America’s revolutionary ideals

So what has become of America’s ideals? There’s a nice timeline at Adbusters in Flash-format listing aggressive events in American foreign policy:

This is an archive of 163 US interventions, a multi-faceted catalogue of coups, humanitarian incursions, covert actions, proxy armies, freedom fighters/terrorists and multilateral offensives. Out of this legacy a complex picture emerges.

A complex picture

And so it does. First let it be clear to all those naive Americans out there that the USA is no different from other countries in its violence, aggression or expansionism. I’ve seen many comments in online discussions saying the US is ‘a peaceful nation’, having never invaded another country—while countries like Germany supposedly constantly attack anything and everything they can get their hands on. This list should at least make you think again before talking rubbish.

Yet, despite its pretty looks this list does not hold divine truth; some events on this list are hardly noteworthy, or were regarded as mere ‘business as usual’ in those days. Naive Europeans claiming the USA is a band of gun-slinging rednecks shooting first and not even bothering to ask questions at all is equally wrong.

The word Freedom

The most interesting I found about this list is its demonstration of the American definition of freedom. Freedom to a 19^th-century American apparently meant ‘freedom for Americans to do whatever they want, wherever they want, as long as the Americans have the biggest guns.’ Apparently the protection of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness only counted for American citizens, not foreigners.

Of course this concept has changed over time. Mr. Bush’s use of the word—with a frequency that spammers are envious of—even rendered it completely void of meaning. But let’s forget about that; head over to the timeline, enjoy and make up your own mind.