Paraskass

Are Americans an imperialistic civilization?
What makes a civilization, past, present or future imperialistic?

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Downtime

No, America isn't imperialistic.

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#27024067

Soldier of fortune

What the hell are you smoking,you need to kick it what ever it is!!!!!!

zzgundamnzz

Sounds like something out of a 7th Grade Social Studies book...

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rickholio

So the answer is "yes", and next time do your own homework.

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colpanic

One could argue that we are... I mean, at the very least we push democracy pretty hardcore right?


http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=imperialistic


(keep in mind that most democratic countries are our bitches one way or another)

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Young

Imperialism....no. Imperialism goes alot deeper than some vague defination in a dictionary. Imperialism involves culture, ideals, values, and government.

Sure we export our culture and Mc Donalds pops up in zillions of nations, we believe that Capitalism and Democracy are the answers to everything....but what doesn't make us Imperialistic is the fact that we are not imposing these ideals but suggesting them and promoting them. Thats what gives off the idea that the U.S. is imperialstic..the heavy promotion of these two ideals. Hey...Iraq has the choice to choose...and it looks like they are leaning against a "true democracy" but they are using some of the basic ideas such as voting and equal rights.

I'm fucking tired.

Though an argument can be made either way....I say No.

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jayeff

If the US is not imperialistic, then more than 10 million people have died as a result of US foreign policy over the past 100-odd years, for nothing.

We are not empire builders in the way that the British once were when the "sun never set..." and all that. To date (we shall have to wait and see whether we become a permanent presence in Iraq) we haven't actually occupied countries. But we have more or less overtly interfered in the internal politics of many countries - often with direct force and against the popular will of the people in the countries concerned - attempting to establish regimes favorable to ourselves.

Fear and might as foreign policy have been stepped up dramatically and have become much more overt since 911. But while Bush keeps telling the folks back home that he and we are peace-loving people who can do no wrong, the message overseas audiences are getting is the exact opposite: namely that the US is ready to do whatever it takes to overcome in a world infiltrated by America's deadly enemies. That is imperialism as sure as if we were rushing around planting our flag everywhere.

Mr. Soul

You're joking, right? What do you consider Hawaii? Guam? California? Puerto Rico? Johnston Atoll? The US Virgin Islands? Not to mention the 136 countries that the US has troops in.

Soldier of fortune

I consider ll them free enterprise.

rickholio

Iraq is a bad example. The current incarnation of government being argued over (by three groups already in the opening stages of civil war) want Islamic law to be the fundimental underpinning philosophy. Ironically, equal rights with respects to women were far more respected under hussein than any of these future arrangements. Women were doctors, lawyers, engineers, with wage parity that, while not matching western societies', at least wasn't abysmally bad.

Additionally, Iraq didn't "choose". A choice was forced upon them. Claiming that Iraq had any sort of input on being forced into that decision-making process is either disingenuous or incredibly naïve. Iraq is simply the latest in a long, long list of countries that have been co-opted by military means, which in turn is merely a subset of the list of countries co-opted by economic strongarm tactics.

Trying that poor-man's-journalism canard of there being 'an argument either way' is utter bullshit. By definition of imperialism, which is by no means vague, the US obviously engages in it and only a sophist would try to refute that point. Now, if you wanted to comment on the extent to which imperialism has control over policy and whether or not that's a good thing, that's more fertile ground.

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Young

If you want to make the argument that the U.S. went into Iraq and had the agenda of enforcing its own ideals in order to gain control of the country's natural resouces (Oil) then you have somewhat of an argument (however looney and to the left it may be). Otherwise you have no basis to argue imperialism...your first two paragraphs didn't have any sort of argument in them. to begin with.

The Roman Empire practiced imperialism. The U.S.......no.

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Young

Its 2am. I'll come back with a better argument tomorrow.

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Joe Citizen

You're going to need it.

kmanrox

what does it fucking matter? right?

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dylan4U

Era of imperialism is over nearly for 100 years.

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VincentVega

USA is a new kind of imperialism.
if before, empires conquered land and peoples using force, today it's done by culture and mass media.
in post-modern thinking, liberalism is considered to be a force historically dictated by the financial elite to rule one free right particulary - the right of the big ones to eat the small ones.
this is why every country which opened it's doors to the capitalistic western culture found itself being eaten by the microsofts and mcdonalds of the west with less and less financial independence because if it wouldnt open it's doors it means no foreign investments, and in our global world which 25% of the money in the world is in the hands of american (4% of the population), no investments mean financial death.
this is how the us controls the world, not by force, but by microsoft, intel, Mc, IBM taxes money...
the only countries who get some independence are the huge sized countries which refuse to become fully capitalistic, and go only half the way with government's regulation over foreign investments.
like china...
globalization is the new imperialism. this is a consensus in contemporary social sceinces.

Young

ahhh shit. its 2am again. Tomorrow will have to do I guess

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DTK

Does a bear shit in the woods?
Is the pope a former nazi youth?

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Arguing whether the Democratic or Republican party is better is like debating which steaming pile of shit is slightly less stinky.

MetroPornTour

Of course it is.

What a stupid question to ask.

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AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE

Short Answer is Yes.

Concerned?

Let us know when ya need to be liberated.

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AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE

The USA knows when a people or civilisation needs a little bit of Freedom

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dylan4U

I do not understand why some people are so anti-American.

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Stamen

The reason nations are imperialistic is economics. With the given resources you can only produce so much of what you produce. If you want to expand production, you need to expand your land.

In business you just buy another factory, in government you annex some weaker country.

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Doctor Dre

They are ... but with the modern civilisation it's a different thing ... but they still export their culture everywhere

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dready

Manifest Destiny is alive and strong.

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paperboy

What a stupid question!

paperboy

Liar!

Pleasurepays

hasn't almost every country been a some point? its largely a question of opportunity and every countries first interests are its own.

paperboy

Really? What about all that people that was killed for the CIA all around the world for "not imposing these ideals"

Wow that's why you have such a president cuz you really believe in you own lies