3 ms·

> The last real success was South Korea. Haha. Nation building involves a boatload of money and the US post war policy was essentially to own the governments

> The last real success was South Korea. Haha. Nation building involves a boatload of money and the US post war policy was essentially to own the governments of the rebuilt nations. SK, JP are good examples of this and have modeled their development goals to mirror American way of life. From small things like TV shows (to non americans JPN and SK television is as obnoxious as US television with everything being over the top and colourful.) To much broader economic policy. Be that as it may, the big countries generally dont fight each other because the losses on both sides will be massive but other than the US the other countries generally dont mess with smaller countries unless it has an immediate political outcome eg. Russia and ukraine. Miltary history can teach all of us a lot but its inportant to take it with a shovel of salt. Victors write the books and rarely do they write about shortcomings. War is a terrible mess and almost entirely dependent on allies. Lastly I would like to point out our naivete if we think a whole state will stand and wait for a belligerent nation to invade them in their father's ancestral land. The scars of war tend to fester. Should the big countries go to war, the outcome will not be anything like we hope or predict.

amadeuspagel 6y ago
> From small things like TV shows (to non americans JPN and SK television is as obnoxious as US television with everything being over the top and colourful.) You take this evidence that japanese and south korean television shows consciously try to imitate the US? Maybe that's just what most people like?
- poutrathor 6y ago
  well are europeans show likewise ?
  - amadeuspagel 6y ago
    Much of european TV is like the most awful american TV. For example there's some kind of equivalent of the daily show in almost every european country. But that's not because the US forces it on europe, it's just what people like.
    - TeMPOraL 6y ago
      Indeed. US seems to be the primary distributor of what we can call "universal culture" - i.e. the things that culturally outcompete other things. It's not even that the US has the best cultural ideas - but being the strongest and relatively free market economy for most of the 20th century let the US import ideas from all around the world, distill them through market competition, and re-export globally as "American".
      - saithound 6y ago
        Indeed, the US pursued cultural export to Europe and Asia very aggressively, as a deliberate, planned policy [3] after the war. E.g. the Marshall plan granted convenient access to American film, pop music, and later on television to the Western European market [1] [2]. After the US built a huge culture industry, it was much easier to maintain momentum. [1] https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/9701 https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/9701 [2] The World Audience for America's Story, US Advisory Commission on Information, 1949 [3] Coca-colonization and the Cold War, R. Wagnleitner, 1991

amadeuspagel 6y ago

> From small things like TV shows (to non americans JPN and SK television is as obnoxious as US television with everything being over the top and colourful.) You take this evidence that japanese and south korean television shows consciously try to imitate the US? Maybe that's just what most people like?

poutrathor 6y ago
well are europeans show likewise ?
- amadeuspagel 6y ago
  Much of european TV is like the most awful american TV. For example there's some kind of equivalent of the daily show in almost every european country. But that's not because the US forces it on europe, it's just what people like.
  - TeMPOraL 6y ago
    Indeed. US seems to be the primary distributor of what we can call "universal culture" - i.e. the things that culturally outcompete other things. It's not even that the US has the best cultural ideas - but being the strongest and relatively free market economy for most of the 20th century let the US import ideas from all around the world, distill them through market competition, and re-export globally as "American".
    - saithound 6y ago
      Indeed, the US pursued cultural export to Europe and Asia very aggressively, as a deliberate, planned policy [3] after the war. E.g. the Marshall plan granted convenient access to American film, pop music, and later on television to the Western European market [1] [2]. After the US built a huge culture industry, it was much easier to maintain momentum. [1] https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/9701 https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/9701 [2] The World Audience for America's Story, US Advisory Commission on Information, 1949 [3] Coca-colonization and the Cold War, R. Wagnleitner, 1991