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>You do have control over maintaining the system of privilege that you were born into. That's how it continues from generation to generation, by white people ho
by logicchains 6y ago
>You do have control over maintaining the system of privilege that you were born into. That's how it continues from generation to generation, by white people holding on to their money and power instead of working on ways to distribute it.
An alternative way to look at it: what did western civilisation do to grow such a huge amount of wealth compared to the rest of the world? What could the rest of the world learn from this, so that they could build wealth of their own? Fortunately the answer is relatively simple, as evidenced by how most east Asian countries have now become just as wealthy/developed as western countries: by embracing markets, the rule of law and personal responsibility.
- nicoburns 6y agoThey gained a lot of that wealth by fucking over the rest of the world with superior military power. I'm British, and the British empire was literally 1/3rd of the world at one point. A lot of the infrastructure in Britain which enables to compete favourably against other countries in competitive markets was built off the back of trade in goods that we forced the populations of other countries to produce then took the profits of for ourselves.
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoCapitalism? That's what you're describing. Is the 'forced' a stretch? Or was it based on slavery. I don't know.
- nicoburns 6y agoI'm not describing capitalism, I'm describing straight up military occupancy and subjugation of the local population. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj for example. If you want a US perspective, then consider Cuba. Would you describe the US embargo against Cuba as capitalism? It's disingenuous for someone to say that countries have struggled because they failed to embrace markets when the US has actively interfered against governments that didn't embrace markets with sanctions and support for coups.
- h0l0cube 6y ago> what did western civilisation do to grow such a huge amount of wealth compared to the rest of the world? Many civilizations have taken turns at doing this, from ancient Mesopotamia, now part of the Middle East, and onwards. There's nothing exceptional about Western civilization, in this regard. Nor, I suspect, will the US hegemony -- which was gained by selling arms to both sides of 2 world wars which both crippled the former hegemony -- be exceptional.