Are We The Baddies?
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
- As uncomfortable as it may be to find flaws in your home country, wherever that may be, it's an important part of being an informed citizen. While it's good to call the US out on individual failures, it's becoming increasingly important to help people understand that the US as a whole is the problem. In this episode, we'll take a brief stroll through the bloody history of the US empire and answer that age old question...are we the baddies?
Are We The Baddies? - Second Thought
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Citations and Further Reading:
General info on US crimes and the problems of capitalism:
Washington Bullets - Vijay Prashad
Rogue State - William Blum
Killing Hope - William Blum
Endless Holocausts - Mass Death in the History of the United States Empire - David Michael Smith
The Jakarta Method - Vincent Bevins
School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas - Lesley Gill
The Triumph of Evil - Austin Murphy
Spooks - Jim Hougan
The Capital Order: How Economists Created Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism - Clara E. Mattei
The Counterrevolution of 1776 - Gerald Horne
Genocide of the Native Americans, Slavery:
An Indigenous People's History of the United States - Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
American Holocaust - David Stannard
Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation - John Ehle
Hitler's American Model - James Whitman
Genocide in the Philippines:
scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/vi...
webhispania.info/the-forgotte...
A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 - David J. Silbey
Genocide in Korea:
Blowback Season 3 - open.spotify.com/episode/78Bd...
thefunambulist.net/magazine/a...
www.liberationnews.org/psl-ed...
www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/wo...
www.thenation.com/article/wor...
War crimes during the Vietnam War:
Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam - Nick Nurse
www.ucpress.edu/blog/35354/th...
www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-2...
www.marxists.org/subject/chin...
War crimes during the "War on Terror"
Blowback Season 1 - open.spotify.com/show/2pibBnP...
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/new....
www.hrw.org/news/2023/03/19/t...
www.ohchr.org/sites/default/f...
truthout.org/articles/for-20-...
www.ecchr.eu/en/publication/t...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghr...
www.npr.org/sections/parallel...
www.aljazeera.com/opinions/20...
Chain of Command - Seymour Hersh
The Ballad of Abu Ghraib - Philip Gourevitch, Errol Morris
Blowback Season 4 - open.spotify.com/episode/3PIy...
Cuba and Latin America:
Blowback Season 2 - blowback.show/Season-2
Open Veins of Latin America - Eduardo Galeano
Cuba and its Neighbors - Arnold August
www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/wo...
Chile 1973: The Other 9/11 - David Francois
Palestine:
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine - Ilan Pappe
decolonizepalestine.com
Gaza Fights for Freedom - • Gaza Fights For Freedo...
Shell Shocked - Mohammed Omer
Apartheid Israel - Sean Jacobs, Jon Soske
On Palestine - Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappe
Freedom is a Constant Struggle - Angela Davis
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Howdy, friends! One note on the video: Blowback season 3 is the Korea season, not 4, I misspoke there. As always, if you appreciate my work you can support the channel by becoming a Patron (and snag some cool perks!) patreon.com/secondthought You can also check out my new channel here: www.youtube.com/@JTChapman
Is this the video where you finally talk about Israel?
You’re spot on! We are taught only the things that make us look good. Thanksgiving? The pilgrims? What about those blankets loaded with small pox? I only found out about that when I was 30 or so. They won’t teach you about all the ruses used to get the public behind a war effort. There is way too much there to unpack, but you can find it if you look hard enough. Hint, Unocal’s address to Congress in 1998. With that find PNAC’s open letter to President Clinton. once you do that you will see what I mean.
Video on Israel’s genocide in Gaza?
“A People’s History of the United States” is a must read.
Power corrupts and the United States is a VERY powerful country... though that is quickly changing.
Power corrupts but corruption rots away at the foundations of power.
If schools taught their students about every heinous atrocity the US has committed abroad the history books would be too heavy for anyone to carry.
Fuel for needed change
Labor history education.
Thankfully, digital media exists.
A truth and reconciliation commission is needed.
And our underfunded schools wouldn’t be able to afford them
America sees itself as Superman, the rest of us see you as Homelander.
precisely
or Peacemaker for that matter.
A lot of Americans unironically think Homelander is a good guy.
@@weatheranddarkness - And when it is said to them: “Make not mischief on the earth,” they say: “We are only peacemakers.” - Qur'an 2-11
Well said!
@@simplyyellow6240 Who is 'them' and 'they' in that quote and why do religious folk always think that quoting parts of their texts with ambiguous references are supposed to be meaningful to others?
We are absolutely the “baddies.” I served in Iraq. I got caught up in “patriotism” after 9/11 and joined the Army. I thought I would go to Afghanistan and did not know much about Iraq. I was sent to Iraq after basic training. I witnessed how we treated Iraqi civilians and even how we trained ICDC. We were monsters! I remember my entire squad opening fire on a man in his car while we were on patrol. He was told to stop, and he did. Either his foot slipped because he was scared/nervous or a language barrier was up and for a split second his car moved forward a foot or two. My entire squad opened fire. That included myself. Somehow he got on the floorboard and survived. He was then detained. The next day I was on guard duty and I saw that man standing in the hot sun with a sandbag over his with other detainees. The Sergeant in command of the guards shift would not give him water or let him use the bathroom. That moment is burned into my memories. My view started changing at that moment. I was able to get him water from my canteen and have him and the other detainees sit down. I was severely punished by the Sergeant. I was “smoked” in full gear and had to pull 16 hour guard duties. The punishment was worth it if I was able to give that man comfort, even if only for a moment. I do not know what happened to him? He was sent off to a detention facility. There are many other horror stories. I was raised in a Christian home with a Republican family. I was ignorant and did not form my own views until that deployment. I was never taught actual American history in public school. I was fed the propaganda and even if I didn’t understand that’s what it was, it was normal to believe it. I am now a vocal atheist and would consider myself a progressive socialist if I had to pick a label but I don’t like doing that. Depends on the situation. Trying to explain how the world actually works and how others see us is difficult to do with citizens who don’t leave their country and some not even their own state. I’m glad I was born into a good family and in a good situation but I was lucky. I don’t “love” my country nor do I respect its citizens. Our government is corrupt. Our military is ruthless. Our justice is usually non existent. Our businesses are greedy. Our religious views are dangerous. Our education is propaganda. Some of us are trying to change this but most don’t care or don’t want to know. America is evil. Not every single person but in general we are broken. I hate it. I want out but I would have to leave my family and give up a decent job that helps me raise a teenage daughter. I am raising her with more knowledge and an open mind. I teach her it’s never just black or white, good or bad. The way I try to make things better is through her. But I do remind her that we are handing off a complete mess to her generation. I hope we change. Sometimes I think the only way that will happen is if we collapse? We would deserve it. But again, it’s not that easy. It’s not that black or white.
Thanks for being a decent human.
Thank you for sharing your humanity. Examples like these give me hope. Love from 🇵🇰
I'm glad you broke out of the delusions. And bless you for taking care of that guy and the detainees. But I do have a reality check I will propose to all who just on the bash America bandwagon. 1. It's the illegal intelligence agencies with unelected and unaccountable people in them that commit most of America's atrocities. 2. Its not just America that's evil it's human beings and our fallen nature. All governments have a list of dirty laundry but America happens to be preeminent on the world stage so thus has more power and reach than other countries to commit crimes. But if any other country has the same capabilities they would do it as well because it's about power and control for those in power and who have control. This is why Jesus came and gave us a moral way to act so we won't fall I to the pitfalls that humans fall into, like subjugation eachother or greed or lost and envy which exists in every humans heart. It takes a Godly example to lead us to behave in a Godly manner and Christ gives us the ability that we CANNOT and WILL NOT find on our own.
Thanks for sharing, man.
It’s much easier to live in denial and avoid cognitive dissonance, you are brave and strong for allowing your moral compass to lead you instead of the bloodthirsty psychopaths who rule America.
Thanks for sharing.
„Being an American is like being the son of a Mafia boss, you will live a good life in a good house , but don’t be surprised when someone throws a brick at ur window“
- A comment I saw in the internet
I'm an American and I don't even have a house😭
IAm14AndThisIsDeep
But seriously though, most of the world is neutral on america. On one hand they do some messed up things, but on the other hand they're the best great power that could possible lead the world. (the alternative 50 years ago was the soviet union and I'm sure noone wanted that, talk to anyone who lives in eastern europe that's over 50 and they'll tell you that the american world order is 100x better then the soviet iron curtain. The laternative now is China. We have yet to truly see how China behaves with countries under its influence so not gonna comment on that. Before the soviet union the other option was the British empire, yeah...)
