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I found it fascinating that, when people discuss the US in English there are 2 words that are never discussed and never understood, even if anyone mentions them

I found it fascinating that, when people discuss the US in English there are 2 words that are never discussed and never understood, even if anyone mentions them. On the other hand, if people discuss the US in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian or German, these 2 words are all over the discussion, even if no one says them: "imperialismo americano", "imperialisme américaine", "amerikanischer Imperialismus". The funniest case is Canada: in the English speaking part no one understands the concept, in Quebéc everyone understands. Evidence: read the famous Mark Carney's speech in Davos, he never uses the words, although he was talking only about it. And their country was invaded twice by the Americans (1775 and 1812). The craziest case is the US itself: because they can't even consider the idea they invent a lot of excuses and fantasies to hide: American Exceptionalism is the most pathetic one. Edit: it is funny how every empire invents their own hypocrite excuses for their own imperialism. Romans used the "Pax Romana", Islamic Caliphate and Ottoman Empire used "jihad to convert the infidels", the Spaniards used "give savages the blessing of Catholicism", the British boasted about the "white man's burden". The Americans say "freedom".

troosevelt 17d ago
I've heard the term imperialism used in context with the US plenty. It is very, very common online.
- diego_moita 17d ago
  > It is very, very common online. Because there are a lot of non-Americans in the internet, including me.
  - troosevelt 17d ago
    Do you imagine that people in the US aren't familiar with the concept? We've been debating it since the time of Teddy Roosevelt.
    - deleted 17d ago
      [deleted]
  - wredcoll 17d ago
    America literally delayed joining both world wars because of how strong the desire not to be involved with other countries was.
    - sakjur 17d ago
      Such is the version of history the US wrote, yes.
      - wredcoll 17d ago
        You can literally read the campaign speeches, senate debates, newspaper articles. It wasn't that long ago.
  - ajkjk 17d ago
    you're completely wrong, (intelligent) Americans are completely aware of the concept and more-or-less think in those terms regularly. You won't find the term in speeches but that's because in America speeches are essentially slop. Or at least, they are basically not written as a dialogue with well-informed/intelligent people.
deleted 17d ago
[deleted]
quadhome 17d ago
https://www.nytimes.com/search?query=Imperialism https://www.nytimes.com/search?query=Imperialism

troosevelt 17d ago

I've heard the term imperialism used in context with the US plenty. It is very, very common online.

diego_moita 17d ago
> It is very, very common online. Because there are a lot of non-Americans in the internet, including me.
- troosevelt 17d ago
  Do you imagine that people in the US aren't familiar with the concept? We've been debating it since the time of Teddy Roosevelt.
  - deleted 17d ago
    [deleted]
- wredcoll 17d ago
  America literally delayed joining both world wars because of how strong the desire not to be involved with other countries was.
  - sakjur 17d ago
    Such is the version of history the US wrote, yes.
    - wredcoll 17d ago
      You can literally read the campaign speeches, senate debates, newspaper articles. It wasn't that long ago.
- ajkjk 17d ago
  you're completely wrong, (intelligent) Americans are completely aware of the concept and more-or-less think in those terms regularly. You won't find the term in speeches but that's because in America speeches are essentially slop. Or at least, they are basically not written as a dialogue with well-informed/intelligent people.

deleted 17d ago

[deleted]

quadhome 17d ago

https://www.nytimes.com/search?query=Imperialism https://www.nytimes.com/search?query=Imperialism