Is the U.S a force for good or bad in the world?

dd972

I'd say culturally the good outweighs the bad, in term of the geopolitical situation it's the other way around, here's a list of countries they've bombed since the end of WW2

http://www.globalresearch.ca/list-of-countries-the-usa-has-bombed-since-the-end-of-world-war-ii/24626

The Queen of England

In a world where everything is black and white, I might have an answer to this question.

dodderangler

The Queen of England wrote: »

In a world where everything is black and white, I might have an answer to this question.

Michael Jackson?

St.Spodo

One the US has done more than anyone to promote the values of liberal democracy. On the other, they've been waging imperialistic wars since the nineteenth century, often aligning themselves with evil and corrupt regimes to ensure their influence in places such as South America were not affected. They are capable of being a great force for good in the world, but like any empire, they are primarily concerned with power.

jank

Put it this way, woud you rather the Soviets, Tojo's Japan or Nazi Germany be the worlds policeman? It aint perfect but the alternative could be terrible.

gobnaitolunacy

jank wrote: »

Put it this way, woud you rather the Soviets, Toto's Japan or Nazi Germany be the worlds policeman? It aint perfect but the alternative could be terrible.

Dorothy's dog or that band that had a hit with 'Africa'?

jank

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

The Dorothy's dog or that band that had a hit with 'Africa'?

ROFL, nice one!

sebastianlieken

Guatemala 1954

Guatemala 1960

Guatemala 1964

Guatemala 1967-69

...hmm. Seems as though they may not like Guatemala very much.

jaffacakesyum

dd972 wrote: »

I'd say culturally the good outweighs the bad, in term of the geopolitical situation it's the other way around, here's a list of countries they've bombed since the end of WW2

http://www.globalresearch.ca/list-of-countries-the-usa-has-bombed-since-the-end-of-world-war-ii/24626

I actually expected the list to be longer

tritium

It depends on how you choose to interpret those two subjective terms "good" and "evil"

VinLieger

Isnt it a rule that all AH polls have to have Atari Jaguar as an option? Otherwise how are we to show our complete disinterest in serious topics we couldnt give a fuck about?

Oh.......

Rented Mule

Let me ask you this question. If the USA (and all of their contributions, good and bad) was removed from the planet. Would the world be a better or worse place ?

Dravokivich

What good is a list, without stating what the relevance of those events posted in it?

Not all of us are clued into the foreign policy/domestic issues of many of those countries. Or what may have occurred to incite or provoke the USA into military action. From a few of those I can see they didn't act alone. Vaguely recall quite a few others acting in Bosnia and Iraq during the '90s.

gobnaitolunacy

Rented Mule wrote: »

Let me ask you this question. If the USA (and all of their contributions, good and bad) was removed from the planet. Would the world be a better or worse place ?

We'd have nowhere to send our illegal immigints.

donegal_road

they sent their own people off to war under the pretence of liberating the people of Iraq and saving the great US of A from certain obliteration at the hands of evil terrorists.
Over 1 million dead Iraqis later, thousands of their own servicemen and women dead or disabled; veterans forgotten about and mistreated on their return home...

All to ensure that corporations like Halliburton and Lockheed Martin remain highly profitable.

How is this a force for good?

gaffer91

Most responsible and least belligerent superpower in world history. While they have at times supported corrupt regimes, the world owes them a debt of gratitude for their support in opposing the nazis and the soviets, and for their very large role in ensuring Europe rose from the ashes of World War 2.

Blisterman

Like any country, it has a lot of skeletons in its closet. But I think it says a lot that just about every independence movement in the world models itself on the US constitution.

gramar

It's a very contradictory society - home of the free and democracy and all that but there is still huge amounts of racism, marginalisation and poverty.
In a world conext possibly more good than bad if only assuming that the alternative would have been worse.

Seaneh

Seeing as the US is responsible for the deaths of more civilians than any other country since the end of world war II and has invaded or bombed more countries than any other country since the end of world war II, has backed dictators and apartheid regimes from South east asia to south america and generally done nothing but line the pockets of major corporations in the process under the pretense of "liberating" and "bringing democracy", I reckon the bad outweighs the good.

mathie

gramar wrote: »

It's a very contradictory society - home of the free and democracy and all that but there is still huge amounts of racism, marginalisation and poverty.
In a world conext possibly more good than bad if only assuming that the alternative would have been worse.

These happen nowhere else thankfully.

Chuck Stone

jank wrote: »

the worlds policeman

What a joke.

sReq | uTeK

Seaneh wrote: »

Seeing as the US is responsible for the deaths of more civilians than any other country since the end of world war II and has invaded or bombed more countries than any other country since the end of world war II, has backed dictators and apartheid regimes from South east asia to south america and generally done nothing but line the pockets of major corporations in the process under the pretense of "liberating" and "bringing democracy", I reckon the bad outweighs the good.

Yea I agree, I mean imagine if they didn't care to help in any of the wars previously, we'd be in a good place now.....

Blisterman

How do you distinguish between a country's people, its current government,past governments etc?

Are the current citizens or government responsible for dropping the atomic bomb on Japan? Are they responsible for slavery? segregation etc?

It's impossible to answer really.

gramar

mathie wrote: »

These happen nowhere else thankfully.

I just think the the US is the ultimate hyprocrisy. We're all bad but they're probably the worst as far as I'm concerned.

Seaneh

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

Yea I agree, I mean imagine if they didn't care to help in any of the wars previously, we'd be in a good place now.....

Arrah, sure we'll give give them a free pass because they helped Europe out a while back, sure they're grand, they only kill brown people anyway!

And sure they did the helping in the world wars out of the goodness of their wee hearts, nothing to do with kick starting their economy or being dragged into it by being attacked, totally selfless acts on both occasions!