperialists: when the European imperialists came over here and proceeded to brutally colonize this continent, and brought their slaves from Africa over here to work for them and send the products back to Europe, it was the European imperialists over here who rebelled against the European imperialists over there, and won.

So IOW when America/USA got its independence from the European imperialists, it was really just another group of European imperialists owning and running the new country. They still had the slaves so they just kept on going with the slavery along with continuing the genocide of the original inhabitants. The European imperialists in Europe lost their slaves and land to the American group of imperialists.

Whereas when the other colonies of the European imperialists in South America, Africa, etc. got their independence, it was the original inhabitants of those places who got their own countries, not just another group of European imperialists taking over from the previous group.

So Europe's age of imperialism finally petered out and they moved on. Now they can sniff and tut-tut and pretend they are definitely not racist and would never, ever act like those horrible American imperialists. But it's been Europeans and their descendants who have been in charge over here the whole time. This democracy was only ever intended to be a democracy by, of and for those white males (at first only white male landowners).

The reason things are falling apart now is that in their view, non-white males have gotten way too close to having too much power, and they can't have that -- that would be real democracy for all instead of the white-males-only democracy they want. Barack Obama winning the presidency totally freaked them out, inspiring the Tea Party movement which grew to become the maga movement and eventually took over the entire republican party. So now trump and the oligarchs are back in control. Phew!, they're so relieved. But we outnumber them (which is why they want to purge non-whites and make white women have more babies). Who will win?

No matter how great your private insurance is, it won't help you if the only hospital(s) in your area have closed down, especially when time is of the essence. Not just rural but in the less populated cities. That's why cutting Medicaid and other safety net programs hurts everyone, not just "the poors". Looks like a bunch of "I got mine, screw you" thinkers are about to do some finding out.

trump loves this, sitting on his throne while politicians (and business people and organizations) beg for help (or for him not to hurt them) while he gets to say "and what will you do for me in return?" or "I'm going to do you this favor. Some day I might also need a favor, you understand"

I have to say, I'm a little bit surprised, but I guess I shouldn't be. I figured he'd gleefully screw over the blue states while continuing to help the red states, but obviously once he got into office he doesn't need them any more. Which just goes to show they've got serious plans to make sure there won't be any more free and fair elections.

(edit) I live in a red state, so all I can do is hope we don't have any major disasters. At least our state's finances have improved under our Democratic governor, but her term is only until the end of next year, when I'm sure a repub will replace her (we alternate our governors between repubs who screw everything up, and dems who painstakingly get us out of the mess over the objections of the repub-controlled legislature, just in time for voters to forget how bad the last repub gov was and vote in another one. rinse and repeat).

My god what a pathetic situation. trump and his freezing FEMA funds is only part of the problem--their own governor doesn't give enough of a shit to do a damn thing about it; he's a magat of course. There's another article linked in the sidebar about him:

Governor Patrick Morrisey held a press conference today to look back on his first 100 days in office. Morrisey says he has made some “meaningful accomplishments” these last 100 days including the passing of 12 out of the 14 bills that he asked the legislature to consider this past session.

Those bills include banning cell phones in public schools, banning certain food dyes, ending state wide DEI programs, lessening regulations for data centers, creating “single-sex spaces” and more.

The topic of flooding was absent from the governor’s address today. The focus of the event was a retrospective of his time in office thus far and the disastrous flooding that killed three people and triggered major disaster declarations in six counties went unmentioned.

This is why they aren't allowing due process, which would expose many more "mistakes". There's likely many more who were already sent to the El Salvador concentration camp than just Kilmar Abrego Garcia. For example, this poor guy. How many more?! 😠

Tesla's stock price going up or down is a completely different matter than company earnings. The report is on their actual company profits, which are down 71% -- meaning they aren't selling as many cars. That's a big deal. Let's keep making sure that owning a Tesla becomes completely socially unacceptable.

Tesla reported lower than expected earnings on Tuesday, with first-quarter profits dropping 71% on much lower sales of electric vehicles.

I suppose historians will settle on a specific term, probably 'maga' (though I'd prefer 'magat'), to apply to the members of this instance of fascism.

That's what these kind of people carry as walking around money.

You're the one who said Nazi (in your previous post). I use the term fascist which is more accurate for this regime/movement and its supporters, though I don't doubt that many in its ranks would also fall under and identify with the specific term Nazi.

The Tesla brand is associated with fascists for a reason--Elon Musk is one, and perhaps even the most powerful one. The Tesla brand should become anathema for that reason. It should be a mark of shame to drive one now, no matter what it was a sign of before. Don't tell me to feel as sorry for Tesla owners as for the people whose lives are being ruined by Musk and the trump regime as a whole. If they could afford to buy one then, they can afford to get rid of it and get something else. Yes, it's too bad it turned out that way for them, but the blame for that belongs to Musk, not us.

What's really too bad people being abducted and sent to prison camps. People who have served in the government being fired for no valid reason and the detrimental effects that will have on the rest of us and our society. The destruction of government functionality so it can be taken over and its resources divvied up between fascist oligarchs.

Yes, I'm more worried about the people who will lose their medical care as Medicaid is defunded by Congress, those who may miss payments or even completely lose their main source of income after thousands of Social Security workers were fired and the agency becomes more dysfunctional, those who are suffering or have already died because USAID was suddenly shut down, etc etc etc than I am about someone's Tesla resale value or those who work for ICE in any capacity.

I'm sure when you get picked up and detained without due process all you'll need to do is use reason and logic with them and everything will be fine. /s

I'm also sure that your first reaction to that was to snort in disbelief that such a thing ever would or could happen to you, even though it's already happening to other US citizens. But sure, if you can fit in as a favored type of citizen, maybe it won't happen to you (that's the important thing, right?).

It's time to stop clinging to the belief that things are normal in the United States. Logic, reason, and rule of law no longer apply. Eventually we'll all have to choose a side: the easy one going along with the fascists, or the hard and probably dangerous one against them--yes, even your strawman single mother who is "very concerned" but needs that ICE job, has to choose.

Nice image description!

Why would someone of any age instantly cling to the narrative that people over 60 instantly clung to the narrative that everything on the internet is likely AI? Or believe that all or most people in any particular age group think the same way? Basing a belief around a set of people based on their age or gender or race is lazy thinking and any conclusions based on that will likely be wrong.

Landlords have guaranteed that tenants won't bother to clean the place up by establishing the precedent over many years that they won't refund your deposit no matter how spotless you leave the property. Everyone knows it and after getting screwed enough times, tenants are incentivized to leave a mess as an act of defiance.

Now that is definitely a crazy thing.

I won't say this is the craziest thing that ever happened, just the first thing I thought of. I once had a short-term contract job at a place that didn't have a sink in the office so to make coffee you had to get water from a drinking fountain in the hallway and dump it out/wash it in a bathroom sink--which was already gross enough. Also, whoever took the last cup was supposed to make the next pot--but the boss would never make a new pot, just wait until someone else did.

One day after I'd been there a couple months, one of the employees went around telling everyone "Stop drinking the coffee unless you want to drink

<boss>

And that was the end of making coffee in that office. People would buy it elsewhere or bring a thermos.

Oh! And another thing that happened when I worked there was someone killed themselves by jumping off the roof. Funny how I remembered the coffee thing first.

Exactly.

She's not laughing it off. She's worried and carrying her passport on her at all times.