I’ve always found it darkly comical that United States government policymakers, masters of the art of soft power in the first cold war, is now staffed with people who can’t conceive why anyone would use soft power and always leaped to military options. They can’t imagine the government of China continuing economic soft-power control over Taiwan for long-term reintegration purposes. Because US policymakers would never do such a thing themselves.
I don’t have a detailed analysis or anything, but I always feel that the prior generations of imperialists, especially the immediate post-WWII, had a vision for the planet - total capitalist hegemony under the direction of the US government - and worked hard on a plan to implement it. Those planners were practical, intelligent, and willing to get their hands dirty. They projected one image of themselves - global liberators fighting against tyranny - while knowingly advancing their project in favor of the capitalists. The current generation, who grew up underneath them but not nestled in those highest places of power, bought into the image projected without understanding the reality of its operation or how it was established. They swallowed the cognitive dissonance and believed it entirely, so now they the simple act of military violence as synonymous with “freedom”. They have no grasp of how the empire actually operates, they aren’t advanced through anything like a meritocracy, and they can’t distinguish between their own propaganda and the truth.
Is it really a decline in competency or just blatant arrogance? Like, they believe they can be more brazen and do whatever they want without pushback because they’ve been the world hegemon for decades
And Taiwan lol
I’ve always found it darkly comical that United States government policymakers, masters of the art of soft power in the first cold war, is now staffed with people who can’t conceive why anyone would use soft power and always leaped to military options. They can’t imagine the government of China continuing economic soft-power control over Taiwan for long-term reintegration purposes. Because US policymakers would never do such a thing themselves.
All the time I’m talking about the decay of imperial competency.
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I don’t have a detailed analysis or anything, but I always feel that the prior generations of imperialists, especially the immediate post-WWII, had a vision for the planet - total capitalist hegemony under the direction of the US government - and worked hard on a plan to implement it. Those planners were practical, intelligent, and willing to get their hands dirty. They projected one image of themselves - global liberators fighting against tyranny - while knowingly advancing their project in favor of the capitalists. The current generation, who grew up underneath them but not nestled in those highest places of power, bought into the image projected without understanding the reality of its operation or how it was established. They swallowed the cognitive dissonance and believed it entirely, so now they the simple act of military violence as synonymous with “freedom”. They have no grasp of how the empire actually operates, they aren’t advanced through anything like a meritocracy, and they can’t distinguish between their own propaganda and the truth.
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Is it really a decline in competency or just blatant arrogance? Like, they believe they can be more brazen and do whatever they want without pushback because they’ve been the world hegemon for decades
Is that not a decline in competency?
Why would the US fund China?
…
Ohhhh man fuck these people. I hope the seperatists get cold feet and China is able to confiscate Taipei’s assets and create a new government.