Seriously though, the USA is virtually always bad.

    • ped_xing [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      41
      ·
      1 year ago

      Is this some sort of misguided american unexceptionalism where you think every other country is also doing wars in a billion places?

      • ProxyTheAwesome [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’ve seen this rhetorical tactic taken up by neoliberals and left libs when arguing on behalf of imperialism.

        “This is American exceptionalism to say the CIA and the US military are all powerful and the sole cause for 50+ coups and invasions. You are denying the agency of foreign nations to be fascist on their own by saying America installed all the fascists”

        It’s like they are trying to use anti-Americanism to argue pro-Americanism. It’s really a great tactic for muddying the waters and confusing everything by using a left rhetorical tactic to defend the fascist American empire

      • JohnDClay
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        All countries portray themselves well. European countries less than other Western ones, but Russia and China also cultivate a specific image of protectors of a lifestyle.

          • JohnDClay
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            What does that have to do with image cultivation?

            They’ve been less military active in force projection, so probably not many yet. But I’m sure they’ll get their chance as they become a super power with global power projection.

            Actually, they’ve at least flooded their own hospitals, I wonder if they’ve accidentally bombed any with failing rocket stages?

            • RedDawn [he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              22
              ·
              1 year ago

              It’s not logical for you to defend the US as global superpower by asserting, without evidence, that China might also do the same bad things if they could. They haven’t done those things and you’d need to provide compelling evidence that they have plans to do so. If not, you’re inventing a completely false equivalence out of whole cloth.

            • Sephitard9001 [he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              18
              ·
              1 year ago

              Okay. The U.S. is the largest power with the largest global power projection. China might also become a large power with global power projection. This is bad because they might bomb hospitals. This means the U.S. is bad because they do bomb hospitals. This means that China might as well be just as bad as America. This means that Ukraine might as well be just as bad as Russia because they also bomb hospitals.

              So where is this going exactly? We’re still left with “America does bad shit at a larger scale way more often” even when you imagine China doing the same thing in an alternate reality. Is this a useful line of reason? I can justify literally anything doing this.

    • SpiderFarmer [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      26
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, I suppose at this point it’s harder to find countries that haven’t. Though the US and NATO-aligned nations do have a certain knack when it comes to atrocities.