----- Original Message ----- From: "OrionWorks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Vo]: New Segway Products
I just posted a response to Ed's remarks, and now I wish to comment on Steve's thoughtful observations. I will snip both for brevity.
The accusation that the US is acting as colonial power in the Iraq conflict is a bit glib. I submit that one general problem that the US has in the world is that we have no real taste for Empire. We would not list the daily casualties on the evening news without balancing it with the number of domestic murders and automobile deaths that day. To the Eurpoean colonial powers, manipulation of populaces and losses of life in suppressing rebellions was simply the price of empire, not an object of daily lamentation.
Every time we exert military force it is too little to really control the situation and the demand for early withdrawal is not the act of a colonial power.
It could be argued that the US conducts cultural and mercantile colonialism through Coke, McDonalds, etc. We may be masters of the art of advertising persuasion, but we do not force anyone to buy our products. On balance, we buy more than we sell. As I pointed out in my other post, the cheap way to get Iraq oil would be to have bought it from Saddam Hussein at market price. When Britian controlled India, it bought raw materials and forced the purchase of manufactured goods, including salt. One of Ghandi's stunts was to lead a march to the sea to evaporate sea water to salt, defying Britain's ban on Indians "making salt".
Bush bashing is a current sport, but the context of US arrogance, ignorance, and lack of understanding of other cultures goes back through many presidents and has some basis in US religious extremism and apocalyptic expectations.
Mike Carrell
