Testing Grounds Of A Would Be Emprie

 The above image I found after reading Bruce Cumings article Occurrence at Nogun-Ri Bridge: An Inquiry into the History and Memory of a Civil War. I found it to be troubling, in that it is true. America has the very bad habit (putting it lightly) of brutally oppressing and killing those they seek to "liberate." I ask why? Largely, it stems I feel from the position of power, and racism which has for a long time been imbedded in America's psyche.

Following WWII, America now had a firm foothold in SEA (South East Asia) in the form of a occupied Japan. This was now prime time for the U.S. to expand its interests in SEA. This would be under the guise of expanding Freedom and Democracy. Korea provided the perfect testing ground for America's interest, in the form of combating communism. The Korean War began in 1950 (or 1945 depending on what you believe) and ended in 1953. Ultimately, Korea would result in a failure, or part success, as South Korea was created under the form of a democracy, but was in truth a dictatorship backed and created by America.

Two years later, in 1955, The Vietnam War broke out, under much the same ideals and principles that happened in The Korean War. America "intervened" to combat the spread of communism, and bring freedom and democracy to South Vietnam. See a trend? "Misjudgements also grew out of the ubiquitous racism of white Americans and of American society in 1950" (Cumings 198).

 In light of two countries which America has thrust its hands into, that have been divided, physically, and ideologically, I must ask, is this an example of capitalism, or imperialism? Is this the actions of a nation that is seeking to bring freedom to others, or use others to expand its own interests. Because the amount of dodging the topic which America has done, the hiding of evidence of war crimes, would suggest the former. Fredric Jameson writes "The Vice of Anglo-Saxon empiricism lies...in its stubborn will to isolate the object in question from everything else...Such thinking is characterized by a turning away of the eye, a preference for segments and isolated objects, as a means to avoid observation of those larger wholes and totalities which if they had to be seen would force the mind in the long run into uncomfortable social and political conclusions" (Cumings 201).