Colonialization by the U.S./politics

Posted on 2003-12-05 by ivo :: /politics :: link

“People of the world, unite and defeat the U.S. aggressors and all their running dogs! People of the world, be courageous, and dare to fight, defy difficulties and advance wave upon wave. Then the whole world will belong to the people. Monsters of all kinds shall be destroyed.”

Mao Ze Dung, "Statement Supporting the People of the Congo (L.) Against U.S. Aggression" (November 28, 1964)

Even back then it was the U.S. who was seen as the world's aggressor, and indeed I feel like I'm living in a country that has been colonialized by the U.S. mindset. All too often people, influential people, stare at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, and try to copy american ideas, while they are completely out of context, irrelevant and sometimes plain wrong.

A good example of this, and a source of quite a bit of frustration, is the way the Delft University of Technology tries to be the MIT aan de Schie, and tried to copy a considerable amount of nonsensical concepts; they may make sense when applied to an american university, but here they don't, at least not in the way people seem to want to apply them.

The prime minister of the Netherlands, Jan Peter Balkenende, is sometimes seen as not having a clear vision, and as someone who blindly follows other political leaders. I would say that this t-shirt should be created for us living in the Nederlands. (And some italian I met was wearing a similar t-shirt about Berlusconi.)