America has the characteristics any country in its position would have, but the difference is that because in general they're more liberal then most countries they are actually not as bad as other countries would be. (Just think about it, after the collapse of the soviet union america was in a position where they could realistically fight and win a war against the whole world. Any other country throughout history would've used that as a chance to secure lots of land and resources for themselves while breaking down any potential powers that could rise up in the future, this would involve dismantling russia further and breaking up china and potentially even india)
Instead, the americans ushered in an era of unprecedented peace among great powers (except for the middle east, that's the one stain in their record) that has never been seen before in history. They opened up trade routes and ushered in the age of globalisation with their massive navy that was and still is more powerful then the next 9 combined. People hate on america, but you've got to respect their decision making.
@@shaaravguha3760im glad the US was against the soviet union, but now the US became the soviet union so not really useful to look back and say: “yup, they were better than the soviets”
@@oofoof1206 You glad coz you in love with propaganda. Soviets beat Germans. You beat Hiroshima's kids. YT won't show your fragile ego 0.1% of horrors you committed
@@oofoof1206 CZcams deletes comments. Why are you afraid of opinions?
"there's nothing more patriotic than admitting own country's faults"
agreed 💯
Except it's just pretending to come from a well meaning place, and it's blatantly obvious that it's to promote socialist values compared to the values his country was founded upon. You can be something else, take another name, but you can't be patriotic. It's not like he says our values are great, but execution sucks. He despises the values too.
Really i always thought being a partiot is obeying the state like my uncle who is pro militairy
@definitlynotbenlente7671 haha sounds like he might be going thr nationalist path
@gamd666 what is the diference?
Unless you're just whining without offering solutions.
As a Filipino, thank you so much for talking about the American invasion of my country and calling it what it really was - A genocide. Even the most anti-American people in this country wouldn't call it that
@@WizTroll save is his nicer way of saying "just under new management"
@@WizTroll
Cultural perception and reality often do not overlap- especially when the former is expressed anecdotally.
@@WizTroll American propaganda is the best haha
@@WizTroll He is referring to the US invasion of the Philippines in 1900. Then the US military crushed the Philippine independence movement, killing around 200,000 in the process.
So weird to hear that from a Filipino. Usually people from Filippine pretend that nothing happened and adore America and the American dream.
True story - One day I was walking in the wealthy part of town and I saw a guy driving a Mercedes McLaren SLR convertible, the thing had to be valued at near half a million dollars at that time, so I asked him how does one become so successful to own such a vehicle. I was about to graduate college so I wanted some advice from someone who has seemed to make it big in life. He was a rather stocky guy and somewhat bald and near the age of 50 it looked like. After I asked him the question he took a long drag from his cigar and puffed out the smoke and said something I will never forget. He said " Do not trust men like me" his exact words. He then got into his half million dollar car and drove off. That was probably the most honest anyone has ever been with me and probably the best advice he could have ever given me. Powerful and wealthy humans have for years exploited and manipulated common people into doing their bidding for the small chance that they may have a little wealth too or at least be protected and taken care of for their loyalty. This continues to happen over and over again. When will people stop trusting wealthy Tyrants ?
As someone who is nearly as old as modern Israel, I've lived through a major swath of these historic events. In keeping them alive, you provide a holistic history, that removes the scented candles from the latrine.
You are providing an important service to those lacking the memories to build real context.
It should be remembered though, that US bad behaviour is simply a natural progression of British Colonialist practices. And in many cases, not even the names have changed. The Feudal-Lords of old form a direct lineage to the Robber-Barons and Oligarchs of today. (not to diminish the Church's disproportionate involvement in human subjugations and political steering)
Your age shows how clearly younger and not older Israel is to Palestine.
Ah ha. Here here!!!! 🚫🐍🇺🇲
@@Afton_Robotics_1987 The Isrealis and Palestinians used to live together peacefully until the West decided to carve up the region with "manageable" National borders (borders that have moved all by themselves to engulf the entirety of the region with walls and ILLEGAL settlements on annexed land.)
And now that lovely beachfront Gaza Israeli settlements are a visible and viable future, there may soon no longer be a need for borders, as the Palestinians will have been pushed into the ocean, which was ALWAYS the plan.
If there's a god, he plays no part in the "Holy" land. The very descriptor is Sacriledge.
To this day, I will never get over how America overthrew a government for bananas.
I think there’s a bananas and violence documentary here in YT somewhere I recall seeing. There was also a banana massacre in Colombia, Chiquita paying paramilitaries.
I will also never forget how America overthrew a kingdom for sugar canes and made the islands as a state
@@NocturnalDoomits a shortstory after an episode of vulo the faceborrower i think
@@NocturnalDoom The video from *Sam O’Nella?*
Don't forget how it overthrew a government, twice, just so it could make its poorest citizens opium addicts.
As a college professor of history, I would just like to say… you forgot to include President Eisenhower giving the CIA the “go-ahead” to assassinate democratically-elected President Lumumba of the Democratic Republic of Congo. But that oversight is easily forgiven as the CIA records were only recently de-classified, and Stewart A. Reid’s book on the subject, “The Lumumba Plot,” was just published in 2023. Keep up the great work you’re doing with your channel!
I'm sure it wasn't an oversight. It's just that the topic encompasses so much, the U.S. has done so much damage at home and abroad, it's hard to mention it all in a 20 minute video.
@marco1173 impossible to mention most, agreed - however Lumumba wasn't insignificant to say the least. And DRC being the richest country on earth in terms of natural resources makes it of paramount importance. Given this was known at the time and incidentally, from antiquity.
What really irks me about what you've mentioned, is that not only was DRC robbed of a great leader, of which has come at an immeasurable cost to the DRC and the rest of Africa, commercially, politically and developmentally- lack of. To add further insult to injury, the book is a commercially profitable medium.
In my opinion, there's an ethical aspect that's rarely explored, let alone acknowledged. Symptomatic of this capitalist, democratic, meritocracy system. I use those words in their loosest forms, because we're led to believe they're true descriptions of western civilisation, whilst in practice they're thin veils of what time has proven to be entirely false.
@@niokandege yeah but the Congo had more technology than China did during the 1930s. Given by the Western colonizers, what did I do with it? How long is the guy independence? They were left of the railroads, minds, factories, infrastructure, and so on.
It's almost like if the barbarians destroyed Roman infrastructure after the Romans left. They didn't they utilize it. What did the Congo do? You have missionaries and other groups of people and even some non-profit companies building things over there, you build a bridge or a well in 2 to 5 years later it's been taken apart for the resources it has and then they're complaining about not having a bridge or well. They will take the bridge apart for firewood, for example.
At some point in time, you can only blame other things so much and until it becomes your own fault for not fixing it.
Shouldn't start off with "I'm a college professor". Not really something to be proud of anymore.
I'm from Chile, the CIA literally fucked us up, September 1973, never forget.
It actually happened on the 11th of September, too. How ironic
@@fyrephoenix27 the irony of fate
Never forget brother. Semper fi lol
The US "opening" Japan for trade at the end of the 19th century was also one of the reasons Japan started its colonization of Asia during the WW era.
Growing up in the US is like growing up with a 6'8", narcissistic father who tells you constantly how incredible he is while abusing you and everyone else around him. Waking up to that abuse can be hard.
*points to the happy russian and chinese families living down the street*
Oh, what, youre going to cry again? If you hate how this fist tastes, well GTFO and go down to those filthy houses, they will beat you ten times as much. Youre LUCKY to have me as a father.
Especially when you really stop making excuses for him. No, Mom, he doesn't really mean well, and he hasn't really changed. It's like that except it's the whole damn social system.
Well said
This is so hard to unlearn, close friends who are normally so sweet turn sour when I make an anti American remark. They take it personally because acknowledging the unfortunate reality means they were supporting the wrong side of history this entire time, and that’s understandable
Too right.
As a retired military veteran, yes we are the evil empire. I was a poor kid with no debt free option for college. So I got my education by joining the military. That education revealed what an evil country this is
Actually.. The government have money for free education and healthcare but in order to control people and made them have limited choices..
*I'm honestly sorry to hear that.*
Education and military experience should have taught you that war (as well as life in general) is NEVER that black and white. Our society is seriously complicated and mixed -- and our foreign military conflicts are even more so.
*Nothing/no one is ever **_truly_** good or **_truly_** evil.*
So to be fair, the history of the United States is far from all bad; as the country has done quite a bit of good over the years as well
... _this video simply chose to omit that for political reasons_ ...
@@NeonCicadait's not about individual people. That's not how power works. It's about systems, institutions and incentives.
