General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Islam, as it is practiced by a majority of muslims in the world, is a regressive force. [View all]cprise
(8,445 posts)Muslim countries have had major movements toward democracy and modernization, and imperialists stamped them out. They were considered too much of a threat if they followed their own interests and possibly bolster the situation of our major rivals.
This is like trying to have a discussion with someone who refuses to consider the conditions and atrocities in pre-1917 Russia. Or the west's policy of pitting Chinese warlords against each other, and spreading opium addiction there. In the ME, we have rapidly switched sides back and forth in regional conflicts there. That is considered a form of genocide.
In Asia, there are still examples of extreme nationalism that clearly wouldn't have arisen without western imperialism (which is a big word that I realize I'm not supposed to use here, lest I sprout another head--its not used on TV after all) that treated the local populations like pawns or in good times, like children.
More recently, our government precipitated a hard-right turn in Iran when our president threatened them with nuclear attack.
Its hard to know what is more asinine: Blaming the west, or trivializing the effects of repeated invasion and blockades and starvation. Or of mindsets like "full-spectrum dominance", "shock and awe" and "the New American Century". Democrats like phrases such as "making America the Indispensable Country", a euphemism for "No non-aligned countries allowed on planet Earth". Some scholars call America a cargo cult; I think there is some truth to that, as its members have very little critical faculty left.
At the end of the day, its the same "Native Americans were savages who killed each other" argument. There is no reckoning about technological superiority or any associated sense of responsibility. And no mention of smallpox blankets, either.
This time the frontier is the oilfield.