OT (or is it?): American Imperialism

[Jack Simth]

TerranC said:

Mr. Dutchman, read what you have typed there once more, very carefully, word per word, and see if it makes sense.

StrategiaInUltima said:
If it doesn't make sense, well heck. As long as my point gets across I don't matter if I'm writing something in English, then encrypt it using an alphanumeric key, translate what I've got into Chinese, encrypt that using another alphanumeric key, translate it into Indonesian and then back into English.

I suspect it wasn't the language itself he was referring to, so much as the appearence of a double-standard in the post; in a thread you started about diliking America supposedly forcing it's ways on the rest of the world, mostly through big buisiness, you blithly mention an incidence of Europe forcing it's views on the rest of the world, mostly be military force.

That, and the little matter of assuming the country had exactly the same religion as it's rulers, then switched after they threw them out.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

The MAINSTREAM American culture. And it doesn't add much these days, it just changes internally with little external influences.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Won't be posting anymore for a while... pro'lly tomorrow... spent the entire day on the forums... gotta go work on Capship 0.81

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

I'm not just throwing rotten tomatoes at America. And I won't say something bull****ty like "Oh no, I'm also throwing their rotten nukes back to them as well" but I'm serious. I also believe that people should make their own choices (as I'm existentialist - i.e. the choices I make for myself I indirectly make for the rest of humanity too) but I'm saying that America is always actively influencing our choices - marketing, commercials, American "vanity projects" like the invasion of Iraq, etc.

[geoschmo]

Keep in mind that American influence of this level on the world stage is a historically recent thing. For much of our history we were pretty isolationist. The current generation in power grew up in an era where we were the only major nation to come through World War II basically undamaged. The cold war was our major formative influence and that taught us basically that there is right and wrong in the world, and that we were right. Nuance and subtlety wasn't really something we dealt with. We have to learn a little humility, and we have to learn a little moderation. I believe that for the most part we are decent people and are just trying to make a living the best way we know how.

These things run in cycles, and if we can manage to get through the next fotry years without wiping ourselves out or irradiating the planet I'm hopeful that things are moving in a more positive direction long term. While the threat of terrorism is real, it's not nearly as serious as many here believe. Certainly not as serious as the threat of mutual nuclear annialation that I grew up with.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

[06:07:45-PM] puke: any chance of "cultural imperialism" like in IG2, where your trade income could be influenced by how much of your culture has spread to influence other empires?

Excerpt from chat transcript. Cultural imperialism exists. QED.

[Yith_Saulkar]

StrategiaInUltima said:

Excerpt from chat transcript. Cultural imperialism exists. QED.

If this is the case than the US is the one being assaulted by "Cultural Imperialism". We IMPORT way more product than we EXPORT. Look at the "made in" stamps on the products you buy. Guarantee you US made products are few and far between. Your unknowingly culturaly assailed by the Chiniese.

[Alneyan]

"If you've done six impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe?"

Excerpt from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe exists. QED.

Feel free to replace "Restaurant at the End of the Universe" with "Earth creatures with seventeen eyes, sapience, and sixty pink wings", or anything that strikes your fancy. That, and IG2 happens to be in a different setting than real life.

And if you want to nitpick, Puke wrote "cultural imperialism"; the " sign seems to mean Puke considered the phrase as being incorrect. The other uses of this sign do not seem to apply here: it is not a quotation, or spoken speech, or a word of foreign origin, or the name of a book/movie, or a way to delimit propositions.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

And I personally do not have ANYTHING against normal American people... as long as they are able to make choices for themselves without relying in the idealistic worlds you see in commercials everyday.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Well placed Dogscoff.