The USA is an empire that exploits the rest of the world for the benefit of its ruling class. If used to have some semblance of democratic accountability that curbed some of its excesses but that has largely been dismantled over the last 50 years.
There is a reason why in polling globally, the US is considered the most dangerous country in the world by a very large margin. It's because outside of the bubble of propaganda, the people at the sharp end of US policy understand how it works much better than you.
@@NeonCicada Occasionally (rarely) doing some good here and there does not justify all the bad things being done all the time and throughout history. It's not a some plus-minus calculation and it's all fine as long as you stay on the positive side (although, the US is far, far into the negative side anyway). You either make good or bad things, and you get judged by all of them.
@@NeonCicada Oh, really? I'd LOVE it if you could explain to me the "nuance" of invading the Phillipines...or of everything that Andrew Jackson did. I'm just dying to hear your whatabout-ism BS. The only good thing that the U.S. EVER did abroad was D-day, full stop.
I'm Indian & I have seen on a lot of forums like Reddit where people from the Western world mock India for not supporting the NATO in Ukraine. The reasons given in this video is why we don't do it. Since our independence we have had the US stab us multiple times in our back by supporting our enemies & creating hurdles in our economic development.
Honestly, the only reason India still survives as a country is because we are huge and complex. Unlike smaller countries which the USA was able to destabilize easily by pulling a few strings, even the most determined CIA operations cannot manipulate the internal complexities of India to a very large extent.
I understand what you are saying but two wrongs don´t make a rigth
@@jredroc368 see, India remaining neutral in this conflict to prevent further escalation is not wrong. The US creating the conditions for war with Russia by continuously poking them and absorbing buffer countries into NATO, is.
Hello my brother from India! Much love from Indonesian
PS : Yes we also have a bad memories and experience with the US and NATO back in the 20th century
@@fndorigin9021 love to Indonesia brother!
India should support ukraine. And US was against india during the cold war which ended 30 years ago. Holding grudges from things that occurred decade ago is pointless.
Aa a Native American, we're still here. The thing is, 1st we were demonized and dehumanized, then after we were on the ropes, the colonizer Americans started mythologizing and celebrating Native people, unless you live in South or North Dakota. Then its a coin toss if they will ring up your stuff or give you a menu.
Now we got white boys smoking with natives really wondering what the big idea was 😂
Took me being in the Army to snap out of the idea of American Exceptionalism. There is so much that goes unreported.
Same. I think the great irony is that I encountered more opinions against American foreign policy in the Army than I do in the civilian world. We are a thoroughly propagandized population.
Agreed. It was a tough realization, but I'm glad to have the new perspective.
I've been going further left since I got out and I lost friends overseas. That book Dirty Wars really opened my eyes.
Me too
Same here. I went in a true believer, and now looking at the stars and stripes gives me the same feeling as seeing a swazstika
I went to Laos once. I'm half Thai so the tour guide didn't know I was American. He told us about songs they sing about the evil Americans who bombed their people. It really changed how I see America and the world.
they are completely justified, kids in Laos are still losing limbs due to UXO incidents left over from our bombing. america is a truly despicable country that refuses to ever examine its own conduct or hold itself to the same standards it hold others to
Many Thai soldiers ''retired'' from the army to be hired by CIA to fight in Laos for either big money or ''fight communism''.
The United States should work on improving itself while trying to conceal the bad things it has done
or when the lies got poked out the country will lose everything
Unknown fact the US dropped more bombs in laos the WWI and 2 combined.
@@SchnappMExactly 💯
I met an Iraq war veteran once, in his 60s, he told me how his military superior, on his first week in Iraq, brought him to a bus full of children and asked him to set the bus on fire to prove his loyalty. It’s not hard to believe.
As a brazilian, it infuriates me that most of my brazilian fellows are blindfolded and think that the USA are the best and everything they say it's the right and only way of doing things. It's a shame that the politicians of my country deify the U.S.
Você está certo, Brasil sempre soberano e livre, espero que consigamos bombas nucleares e melhor exército para pararmos de ser fantoches de estados desunidos ou china.
Yeah our propaganda so good we’ve convinced people we attack we are good 😭
Loving your country enough to hold it to its highest standard, is the purist form of patriotism.
"Who's the real patriots? The Archie Bunker slobs waving flags? Or the people with the guts to work for some real change?" Dead Kennedys
That's why we differentiate it from the deranged nationalist patriotism used in politics to justify continuing to be evil, because it's part of the country's being
@@alanwatts8239depends of peoples of definition patrionism
or maybe just holding it to a standard, you know. i don't think not commiting genocide is the highest standard out there for a country.
Damn right
Also a reminder: the US voted against classifying Putin as a war criminal, cause that would have opened the floodgates to retroactively classify every US president as a war criminal.
That’s not the reason lol it’s so they can keep making money off of the wars he starts.
Ok ok you got a point tho bush jr did kill like 1-3 million something and Obama killed a few thousand same for trump and Biden idk yet but probably the same.
@@flazedog1647 you can both be a war criminal and still start wars.
Well you know, we wont submit to the authority of The International CRIMINAL Court, so...
is that supposed to imply the court is criminal? is the only argument for the us to get away with it's war criminals and ignore the court...a meaningless play on words?@@dawnsalois
I went to Cuba recently and I have to say it was very depressing, the embargo was terrible and I saw how all the people were living there were desperate for any sort of money or anything in general to help them out. They didn’t even have access to chocolate… that’s not even the worst thing about it. Glad to hear someone mention the embargo even I didn’t know about it until I went there myself
As cuban, 1 thing:
The frick do you mean no acses to chocolate?
The rest I agree.
@@Abraham_the_pierra sometimes they wouldn’t have chocolate and when we asked they said there isn’t always chocolate
@@mr_kb1420 ok, it's sometimes out of stock, byt saying there is no chocolate in Cuba is a bit of an overstatement, in fact, Baracoa has an abundance of cacao and chocolate, I'd know because my dad was raised there.
As an Asian person that grew up in America, I was constantly bombarded by how "great and exceptional" USA was in school. I thought that it was mediocre and overrated at best. Then found out more and more how corrupt, tyrannical it was throughout high school and in my 20s. I didn't have a mental meltdown like many others here upon learning the truth since I was already leaning towards that attitude by my teenage years.
Real question is what country isn't. Grass is always greener but all the grass is yellow. There is this weird misconception that history was all sunshine and daisies until it just wasn't. Humans are evil, always have been and always will be. We just need to try our best in our personal lives as work as a community
My parents would always blame America, the British, and the French for everything and I thought they were lying. The older I get, the more I realize they weren't wrong
youre not alone.... kids have the tendency to not believing their parents.
Can I know where do you come from?
me too. i thought it was an excuse. but now i see they were angry
That's because they were more powerful than anybody else, not because they were morally worse.
@@Pfyzer why would they believe anything their parents would say if the world around them disagrees with their parents too, we as humans are social in nature and whatever ideas we hear from others around us even if they are obviously wrong we still tend to believe it as to fit in society, it would be understandable to choose sides as to not be left out
It took me over 20 years as a Marine, and damn nesr 20 more with the defense department to realize we are the baddies. Mostly our government, and establishment politicians. As bad as the worst characters throughout history, possibly worse.
It seems all Americans agree that baddies are in our government but nobody really knows what to do via voting because this really bad system is like Monsanto soil that will only allow Frankenfoods to grow in it. The system rejects and spits out decent people. It's a problem.
Just the politicians. Our political system doesn't work.
Every American seems to keep blaming the government. What is the point of a democracy if the people are supposedly so good and yet have a government like they do? Furthermore, are the people really that good? Just look at the way relationships occur in the US, everyone has baggage, most women have relationship trauma of some kind. Are the people really that good if in the aspect that they should care about the most (the ones they find and love), they cause so much harm?
Not possibly--definitely.
@@rollingknuckleball Excellent questions. The government is made up of those people.
Most Americans don't want to know. "Life is good, why dig up the past". The problem is the past is catching up with us.
I remember my brother coming home from Viet Nam and telling us what a horrid country we lived in and how much he hated the fact that he was American. He told us a bit of what went on over there. Then the people here blamed the 19 yr olds that were sleep deprived and fed drugs.
we put men in the military and teach them to kill and then blame them for killing. while my lai was wrong and criminal, i understand why it happened. not excused it, but understand it. i'm a USAF veteran.
