Hold on seven percent of Americans though Iraq was our enemy last year? If that’s the case, twenty three million people think the government we installed is our enemy. Holy shit we’re the dumbest country on Earth
It’s pathetic. I’m not saying I’m immune to propaganda because I know that’s far from true, but how do people fall for this shit every single time? Like, first it was the war on Muslims “terror,” then it was those sneaky Russians, and now it’s China. Wild how they line up single file to attack the American way.
Yeah, I might have skipped over a few for brevity sake… but I will definitely be copying this for future use.
If you buy into the idea “America is the greatest country on earth” or even if you think “America is flawed, but ultimately a force for good” then you have to demonize China and Russia to justify your world view. Hell before I became a full leftist, I was definitely in the camp of “america bad, but better than everywhere else.” In that mindset, it’s very easy to say your against American militarism but then support it because “bad guys.”
Being American and being proud of it relies on a lack of self-reflection.
That makes the most sense to me. I have never felt particularly “American” and always thought patriotism was sort of dirty, but I grew up Catholic during the abuse coverups so I definitely know what it’s like to search for the tiniest bit of evidence that your in-group is more good than bad. I still catch myself slipping into a weirdly defensive mindspace when protestants go off about “pope worshippers” even though I have no current ties to religion, and I guess that just proves your point.
It’s pretty wild to see people on R*ddit who ostensibly lived through an era that featured both outrageous lies and propaganda to convince the public to support an invasion of Iraq as well as embarrassing military defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan still believing the same process of lying in the media and being supremely confident the US could win land wars in Asia and Eastern Europe like it’d be a fucking cakewalk.
It’s genuinely impressive how people think nuclear brinksmanship with both Russia and China simultaneously is a winning strategy even though during the actual Cold War US policy makers were savvy enough to play them against each other. Truly an astonishing reflection of both mass historical ignorance and the imperial decline in American elite circles.
EDIT: It’s also pretty awesome that we’ve known how vulnerable surface fleets are to air power since World War II but people still think picking fights with countries with large air forces and advanced ballistic missile technology in tight waterways like the Taiwan Strait and the Persian Gulf are REALLY GOOD IDEAS. Yeah aircraft carriers are really fantastic for gunboat diplomacy and power projection when you’re bullying much weaker targets but the whole point of a fleet-in-being evaporates when it gets annihilated in a decisive battle. Take some lessons from the Kaiserreich maybe.
These same countries are also investing massively in drone swarms, the recent Armenia and Ukraine conflicts shows us how useful they are. Not just for strikes but to spot indirect fire. And they’re cheap as hell compared to manned aircraft or US/Western made drones (which somehow manage to cost in the neighborhood of 10s of millions per drone). And the west has not really invested in defence against ballistic missiles, either. Kinda feels like 20 to 30 years of asymmetric warfare against poorly armed insurgents has really fucked up the western imperialist machines ability to plan and execute a war against a near peer. Like, I think they’re somehow still planning for a big Soviet tank push crossing the Rhine from the 70s and 80s.
1% holding strong in United States itself gang
It’s basically the same. Honestly, the fear of DPRK was always stupid. Americans have just realized China is more powerful than Korea.
It was Oran Iran that reduced really significantly (even though they’re still the primary contender for land war attempts)
