Cultural imperialism

joanna bujes joanna.bujes at ebay.sun.com
Wed Nov 14 15:59:48 PST 2001


At 06:32 PM 11/14/2001 -0500, you wrote:
> >Well that's something. Not the taxes part, but the less white. One of the
> >more admirable things about this place is that people from all over the
> >world come here
>
>It's this kind of comment that eggs me on to a caustic response. I mean, if
>it admitted any of the none-too-admirable reasons that America is more
>non-white than Germany, maybe I wouldn't feel the knee jerk desire to say
>something like "yeah, three cheers for slavery, capitalism and imperialist
>adventures". Not to mention something like the CIA involvement in the
>Seaga/Manley elections, and the role that this played in the emigration of
>yardies to the US.

Why not think twice before you make that caustic response? There are many kinds of Americans. Some think non-whites (recent immigrants or otherwise) should disappear; others (like Doug and me) decide that the best part of New York City or the bay area (California) is the fact that we walk the streets with people from all over the world. I don't see how saying that is the same as "three cheers for slavery, capitalism and imperialist adventures". One reason why people (even people who have been directly/ indirectly hurt by US policies) come here is because, until lately, it passed for a democracy and because there were opportunities both for earning a living and for getting an education. These are simply facts -- independently of the murky backdrop behind them. You came here to get an education, presumably despite the capitalist and imperialist adventures. You could, after all, have "slavery, capitalism and imperialist adventures" and completely closed borders.


>Anyway, I think that the admirable things about the US are easier to
>remember when one isn't around Americans. I feel the same way about the WTC
>attack: the company of braying Americans and their ugly comments about
>people like me makes it so difficult to feel the sadness that I do feel when
>I'm just walking down the street by myself and I smell the burning.

There are Americans and there are Americans. The better ones seem to be the ones who have traveled a bit; but there are also great Americans who haven't gone anywhere. What is distinctly great about some Americans -- as compared to othe peoples-- is the fact that they value an open mind and that they loathe bullshit. Obviously there's other kinds of Americans too.

What I find really strange is that you accuse Americans--all Americans-- of chauvinism, without recognizing your own.

I'm sorry about the comments you're hearing. There's no excuse for that.

Joanna Bujes



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