As a combat veteran from the war in Afghanistan I gotta say you’re a bigger patriot than I am. I witnessed firsthand the fruits of our involvement in Afghanistan and all I can really say without writing an essay is yes, indeed we were the baddies. Were in the sense I converted to Islam and left the US so my tax dollars aren’t funding the genocide in Palestine and many other countries. I cannot as a human being with eyes and a brain and as a Muslim condone or excuse any of our behavior in the Muslim world. I’ve moved to Pakistan and have met refugees who have had family members killed because of our operations (one guy I consider a good friend, his own mother was killed in a drone strike on the way to a wedding, a lazy drone operator most likely saw them do something deemed “suspicious” and at the time Obama was in office that was all that was needed to fire a drone, in his words “if Allah has forgiven you why shouldn’t I?”, imagine any American soldier or Marine taking this view towards an insurgent who killed one of their friends, these friends being occupiers who signed up for potential death and my brother in Islam’s mother never signing up to have her country invaded and destroyed and occupied).
Anyway, I’m considered a traitor by a lot of people. Of course I’d never take up arms but I sure as hell will speak on my experiences if it means one person stays out of the military. I gave part of my body, my youth and almost my life for a lie and so defense contractors could rake in billions. The people of Afghanistan live the same way they did 200 years ago and you cannot tell me that a guy who can’t read, subsistence farms and doesn’t even have a car is a threat to me or any of my loved ones.
good wishes , live a happy life . more people need to read this comment
Thank you for speaking up Free Palestine 🇵🇸Free Palestine 🇵🇸Free Palestine 🇵🇸Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Great comment. You’re a brave honorable man.
Hey, your story is very interesting to me. I’m an American born Pakistani/Muslim, and I’d love to ask you some questions for the purposes of my writing. Is there any way I could reach out to you?
💕🇮🇱💕🇮🇱💕🇮🇱💕🇮🇱 typical me too unless yr a Jew rhetoric
As a Vietnamese, the US was, is, and always will be a country I must be wary of...
No shit
Edit: To translate, "I completely understand your point of view"
Agree with you. I'm from Ukraine and independent of my country died in 2014. Thanks Victoria Nuland for that😢
@@GigersFan By all accounts, my country, America, facilitated the coup in 2014 just like we did in dozens of countries ranging from S America to the Middle East.
You’re delusional.
@@HArryvajonastypical behavior for economic hegemony. I recommend to read War is A Racket by Smed Butler
Coming from the UK I was raised (in the sixties) to believe that the US was our best friend, while any communist or socialist regimes were not to be trusted. We, together with the rest of ´the west´, were the defenders of democracy and human rights, and freedom. We were the good guys. This is the myth we were told, and are still being told through history books and the fictions of Hollywood and the MSM. Colonialism, slavery and wars were nothing more than necessary steps towards our eventual enlightenment, rather than the blood of millions around the world being the foundations on which the west developed and became rich. We were actually doing them a favour.
The reality is that ordinary people in the west have no more power than ordinary people in China or Russia. Every nation on the planet is owned by the elites - the billionaires and the corporations - and public opinion is manipulated to suit their vested interests. The US military, along with the CIA, has long been used as a private mercenary army deployed to defend ´US strategic interests´ - which is just a euphemism for the current investments, or future ambitions, of US capital. And the US does not care how many innocent people die as a consequence; which makes the US, and the UK, no different from any other dictatorships.
Yeah I gotta say watching this video was a harrowing experience. When I see people say stuff like “Wow the west talking about holding up international law” and “hypocrites” I thought for what, colonialism hundreds of years ago? How can I criticise Russia while being a US client state
Allende still alive in many, many chileans like me. Regards to all the good people from the USA, like you.
Allende vivirà por siempre✊🏼 Saludos desde Colombia❤
When I was studying English Literature at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, one of the Americans who taught literature there proudly proclaimed that one of the things that made the USA better and morally superior to Europe was that they'd never owned any colonies.
And I raised my hand and asked, so what do you call Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, Samoa, and the Marianas then? Or the Philippines and Hawaii in the past?
He literally had no idea. He was just repeating something he'd heard that made the US sound good.
hhh that person showed ignorance and blind arrogance
Good Job!
Don’t forget about Liberia
Average American
The US pioneered a new form of colonialism: _neocolonialism_. There are 2 ways to control a country: The old way: Bombs, bullets, bayonets, boots on the ground, garrisons. And the new way: Banks, IMF loans, sanctions.
Although, should be noted the new way still uses police, but the police are from the local population (Not that using local population was unheard of in the old way), and they're given better benefits than the rest of the population to secure their loyalty. That way it can be completely "hands off" -- You get to have a colony without actually having a colony. _"None of our military is there. What do you mean colony? I don't see any colony. They're an independent nation, not our colony. You're talking crazy."_
So, virtually all of Central and South America, and much of the rest of the Global South are neocolonies of the US. Western companies use Global South countries for cheap labor, or harvest/extract their resources and send it all back to the West (Global North), in exchange for some initial investments that allowed the country to have some small cities (that are mostly for the Westerners to stay when they visit to oversee operations), roads/rails (that are mostly for carrying the resources to the sea ports), some crappy schools, and allow the local people to finally have blue jeans and drink Coca Cola and other stuff to make them feel like they're part of the US/EU, but they are ultimately kept poor.
I always say the same thing about patriotism. If you're not willing to correct your country's bad behavior then you're not a patriot
Respect friend. For your UTTERLY SANE and LOGICAL thought.
So can I get a free passport to return to Zimbabwe please
As reparations instead of a check
If you see your people oppress others, help them... By stopping them
billboard saying this quote needs to be raised everywhere in the US.
The British Empire also did many atrocities in the past.
Is the US the bad guy?
Short answer: yes.
Long answer: yes it is.
“America is the only nation in history which, miraculously, has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of Civilization.”
George Clemenceau
Ya, think MAGA.
Empty sentence. Replace America with any other nation you hate, it doesn't mean anything. Just serves to enhance whatever ideological bubble reader is already in.
@@imacmilltds?
And you're the man with no ideology.
Totally virtuous, without a single flaw in which you could ever be held to account for😂 @@IVIagicful
@@imacmill that's stupid and you know it.
MAGA is an inevitable manifestation of a heavily propagandized imperial core.
My father was a Vietnam veteran. The one time I ever tried talking to him about his service was the last time I would do such a thing again. It upset him so much and I’d never seen him like that in a sober state my entire life. I can only imagine how bad it was that would make him self-medicate so much. He passed in ‘21 from complication due to Agent Orange exposure and I don’t give much praise to the state of Florida, but the VA hospital system there did more to help him that my home state of New York ever did. I discourage his grandson from joining the US military every chance I get and reinstating the draft would mean emigration for us both. As the descendants of the slaves that worked all that stolen land in the States and the Caribbean, and are still being made to watch others enjoy the benefits, I think we’ve done enough. Those are the reparations we have control of.
It’s only a matter of time before America reaps what she sows. She can’t keep bullying the world forever.
If you can leave the USA do so, you'd be two of the fortunate few who are able too. Millions of us want to flee the USA yet we can't due to lack of money connections and highly specialized skills etc. Tragic reality is no country wants us.
“might makes right” the united states will remain the top dog for the next 40 years minimum. its gonna take that long for anyone else to build a military able to contest us….and then what? you just trade one global military dictatorship for another. you seem upset that life will never be fair and i recommend you reset ur expectations 2 zero for ur cortisol levels :)
@@user-gz4ve8mw9l If you don't have a kid or a dependent elderly relative. Then just travel up to canada. Get a bus ticket. They'll take care of you from there. Claim asylum.
Americans will stop making wounded veterans when they stop going to war.
This is the exact same as my dad... He died in 2021 from Agent Orange exposure as well. It's been really hard and I hope you are doing well. He spoke to me at length of the atrocities he saw comitted (served as a Navy medical coreman at the time) and truly loved the country and people of Vietnam. He forbid me from military service for those and many other reasons. My Dad was from the Ozarks of Missouri a place called Stockton, a sundown town. He gtfo as soon as he could and never went back, I've never met any of my family from there and never want to. I think he despised the United States but loved it's people, I feel the same.
My first attempt at a comment, which was only one sentence with a link, was deleted. I am not sure why. Let me try a 2nd. Thanks for this video and your channel. It came at a good time for me. I was finishing up an essay on the teaching of US history, which I will send to many in the history profession. This video supported and amplified what I was saying, and has caused me to focus on the delivery of teaching methods via alterative media channels such as youtube (there is a blurb on you on wikitubia), and how the history profession need to wake up and refocus its efforts. One of your commenters below is a history professor that follows you, so there is one data point that supports this. Keep up the work, it is very important for others to hear what you are saying, how you are saying it, and addressing historiography and historical pedagogy and how it is taught today.
