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[Josephus]

In a lot of cultures, particularly the one I come from,

Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking? I mean, beside first century Palestine.

Muslim Mindanao. I'm Philippine born and raised, though I moved out as soon as I had the cash and the opportunity.

[EnigmaticHat]

People talk about how we created a democracy there like it makes up for all the destruction we caused.  Its like, hey, we launched an unprovoked attack on your country that killed hundreds of thousands of your people, but at least we imposed our superior culture on you, right?

What? Democracy is a political process, not a culture. The Iraqis are still Iraqis. Forcing people to adopt foreign cultures is something that was almost impossible to do even in the age of colonialism, much less today.

Ok, the wording may have been a bit off, but I still think what I said is defensible.

The point I was trying to make is that democracy is a big part of American culture, and we forced them to adopt that through force.  Maybe some or most Iraqis would be ok with a democracy, but we didn't ask them.  There was no democratic rebellion that had the support of the people, no attempt to determine the mindset of the Iraqi people.  And even if the people were ok way having a democracy, (as others pointed out) there are issues in Iraq that make peaceful transfer of power difficult, that were ignored.

I guess what bothered me here is that Americans seem to think that its acceptable to force other people to act like us because we're "better".  We need to fight communism, we need to create democracies, we need to fight against human rights violations and inequality.  I'm fine with all of those things here in America, but just because we think the way our country is run is the best doesn't mean we have a right to force other people to do things our way.

Maybe creating a democracy through force isn't imposing culture, but I would argue that the process through which society is run is a big part of its culture.

[Lagslayer]

Actually, I agree that democracy cannot work everywhere. Some cultures simply do not support it. Cultures can support anything from a string of brutal dictators, to super conformist societies, to complete and utter chaos, and everything in between. It's also true that not all cultures can intermingle or interact in a peaceful or productive way. The result tends to be very bloody or ending with one side completely dominating the other against it's will, often times both. Democracy is not the only system which seeks to expand it's influence. This is what the cold war was about. Communism and democracy don't mix, so both philosophies tried to gain power and support so that the other could not conquer them. By his point, conflicts, economic or political, were global, so there wasn't really a way to escape it.



edit: strange lag and post delay

[Hanslanda]

Yes, people everywhere are different. They have different ideas, beliefs, societal structures, and culture. Trying to impose United States on everyone is quite frankly fucking stupid. I believe the the USA should work on ourselves first. We aren't perfect, and we aren't doing well, to be honest. There is so much that could be fixed here, that its quite frustrating when dumbass celebrities like Angelina Jolie go to OTHER COUNTRIES and ADOPT CHILDREN THERE, when there are HOMELESS AMERICAN CHILDREN IN NEED HERE AT HOME. Christ lady, charity begins at home, not in motherfucking Rwanda. Rwanda will take care of Rwanda, we should take care of us.

[Mrhappyface]

I honestly think that we should just carpet bomb all countries that end with -istan and get it over with. Yes, as I said before, our heterogeneous and extremely diverse nation doesn't necessarily have one unifying culture. Hawaii is extremely interesting, as it felt more like living in Japan and Alaska also felt like when I lived in Norway for a year.

[Frumple]

I honestly think that we should just carpet bomb all countries that end with -istan and get it over with.

Just give me a warning so I can get to somewhere less redneck before we immolate bumfuckistan.

E: Actually, thinking on it, just go ahead. I'll take one for the team.

[Ancre]

I honestly think that we should just carpet bomb all countries that end with -istan and get it over with.

*Open mouth* I, uh, well, uh, I, it's bad ! And uh, too much political complications. Yeah.

Yes, as I said before, our heterogeneous and extremely diverse nation doesn't necessarily have one unifying culture. Hawaii is extremely interesting, as it felt more like living in Japan and Alaska also felt like when I lived in Norway for a year.

Eh, I don't think the US are that heterogeneous and diverse. The country takes up a third of a continent, but its people seems to be very similar in the way they eat and live and the house where they live in and all - it's not like Europe at all, for example.

I've never been to Hawaii nor Alaska though. It might be different there.

[Hanslanda]

There are differences in the different states. But yes, for the vast majority of the time, the only TRUE difference among Americans is stuff like 'ain't' 'you all and ya'll' 'y'here' 'fuhgedabbadit' and Florida is full of old people.

Europe is so dramatically different amongst its various component parts because its been so densely populated for so long. Americans are mostly immigrants that said, "Fuck (insert name of country here), we're moving to Kansas. I hear they got roads made of gold there." Then they get here, only to realize they were just scammed, hard. They look around, and see millions of other people that got scammed, and go, "Fuck America, I'm SCAMMING every motherfucker that crosses my lane for the rest of my life."
And that is how insurance was invented.