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I think you'll eventually find that the United States has lost much of its credibility and goodwill forever.
by nutjob2 2mo ago
I think you'll eventually find that the United States has lost much of its credibility and goodwill forever.
- john_strinlai 2mo agofor awhile, sure. but we can look at japan, germany, etc. and recognize that it wont be "forever". edit: woops, i guess everyone apparently still hates japan and germany and will hate them forever, too. does everyone still hate spain?
- clark_dent 2mo agoA good proportion of the older generations still disdain or mock Germany as nazis-in-waiting. There may be an end to the damage done to their global reputation, but it's not here yet 80 years down the line.
- SideburnsOfDoom 2mo ago> There may be an end to the damage done to their global reputation, but it's not here yet 80 years down Let's not forget that in the early part of the 20th century, Germany was the powerhouse of mathematics and sciences such as physics and chemistry, to the extent that top scientists basically had to learn German (1) and/or study in Germany (2). How long did it take Germany to recover that preeminent position? Its a trick question: they did not recover it. 1) https://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/162/how-did-german-become-the-language-of-science https://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/162/how-did-german-b... 2) e.g. > In 1926, Oppenheimer left Cambridge for the University of Göttingen to study under Max Born; Göttingen was one of the world's leading centers for theoretical physics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer#Early_career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer#Early_ca...
- ModernMech 2mo ago> to the extent that top scientists basically had to learn German That reverberates even toady -- I had a physics professor who who learned German precisely because he wanted to read some original texts written by Boltzmann. Apparently he thought he was missing some nuance in the translations.
- fabian2k 2mo agoI certainly hope that the US finds a less destructive way of changing their reputation than Germany did.
- ceejayoz 2mo agoI'd really prefer not to learn the "don't put evil assholes in power" lesson the way Japan and Germany did. They're basically brand-new countries.
- john_strinlai 2mo agoi hope that it is obvious i am not saying that... my point was that a couple generations is usually enough to heal most animosity, assuming the offending events cease certainly in a thousand years, ~no one will remember.
- ceejayoz 2mo agoA couple generations plus a flattening of most major cities, and the deaths/imprisonment of the leadership responsible.
- john_strinlai 2mo agopunishment of those responsible, sure. i dont think flattening of most major cities is a requirement...
- ceejayoz 2mo ago> i dont think flattening of most major cities is a requirement... Both of your chosen examples went through exactly that as part of their reputational change.
- john_strinlai 2mo agoi can go dig up other examples of countries that did bad things which are forgiven now, if you'd like.
- ceejayoz 2mo agoLike the Confederacy? Wait, bad example.
- LoganDark 2mo agothe hit to practically all its spy programs will set it back years
- dgellow 2mo agoEasily a decade
- amiga386 2mo agoPost WW2, the US set up some fantastic levers of power that let it establish and maintain its hegemony at arms length: the United Nations and the UNSC. NATO. The petrodollar. Pax Americana could've gone on forever. However, those levers of power are subtle enough that once the US voted ignorant jackasses into power, they wrongly thought that's just how the world is, they can do what they like, including -- critically! -- dismantling the levers of power. It's like that image of the idiot sawing off the branch he's sitting on. How else can you explain the US trying to fuck up the UN and NATO?
- jermaustin1 2mo ago> Pax Americana could've gone on forever. Hubris is the undoing of all empires. And hubris is basically entropy for humanity.
- skinfaxi 2mo ago> How else can you explain the US trying to fuck up the UN and NATO? At least cynically, there is nothing ignorant about it, it is intentional undermining probably for personal gain.