GEN X'r and Socialist since around 1993.About your age then. I'm almost 58. My wife and I have watched your videos! You're smart and well informed and read! You said in one of your videos that most people that first come across your videos only last a short time before moving on, and perhaps incredulously! Keep up the good work Comrade! We'll be Watching!
Sincerely, Gary Paulson.
"I don't see why we need to stand idly by and watch a country go communlst due to the irresponsibility of its own people"
If that's not a backhanded admission that capitaIism works against the interests of the common people at every turn, I don't know what is.
That line really struck me as epitomizing the US capitalist imperialism.
Sometimes the people do get it wrong though. Remember Kissinger's boss was elected.
@@sam1111979 While I was not a fan of Nixon and did not vote for him, he was the last liberal president. Says a lot about today's politics.
That same statement would be reformulated replacing communism with socialism and that is the real tradigy.
@@picketf communism is an ideal, so it's always talking about socialism. It is possible you are thinking of previous more harsh implementations of socialism, that would be true
Filipino here, thanks for bringing up the Philippines-American war. This is one of the most ignored part of both Philippine and American history... And the effects of this lack of acknowledgement ripple out today and create untold suffering in our cities and countryside.
i heard that our constitution here in Philippines was copied or originated from America. is this why we are also very corrupt.
I would love to know more about the Filipino independence movement, but even from here, I am from Spain, we only get the part where Spain losses control of the Philippines, I appreciate that we are always portrayed as the wrong side in that struggle as it was inherently true but then we are just told, or at the very least were when I was still studying, the the US took control of the islands and don't go deeper into it, fascinating how little of that Story is ever told
American here, I hadn't even heard of it before I radicalized and I still barely know anything about it. Need to add a few more books to the list I guess.
@@helpumuch6887 Yeah American education is awful be we can't pretend its not on purpose after all why else would politicians be in charge of schools rather than educators?
And American corporations continue to hurt the Filipino people to this day, by installing their corporate franchises in the Philippines, and all to take advantage of, what is effectively, slave labour. In the Philippines, minimum wage is 14$ CAD per DAY.. These franchises hurt local business and all so they can capitalize on insanely cheap labour..
I recently visited the Philippines for a month, and what the people have to go through there is insane. there's scrawny homeless children all over the place. I'm not talking about teenagers, I'm talking about young children.
Only 15 years of "peace" in US history, says all you need to know. But I am from that little island that helped colonize it to begin with, the one that kisses up to the US and likes war itself. We were the big baddies until one of our colonies rebelled.
I'm downloading this video and keeping it in my video library. Excellent work and quick recap of history
People who hated mlk are now claiming they were marching with him but now thanks to social media we have proof of who was on the right side of history.
Bc its not capitalised i quick read that as milk and racking my mind on wheter there were milk marches in history😂 then reread
History is still lying. Watch local and mainstream news this weekend and see how many pieces they put out where they romanticize MLK. When he was alive he was disliked and criticized just like today's activists. Youll see reporters interviewing children They talk about "I have a dream" as if that was the substance of his entire speech. They don't know any more than that. And the media loves it because they can push empty talk about how much progress we've made.
@@xanderjames8682 milk marches is crazy 😂
@@xanderjames8682 ...Harvey Milk.
;)
@@xanderjames8682 I kept reading it as m i l k until your comment XD
Ever since I was a socialist and really doing historical research on my own, it’s almost impossible for me to look at anything this country does and not think of the potential malice behind it because of how bad our track record has always been.
america is a lot more like russia/china than they wanna think they are, maybe human brains simply cannot handle countries the size of continents except maybe australia but they have a ton of issues aswell (although they have a labor party which is much farther left than american democrats)
Not malice, entitlement and apathy. The US government as a capitalist government isn't out to do harm, it's out to take what it wants regardless of who is harmed. It's not an issue of ethics, it's an issue of economic systems.
Which itself is an issue of ethics.@@epis8613
Im a European author on the collapse of civilisations and I have sympathy with the people in America who don't want to teach American history - it is uniquely unmitigatedly BAD.
It started with genocide and stealing and went down hill from there.
@@epis8613 This is so true. And just because it is our economic system and the individual's /intentions/ is not out of malice, does not make the effect any less harmful. In fact, without acknowledging the systemic harm that comes from a system that demands exploitation and continuous growth, it only perpetuates the idea that "everything is okay'.' Its not okay. Generations of people are dying, and finding personal wellbeing is left to only be something to strive for and never achieve. We live in the dystopian society. And revolution is the only response.
This makes me so sad. Rest in Peace Native Americans
There was something that stuck with me
A quote that goes
"My country right or wrong
If right to be kept right, If wrong to be set right"
This second line of this quote doesn't get mentioned as much as it should.
I'm Indonesian, and CiA backed coup toppled President Soekarno and replaced him with the despot military general Soeharto that reigned for 32 years. During his regime, he embezzled trillions of dollars to enrich his family and his cronies, and neglected most of Indonesia's development, and giving mining and oil concessions to the American and western companies. Even though he was dethroned by civil unrest, we still feel the impact of the CiA regime change to this day.
US did almost exactly that in Congo too, toppled their democratically elected president and then replaced him with a despotic corrupt to the core tyrant that left his various people nothing when he was ousted.
Now tbf Soekarno did commit genocide and did a great many other horrible things.
Oh, good god
I'm so sorry to hear that. How have you recovered?
Too bad
Isn't that the guy who killed several million "communists" with the help of the CIA? horrific
Even though my country (Brazil) was never formally invaded by the US, the cultural invasion, the constant interference, the proxies placed in positions of power, the political havoc that seems to "spontaneously" happen when things are getting better, all that is how the US keeps us under its boot.
It always feels like a small vindication when I see an American acknowledging how distructive their country is, so thank you for that, JT. And especially for standing up against the genocide in Gaza, despite the consequences. You, me and all the vast majority of people in the world who are against this massacre are on the right side of history.
Venceremos Camarada!
Not formally, but the '64 coup had total support from the USA: 10 thousand spies, an aircraft carrier at their disposal, they even trained our military on how to torture people, something they still haven't forgotten.
And more recently, the coup against Dilma in 2016, which coincidentally opened the doors to foreign investors in Petrobras, Brazillian's biggest oil company, and absolutely destroyed it's investment capability, making the company a crude oil exporter and making brazillians buy refined gas from who? USA companies.
They never left, and I crave for the day we'll finally be able to take our country into our own hands
Venceremos camarada
The CIA has interfered in every country. Formal invasion not required unless there’s a resource America wants.
vencerada camaremos
Yes. Next.
Dear J.T., Thank you for standing up and speaking out. You are a fine American and you are making a difference at a key time in world history. Thank you for your courage and your compassion. This is something we need to do together as human beings. Your work is much appreciated.
I figured out we were the bad guys when I was in the Army unfortunately.
What was your position when you were getting there? When you lived before? Was it neutral/indifferent?
good on ya for realizing that and not just falling in to delusion
That's what I figured out as well when I got deployed. It's not so much the soldiers but specifically the higher ups that are the bad guys.
@@Hariester I was an E-4 and I had been in for just over 2 years doing my first combat deployment. I was artillery but deployed as route clearance and ended up on a FOB in the middle of a nowhere ass mountain getting mortared and shot at every day for 13 months. I was 21 at the time so I was a young "patriotic" kid in 2009. My time there opened my eyes. Fast forward 13 years now I'm a card carrying socialist.
@@valleiwe’ll need comrades like you in the future, both people who are willing to admit their mistakes, and those who know how to fight, so that effort can be put towards a just cause
The thing about it is, as a US citizen, you don't get much of a glimpse of these things depending on where you live and who you got around you. I grew up in Kentucky, and the first born son of an army family that sent their first born sons into the army. I smoked to much weed and "couldn't" stop long enough to pee clean. But to what I was saying; while I was in school I was taught that our government did these things for freedom. When I was at home I was taught the family history of going off to "earn" glory. The indoctrination is real here, and the craziest part is that we're taught that it's the rest of the world that's going crazy. Most of this country's citizens have a similar story. And people are waking up here... It just feels like it's a very slow process
They WERE doing it for freedom. It's really about WHO's freedom. They don't mean everyone's freedom. They mean the freedom to make a profit for the Capitalists especially those in finance. Wake up America.
@@gmac8586 Ecactly!
@@gmac8586 You're making the world a better place with your dismissive responses. Keep up the good work buddy 👍
I have lived long enough to witness my parents become the same people my grandparents fought against in WW2.
