(December 11, 2015 at 1:18 am)Minimalist Wrote: Daniel's character has a little too rosy a view of the past. Our history reminds me of Napoleon's observation that "history is a lie agreed upon."
He nailed the present pretty well.
Yep imperialist UK and US were basically nazi Germany victorious for a while, albeit without the final solution. But there was still the presumption of running other countries for your own ends. Even after it wasn't okay to be openly imperialist the CIA has acted covertly to manipulate other governments for our own ends. None of that is honorable or anything to be proud about.
In a modern world where no one expects to push another country's people into oblivion so as to colonize their territory, reciprocity and fair dealing are what I expect from every country. So long as my own won't embrace being a good citizen of the world community while clinging to illusions of grandiosity I'll always have to cringe when these kinds of comparisons come up.
