I think this talk calls for more theoretical analysis of what this “US” really is, which I believe is much more complex than just another capitalist state.
I think there are layers of what the US really is. There is a “low layer” of a government regulating and managing people within its borders, just like all others. There is US capital where the prime actors are actually based, living, operating from the US, and there is capital managed by US financial institutions but for actors outside the US. In general the vast majority of global capital is somehow linked with US based financial institutions (industry, energy, transportation, commodities, communication -capital) and those fin.inst. act as a lobby to the US governement to have as a priority to protect their interests globally.
This later part appeals to a layer of the US as “defense” which has little to do with internal/border defense but is a global capital defense mechanism. This layer and the other local/internal layer are not really connected or in coordination with each other.
Then there is the US as people, a country geared and operating as to constantly be overproducing an army to serve this external army layer. It is almost as if the only reason the US exists is as a producer of military personnel, and the rest of society is just a necessary evil for producing such an army. The rhetoric of nationalism, the love of the flag, the religious connection between god and America (capitalism against the evil of communism) is all connected to this industrialized soldier manufacturing plant.
If you think of all other social policy of the US this model explains education, health, transport, construction, media. It is a big base and some people outside the base supporting those on the base.
Otherwise adorable hardworking people doing what they were taught to do best. So when we speak of the US we should specify what aspect and layer of the US are we speaking about.
Absolutely, there is a reason why people say that US imperialism is the primary contradiction at hand in the world.
However, I think you are leaving out important analysis of the US labor aristocracy. Not only is there the production of military forces and internal rhetoric, but you also must mind other things like: the massive export of Amerikan culture, via Hollywood etc; the superprofits shared with the Americans at home to have inflated consumer lifestyles- mismatched to their value of labor; and the long standing internal divisions with in the American working class, of course fostered and encouraged by the bourgeoisie.
True, media weaponized. It serves as conditioning for the majority of passive participants through the planet. The individualist, the apolitical, the apathetic, the “I choose not to participate in political discussion”, all programmed into the media, social or otherwise. In exchange for this passivity there is the sense of control, “I can rub my screen and get things done, because I am a smart android user”. I wonder if there is a joke about it being called android.
If conditions in the US force people to behave a certain way, the rest of the world will pretend they are American as well. So you have people in india on a 50cc scooter double up, waiting for an order of fries to share, in the drive through of Indian McD. They feel like Liam Nieson for a moment.
People sitting in a corner passing out a political leaflet? Pathetic losers. The world wants to be on the side of winners for a change, since everything else in their life is turning to shit.
The sad part is left wing minded progressive social psychologists did studies to provide this system with tools to manipulate people.
I think this talk calls for more theoretical analysis of what this “US” really is, which I believe is much more complex than just another capitalist state.
I think there are layers of what the US really is. There is a “low layer” of a government regulating and managing people within its borders, just like all others. There is US capital where the prime actors are actually based, living, operating from the US, and there is capital managed by US financial institutions but for actors outside the US. In general the vast majority of global capital is somehow linked with US based financial institutions (industry, energy, transportation, commodities, communication -capital) and those fin.inst. act as a lobby to the US governement to have as a priority to protect their interests globally.
This later part appeals to a layer of the US as “defense” which has little to do with internal/border defense but is a global capital defense mechanism. This layer and the other local/internal layer are not really connected or in coordination with each other.
Then there is the US as people, a country geared and operating as to constantly be overproducing an army to serve this external army layer. It is almost as if the only reason the US exists is as a producer of military personnel, and the rest of society is just a necessary evil for producing such an army. The rhetoric of nationalism, the love of the flag, the religious connection between god and America (capitalism against the evil of communism) is all connected to this industrialized soldier manufacturing plant.
If you think of all other social policy of the US this model explains education, health, transport, construction, media. It is a big base and some people outside the base supporting those on the base.
Otherwise adorable hardworking people doing what they were taught to do best. So when we speak of the US we should specify what aspect and layer of the US are we speaking about.
Absolutely, there is a reason why people say that US imperialism is the primary contradiction at hand in the world.
However, I think you are leaving out important analysis of the US labor aristocracy. Not only is there the production of military forces and internal rhetoric, but you also must mind other things like: the massive export of Amerikan culture, via Hollywood etc; the superprofits shared with the Americans at home to have inflated consumer lifestyles- mismatched to their value of labor; and the long standing internal divisions with in the American working class, of course fostered and encouraged by the bourgeoisie.
True, media weaponized. It serves as conditioning for the majority of passive participants through the planet. The individualist, the apolitical, the apathetic, the “I choose not to participate in political discussion”, all programmed into the media, social or otherwise. In exchange for this passivity there is the sense of control, “I can rub my screen and get things done, because I am a smart android user”. I wonder if there is a joke about it being called android.
If conditions in the US force people to behave a certain way, the rest of the world will pretend they are American as well. So you have people in india on a 50cc scooter double up, waiting for an order of fries to share, in the drive through of Indian McD. They feel like Liam Nieson for a moment.
People sitting in a corner passing out a political leaflet? Pathetic losers. The world wants to be on the side of winners for a change, since everything else in their life is turning to shit.
The sad part is left wing minded progressive social psychologists did studies to provide this system with tools to manipulate people.