As Marx said: "The ideology of an era, is the ideology of its ruling class"
As a low middle class brasilian, who never left his country, and by the movies and such, from what i know of your home state, you like a unic person with a liberating thought. Keep on the strugle ✊
This is some of the most educational content I ever found on CZcams. Well done ✅
Absolutely love ur videos, they are so informative and relatable in how I feel❤
It's funny that you bring this up. I got into a LOT of trouble in high school back in 1985 by bringing these exact subjects up in class, because that was "wrong thinking". In fact, I was actively FAILED my junior year in High School because I dared bring these historical facts up, because they were NOT taught in the (then) active curriculum. I went to Summer School that year, and had a "good" teacher who realized that I had learned a lot by doing independent research (I lived across the street from a public library). What he told me (in private), shaped my view of this country pretty heavily: "Keep doing that research, and learn as much as you can. BUT, only tell your teachers what they want to hear, and you'll pass just fine. You're a smart kid, so never stop learning. But don't be the one to 'embarrass your teachers', because they have the power to hold you back a year."
That chat I had with him has served me very well over the last 38 years. Never tell anyone everything that you know, even if you know they are wrong. History wasn't the only class I "failed" that year and got sent to Summer School for. "English" was another one.... because I had also embarrassed my English teacher a time or two.... and she did NOT like that.
jeez what a wonderful person. I wish I had a teacher like that.
So you failed English for knowing too much forbidden English
Yep, sometimes you DO have to hide your light under a bushel ... at least until the rain storm passes.
You don't want that light to go out and be completely useless to others AND yourself.
@@daviddobarganes9115Probably the literature portion of English lol
@@daviddobarganes9115 No, for correcting the teacher's bad grammar, actually.
I'm Afghan my family has told me so many stories about the US invasion from a civilian POV.
My aunt told me how she woke up in the middle of the night to a US raid on our village where the soldiers burst into her home and started yelling at her to go threatened her and her children because they where too slow.
A soldier beat my uncle in front of his family and threatened to rape his wife if my uncle didn't tell him where the weapons where. My uncle isn't a terrorist he didn't have weapons he is literally just a sugar cane farmer.
My cousin was 13 when he was detained for "acting suspicious" and held in US custody where he was repeatedly raped by American soldiers.
When I hear people praising American soldiers and their actions and all I think about is the absolute destruction they have done too my country and family.
Hope you're okay and safe🙁
@Azaarv I do apologize for the evil behavior of my country and I am truly ashamed of them for this.
I am so so very sorry for all the horrible things your family, and other folks in your country, have suffered through because of my country. Truly, I'm sorry.
While I totally empathize with you, as a non-american that totally is against most of US foreign policy over the decades..........please realize that sort of behaviour is not an american solider behaviour......it's the behaviour of many soliders "obeying orders" throughout the world.
This isn't an issue of a nation....but an issue of POWER. Those with power, and those iwthout.
Does your family carry any stories about USSR "occupation"?
18:17 This is such an important point. We don't hate the American people, we hate the evil that the American government does around the world.
Theres a famous phrase on mexico that goes like "Poor Mexico, soo far from god yet soo close to the United States" .
One example was NAFTA, lying about "free" trade, the heavily subsidized farming industry in the states devastated the farming industry here soo much that it was one of the primary reasons an armed movement started in the south of the country that continues to this day.
Don’t forget about the casual fascism of slavery and Jim Crow
Jim Crow's laws inspired Hitler on ''how to segregate the jews''
13th Amendment and the War on Drugs
@@ayubnor0redlining and over policing
The fact he didn't bring that up speaks volumes in itself
Jim Crow never ended
Dont forget us in Britain across the Pond being complicit in almost every single atrocity the US has committed.
@@nihilnihil161you were meant to destroy the evil, not join it!
And the crimes in Ireland
@@tempejkland arguably, wales and Scotland if you go a bit further back, and definitely India, and the other colonies
5⃣👀
@robeagleR ...why is that happening? Isn't it strange for the armed forces of a country to join another country's war? I mean, logically, it doesn't make sense. I mean, why sacrifice your own people for someone else's desire for killing?
Short answer? Yes.
Long Answer? Absolutely.
Love your videos! Can you please make a video about US-Cuba relations and especially the embargo.
As a Chilean who follows and enjoys your content, I'd love to see an in depth video on the role the USA played in the military coup in Chile. We had tons of social innovations that just were paralyzed, defunded and privatized and honestly it destroyed our democracy and sindicalism culture.
There is at least one good documentary on the coup in Chile. Also, there is the Jack Lemon drama “MISSING.”
America/ the CIA fucked around in all of South America from the 1950s through the 1980s. The American public is so uninformed, and propagandized that there was a popular boutique clothing company that was named Banana Republic. That is some Jedi level propaganda.
Indeed would be interesting
ESPN has a series of documentaries about use of soccer/footbal as propaganda by all south american military dictatorships. Chile and Argentina were the worst, but Brazil that has lead the role in terms of exchanging information, methods of capture, torture and colaboration among dictatorships. I remember seing retired chilean soccer/footbal players talking about a friendly match they have to win, no matter what. To be clear with their message, military men did a whole session of torture inside National Stadium. When players were walking the corridors to the locker rooms in the half time, they saw a buch of people with squeegee cleaning the blood on the floor. But it was like a horror movie. There were so much blood that could cover their feet...it was like a slaughterhouse. They could hear the tortures, screaming, etc. Seeing someone talking about it decades later and still crying about it in fear and pity it shows how was inhumane the whole situation. I always say that south american 9/11 was the overthrown of Allende.
Yeah like the lines for bread
You rock. I typically just listen to The Deprogram podcast but wanted to see the polite Texan in person!
growing up in america as a minority has only made me hate the usa more and more. the most upsetting part of it is realizing how little you learn of it through the schooling system growing up here
I'm Brazilian, but I consume a lot of content in English. This is the first video by an American that I have watched and it speaks exactly to the world's view of you, I believe there is an information vacuum for the average citizen of the United States
People from the American continent are Americans, not only the ones from the US.
@@genyen75 Yes, I agree with you, but what would be the correct term for someone who is a citizen of the United States? I always see them calling themselves Americans, but I agree that everyone who lives on the American continent is too.
@@joaovictorifanger860It’s not just one continent.
@@genyen75Youre insufferable, the country name is United States OF AMERICANS, we call them Americans just like Mexicans, the real name of the country is United States of Mexico with “Mexico” meaning land of the pagan war god.
None of this is taught in schools here or it’s diminished/justified in some way lol. The nuclear bomb justification is what we were taught, verbatim. Everyone is taught Japan was not going to surrender and we were going to have to invade mainland Japan.
Always makes me laugh, when the USA talks about respect and how the world respects them. Fear is not respect. We have all seen what the US is prepared to do to any nation that dares stands against it.
Indeed. Respect out of fear is not respect.
And ironically a "respect" built upon fear is the most unstable and the easiest to break.
You guys are such a great nation but man your politicians and security agencies suck so much ass!
You mean whole world is using Google search and Apple iPhones because of fear?
Or it's own citizens.
Very thought provoking video…and so truthful.
Very good video! Glad I subscribed!
As a Black American, I have always looked at the version of history we are taught in school with a healthy dose of skepticism. It seemed incongruous that a country supposedly founded on principles of freedom and liberty would allow the enslavement of a whole population of people and wholesale genocide of another. You don't help a drug-addicted person move beyond their drug addiction by denying the addiction exists or fabricating a rosy, fictionalized version of the behavior while addicted to the drug. You move beyond the addiction by owning up to the harm you caused yourself and others, making amends, and charting a course for new, more constructive behaviors that prevent you from slipping back into bad habits.
The US slave trade was not even close to being the largest one in history, yet the US is the only nation on earth that insists on beating itself up over it.
"I have always looked at the version of history we are taught in school with a healthy dose of skepticism" This shows, that you must have been a smart guy since childhood. Congratulations!
Greetings from Germany.
Well, it was founded on the principles of freedom and liberty for landowners. The others only had to work for them one way or another. You can see that reflected in the voting rights for elections until it was opened up to all male citizens.
100% agree!
@@MircoWilhelm The founding fathers promised the soldiers that fought for them land and voting rights. Then after the war, they NOPED out of that deal real fast and gave them nothing. History taught in USA schools is nothing but propaganda.
