While the comic is true, the USA under Trump is still more democratic and free than most of the rest of the world.
Another funny myth that a lot of Americans that I’ve seen cling too is that they are incredibly skilled at war, that they have the best military in the world since it’s inception and that they can defeat any opponent. A quick review of history doesn’t bear this out as most of the wars that America has “won” have had them be part of a coalition which they may or may not have joined rather late in the game. Even their vaunted revolution required help from a military superpower i.e. the French.
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?
You seem to know very little about Latin America.
Several African countries still have a population with European ancestry that owns lots of land for example.
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).
How is this a comic strip?
It’s sequential art. How is it not?
Honest question, which civil rights first originated in America?
As in, what freedoms and liberties are uniquely American in origin and didn’t instead start with the British / French / Austrians, etc. etc?
The only one I can think of is for America to be free of British rule, that’s about it.
That’s barking up the wrong tree. Zero freedoms or liberties are uniquely American from the American point of view, because that would undermine the doctrine of Natural Rights.
Whenever Americas say that ‘they want freedom’ … they more often than not mean to say that they want freedom for a very specific portion of their population only and not for the whole.
Most criminals are not born; they are made…
What the State really punishes in a criminal is often its own neglect, its own failure to do its duty to the citizen.
William Randolph Hearst
Some of us knew that the national myth was a myth, but aspired for it to be the truth. Others professed to know it as truth and toiled for it to remain myth.
i was raised by people in the last frame and would have had family through the rest, as my family has unfortunately been here for a very long time. i can tell you for a fact that the MAGA of today are like the ones in all of the panels, as i had to suffer through the dinners/holidays listening to their racist, xenophobic, sexist “jokes” over the years.
i have seen real estate agents admit that they purposefully treated black people poorly. I’ve heard small business owners admit their racially motivated hiring decisions. i have seen how they talk about anyone not white when they thought they were around only allies. for too long, i was too small and scared to talk back to them, and i stayed silent. when i got older, i started to talk back, and eventually cut them out. the heart of this country, especially in rural areas, is still just as bad in that regard as it has always been, just not as overt.
Honest question: if you were tasked with explaining the current state affair to people like them (no emotional attachment), what would you say?
Adding further thoughts on why it rarely helps. Say, I do convince another person that they are racist, and should change. they are likely part of a family that has racism issues, and they probably have friends that are racist. How many people are going to be willing to then come out against those people, at the risk of those relationships?
Sadly, far too few. Similarly as many allow themselves to be forced into having kids, even though they may not want to, and definitely shouldn’t. Edit: the problem is that it is so systemic, just like generational traumas.
I can resonate with that from a different perspective.
I still do try though. Because, I was raised by such people, yet I am how I am now. Someone’s ability to be open-minded is the most crucial key to success. If they are open minded, some empathy and compassion, along with the facts is usually enough.
To be honest, I’ve mostly given up at this point. They have shown what they want and what they stand for, and what they accept from the people they elect. I’ve been around 50 years now, all I can do is be an example and do my best to protect those I can.
That is honourable.
Why would you say anything? The value chasm is so deep as to be impassable.
“This is not who we are” is not a literal statement. I wouldnt make any sense taken as one, since its used in response to news of actual events rather than hypotheticals, and if taken literally, it would be very similar to “I am not doing what I am currently doing” which is paradoxical.
Rather, it is a statement to others of ones group that their behavior is problematic and therefore that they should stop it, using an emotional appeal that invokes values those problematic members of the group are expected to profess to have.