As an indigenous person from Guatemala I appreciate the fact that you addressed the terrible genocide the US committed against North American indigenous siblings. Additionally, I have to mention the US intervention in my country and the coup d'etat supported by the CIA against the Jacobo Arbenz's administration during the late 40s for the sake of the United Fruit company's interests, as a consequence of that US intervention a civil war in my country started and lasted 36 years, not to mention the experiments with syphilis the US government did on Guatemala's during the 50s.
I think the channel Real Life Lore has a great video about all that
It's funny you say that, Guatamala was one of the 10 countries that voted against the ceasefire.
@@dukedizzy I guess Guatemala is still run by the CIA.
@@dukedizzyHistory and time are very long in relation to your human life and my human life, which are relatively short. Nobody is ever all bad either but even just one very evil action can have devastating consequences to life forms.
@@dukedizzy I know, but Guatemalan government administrations seldom represent indigenous people, usually they're controlled by oligarchs and crime lords, many of them religious fundamentalist (yes, religion, corruption and crime go hand by hand in my country), so obviously they advocate for Israel. I, particularly, never support any kind of military attack, war is the one of worst things that can happen to nations
"The baddies"? That's a bit of an understatement, isn't it? We are the worst of the worst. At least the other "baddies" out there are not attempting to convince the rest of the world that they are the divinely appointed saviors of mankind.
2:55 "Without any sense of self awareness.."
Lmao fr..😂
as an egyptian, even our country is ruled by us government, we hate US so much and we hate our government and our president, the situation is unbearable, thank you so much for your voice we need more people like you
May god change your goverment to a better one
Same in Pakistan.
ameen thank you
@@sharifahzaini3561
We hate the government not the people. The same way exact way we hate Israeli Zionists and not all Jews.
Same in the Philippines. The only difference is the majority of Filipinos still blindly idolize the USA as if they're their saviors when it's actually the opposite.
An Iraqi here, i remember Americans taking us to the school yard every while like criminals when i was 7, i simply wish for the US to stop existing.... In Its current form, Americans are getting their souls rotten while seeing and defending what their evil state do for years, i hope Americans get a good government for once for their sake and for everyone sake.
Sorry for that brother...not all of us were on board with that...
Sad to say that won't happen anytime soon the west in general has a lot to answer for after all it was Europe who made the states what it is I have always said that American is Europes baby and if you look at what they did are any of us surprised that they continued it in the new world
As a citizen of the United States, it would be amazing to have a moral government or even just a generally ethical one. The deeper you dive on the topic however it becomes clear that to change things you have two options. You either need to sell your soul to climb to the top and you have to overcome the system's inertia as it eats away at you, or you have to rebel in ways that will likely get you murdered, either by cops or by feds. Internet and phones communications are monitored both by the government and by corporations, so free speech is only free if they don't flag you as a threat to the status quo. As such, organizing is difficult outside of spontaneous mass protest, which the mass media has defanged by decrying anything other than "peaceful" protest. Things won't change without some degree of economic or social collapse and the horrifying religious militias of the U.S. southwest have shown us how that may end up to be a weaponization of ignorance. It will be awhile before anything changes, but educational channels like this may make the final outcome less horrific.
@@dgbutler9646 in general what the world is asking from normal everyday American is just to raise their voices and call out the corruption and the hypocrisy .
@@Titus_Vespasianus Americans today are not to blame but you guys have the responsibility to stop whatever is happening now and for what happened in the past not to repeat itself.
You're the best, and this might be your best one... many thanks from Brasil
There is a site that might interest you, "Tales of the American Empire". For a general history of the US, there is the book "A People's of the United States" by Howard Zinn.
Incidentally, before The Trail of Tears those Native Americans were held in concentration camps that were so bad some American soldiers there wrote letters about the horrors they witnessed.
This guy thinks exactly like me regarding this subject. The greatest asset the US has is that it has a very easily brainwashed population.
No sir, not all of us are brainwashed. Most know and see the truth, they just won’t rise up and speak the truth.
His history is a little off and very one-sided. Although the United States is far from perfect, I wouldn't call it an evil empire compared to other empires in history, especially to most non-Western empires, which were a lot more brutal.
It seems liberals pick and choose their history just like some dumb neo-conservative, too. One side says the West is evil , especially the United States, and the other side thinks America can do no wrong and who cares about Europe because of Merica. I'm somewhere in between, and I love Western civilization.
Well, he talks about the atomic bombs on Japan he fails to mention the fire bombing of Dresden and the firebombing of Tokyo, which, in my opinion are war crimes.
I do find it amusing that Liberals like to criticize Western civilization yet overlook the good that Western civilization brought to the world while simultaneously also overlooking all the atrocities from other places and Islam. If you actually look into those atrocities, you'll be quite horrified.
@@landsknecht8654 I don't think anybody is overlooking other countries that have committed atrocities... but, as the video portrays, the US was founded solely and slavery and genocide, and has attained its place at the top of the global hegemony because of its willingness to take what it wants and impose it's will all over the world. And that is why the US is the dominant global super power... not because it is somehow more exceptional than any other country. Don't get me wrong: I'm an American, and I live a very charmed life compared to most of the world (I'm a middle class college educated professional). But ever since I was a boy, I was introduced to subversive dissident viewpoints, and I've always been the type of person who questions authority, so I've understood for a long time that most of the world recognizes the United States to be a brutal imperialist nation. It doesn't diminish you as a person to say out loud that American hegemony has been bought and paid for with the blood of millions innocent civilians throughout history that have been sacrificed on the altar of empire. If it is a uniquely liberal or leftist thing to recognize that for many non-Americans around the world, America’s reign of supremacy is reviled and viewed with disdain due to hundreds of years of barbarism, then so be it, I guess.
@@landsknecht8654 Nope, America has been, and still is, the most brutal. Constant war since its inception. Count them all up. Get out of your feelings.
@@trevorl.4332Very well said!
It’s crazy that people think the countries with a past of genocide and colonialism magically became the good guys somehow
It's just how much effort eh US works to rebrand themselves as the "land of the free" propaganda works unfortunately
That’s a weird thing to say, people are people, it’s not like being born in a country that used to colonize makes you inherently more evil, you know? (generalizations are never good, and it’s the same kind of twisted mentality adopted by the americans who see other countries as lesser). Heck the US started off as a colony too and now they’re the worst tyrant on the planet, both evil and good people can come from any country.
Propaganda works.
Like, why does france get to keep an empire in Africa after clogging the dirt with blood, that makes no sense
Exactly. Somehow that dude excuses Russia all the time even tho it's pretty much the last colonial power in the world.
Bit of incorrect info but still a good video! "Theres nothing more patriotic then admitting own countries fault" is very very true
Such brutal honesty from you . I am a New Zealander of Maori and European heritage , I often rail against what the US did to the indigenous Americans , Hawaiians and Mexicans . My Great Great Great Great Grandfather was born in San Antonio in 1820 when it was part of Mexico and came to NZ in 1842 marrying a Maori woman . So glad to know Texas still produces honest intelligent people who understand the importance of undiluted facts
It has always baffled me when a person calls themself a patriot while opposing any changes that would improve their home. Love includes a desire to see the best version of that which you love!
The problem is convincing these loons that it needs improvement in the first place. They literally don't think it's broken. Tried to talk to my parents about the upcoming wage raise in CA, and all they could think/talk about was prices going up as a result...we know better of course, but try convincing them that minimum wage, by admission of the President who signed it into law, was absolutely supposed to be able to decently live on. Buy nahhhhh me and my pocket book, they always whine...
@jenniferhiemstra5228 show the would-be sceptics graphs of company profits versus costs (costs include labour) and see that over the past few decades "return to shareholders" have far exceeded "labour costs." In fact, in Australia this phenomenon has caused the latest spike in inflation! Profit taking, according to OECD statistics, has caused the extended period of inflation after the Ukraine/Russian originated oil shock.
You can safely tell your folks that price rises by large firms are arbitrary, and they cause inflation which, in turn, set real wages shrinking.
@@attilajuhasz2526 I tried...believe me, I f'in tried. They're not great at listening to anything beyond the usual crap we're always fed.
Unequivocally yes. Honestly we are probably one of the biggest villains in history in terms of influence and quality of life deduction for people the world over.
Germany left the chat.
The enemy of the people of earth 🌍
@@florian6948 they literally learnt it from America bud
Germany never came close to creating the worldwide chaos the us is responsible for.
Not even close.
Which countries weren't founded in genocide? The native Americans used to kill, rape, and conquer other tribes, they are no different than America other than the fact they weren't powerful enough to conquer all of America
Okay, so I have a little bit of bias here. After years of not giving a shit about world/u.s. history, in February I became a little concerned about some of the headlines I was seeing on Russia/Ukraine. I decided to research that, but somehow only dipped my toes into that. I started around WW2 and worked my way forward to the current crisis in Gaza. I found myself horrified reading these same stories I did in high school, but with a grown independent perspective. Disgusted with presidents like Kennedy and Reagan I thought were supposed to be heroes. I like that you stuck to mainline history, conspiracies are another can of worms and our history really speaks for itself.
Very weird that you published this right around that time, and this is one big agree piece for me, including the big two points at the end. Awesome video. I'm going to show it to certain people as an introduction to these topics.
Thank you for all your hard work. You're an amazing agent of change ❤
As an american I can admit I was fooled growing up thinking about the world. I never travelled outside the US until I was 29 years old. Now I've lived in 14 countries and have been living abroad for over 5 years. Now I know for a fact! There is no brutal more terriozing country than the US. My own country! it was a scary realization, but one a can''t come back from.
Agree with you but figured that out just living here. Even as citizens, who haven't had a chance to travel abroad, we MUST open our eyes. We are still using the wrongful concept of 'manifest destiny' for the empowerment of the American nation. It's just plain wrong! Especially since we still use these tactics to this very day.
@@monie7293 I definitely agree with that. I've learned that every country has its propaganda media bubble. Until people start following more independent investigative journalist on social media that have no "side" and stop watching MSM. Then the tide will truly turn, that's for sure!
How did you start moving to other places? I've only ever been in the US and we grew up super poor, so I have no role models for how to do anything like this. But I want to see the world while it's still an option
I not American I'm irish, I was born in ireland but when I was younger I used to watch these videos of American "soldiers" coming home and I used to feel so happy for them and then I realised when I got older a bit that these people litterally killed and r worded my Muslims innocent brothers and sisters and I should feel happy that their coming home lol gtfoh. I'll never cry for a usa t word ever again. Evil corrupt soulless country.
Literally brought me to tears I wish people cared about this it feels like you could scream this from the rooftops and no one will listen you are a legend
Good good, the propaganda, brainwashing and faulty education system is working (rubbing hands whilst looking eerily happy).
Aside from making jokes that are actually way too real I'm very glad this channel exists and this video has been made. It's brutality honest and truthful. I hope it reaches as much people as possible.
Especially a lot of so called leftist CZcamsrs ....whom are very Americucked
Tears?
@happyapathy22 what is not emotional about the most wicked creation in human history destroying the lives of billions so cruelly and yet being regarded as a hero?
@@happyapathy22 i mean, you just saw a video that talks about literal horrors, it might be too much for an averege person, but there are people who really connect with some topics, and due to high levels of empathy and sensitivity for certain topics, will respond strongly. They litterally talked about a personal experience, of how they feel like they are alone in this, and then they talk about relief. I think it's easy to understand at least how they got there.
Also how they helped the last dictators come to power in Argentina from 1976-1983
You forgot a very apt and excellent example. The battle of Blair Mountain, where the US Army dropped bombs for the first time in history, on US citizens for striking against brutal working conditions in the coal mines and predatory company towns they were forced to live in.
There is a reason for all of this. Weapons are made to kill. And American people are A Holes. I'm willing to defend what is mine but I'm not willing to fight for what some A Holes tink is mine.
There's also the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921!
Correction, Tulsa Race Massacre.
@@HowlWindclaw Fair and accurate!
This video is too short. A hour-long documentary is needed.
Agreed
I see your point, but as the US invaded ,bombed or orchestrated regime change in more than 50 countries, conducted killings, election interference in many others , including my own, NZ in 1975 ( and Australia that year too), any comprehensive documentary would be not just many hours long but damn painful, I think that he struck about the right note and length: introductory.
Oliver Stone has a series about this.
Thank you for your bravery to share the truth and to guide listeners to new perspectives and meaningful directions for world peace.
Fantastic video. Well done.
God, I love your videos! As an indian ("native american"), I have to say I have never seen a more accurate, concise argument for the U.S. as a perpetrator of numerous war crimes since its beginning. And it has always been about protecting the interests of the capitalist state......in other words, it has always been about stuffing more money into the pockets of the rich.....no matter how many had to die to accomplish that end. And it's very often done with a flag in one hand and a Bible in the other. And they (the conservatives/capitalists) are STILL DOING IT, and are willing to sacrifice millions more to make the rich man richer.
HERE HERE BROTHER
Here
You know what would be better for the west to do, instead of changing their systems why don't they just decentralise their powers across the world and give it to smaller countries responsibly, why have a world police which keeps changing its systems yet continues to hoard all the wealth they stole from foreign countries, same goes to every other superpowers out there which is looking to take control of the power vacuum which would be left behind, all countries should give back what they stole and then they can do whatever systems they can adopt whether it's capitalism, communism, monarchy or dictatorship, doesn't matter which systems but at least give back what they steal
It's shocking to me that anyone could think the US is not the bad guys.
There is a *lot* of propaganda within the U.S. The education system teaches students that the U.S. are the good guys, always.
Then who are the good guys? Please tell us 😂
they're better than the Nazi's, the Soviets, the CCP, Sedan Hussein, Erdogan, and Al-Quaeda.
@@Squeenix1every single innocent country or race you have enslaved, killed, colonised, started wars in etc. they’re not “good guys” as in they save people, they’re more just innocent and vulnerable to ur country’s psychopathy
There are no good guys but the US is the god damn devil.@@Squeenix1
As a vietnamese, yes
As a Mexican who follows and enjoys your content, I think you should’ve mentioned a really important part of American history; the Mexican American war, which killed tens of thousands of mexican civilians, took away half of Mexico’s territory and and had great repercussions on the Mexican economy.
He left that out or he couldn't have been able to present the war in the Philippines the way he did. Sad part is that this video could have been made about Spain, France, Germany, UK, USSR, and some other countries.
What a surprise, a communist channel thinks America is bad while he profits way more than the average person and uses it on himself
As he said, there are simply too many crimes to even mention.
@@hhf39pFrench people are in France since 1000 years
@@factormars4339 France has a deep history with Africa, the Caribbean, and Polynesia. Like in this video, there is a lot of guilt preaching over it. This concept that 'this is the worst place ever' backed by historical examples is present today in many countries. France being one of them. It is a sort of litmus test for a free people.
People in countries that are not free think their country has always been perfect and still is.
The American Indians were not saints. The tribes warred against each other and there are cases of one tribe completely wiping out another. Some tribes mixed war with ritual and ceremony. They had torture methods such as burying a person up to their necks and letting ants consume them. Piercing a person in a cage with arrows so that their screams would carry messages to the Gods. It was known that they would take a woman prisoner and rape her one after another and she would become a sex slave. And the list goes on.
Fact is, war is part of the human condition, and always has been. It is one atrocity after another *everywhere* history is a litancy of them. Long ago humans stopped being natural selected by the environment, and started being natural selected by each other via 'parochial altruism'. It is probably inside you too. This is what caused the evolution of the big brain. The clever live.
Masochism will not bring us peace. Understanding the nature of homo sapiens, and then developing a discipline of being civilized is required. Perhaps a better place to start than a historical perspective is with the Milgram Experiment, or the Stanford Prison Experiment, thought he historical examples of this video are instructive as long as they are not read in a racist manner, they apply to everyone everywhere and instruct as to human history not the history of one nation.
As a Brazilian it's been a while since I stopped believing the US stands for freedom... All it took was studying history a bit deeper than liberal private school taught me
Exato.
Real
As a greek, same. We were taught that the anglosaxons always loved and supported us, only our neighbors hate us, were always on the good side because we invented democracy and the anglosaxon did it better bc they copied us and want to helpus and bs like that. But bc we have a strong communist movement, many of our teachers would tell us about the cia backed coup in our country, how the anglosaxons always caused us harm (like operation of megali idea and how they didnt allow the victims of genocide of kemals pogroms to get in their ships to save them bc "rhey didnt have a passport"). They wpuld also show our fascism in out country, metaxas, the crimes of the liberal movement of greece etc. And thats why a lot of us hate our state, hate fascism, and will fight always for true freedom and self determination of the collective. Also many of us are children either of refugees from the genocide of minor asia or antartes who fought independently nazi germany without joining the greek metaxas fascist army bc they were against fascismm
America could be much worse though. The country is still evolving and has been since the beginning. Think of us like a baby that is growing and learning with many generations building it up into what it is becoming, which hopefully is a better entity
As a mexican I have never really believed it, I mean... in history class we were literally taught that the US stole half of our country, and that we are pretty much allies to them because we definitely don't want to be their enemies again, they might steal the other half