The Absurdity of Hegemony

  
                    The Face of War - Dalí 1940

  Anyone that has read a healthy amount of modern history runs into an inevitable. The United States has its hands, in one way or another, in just about every societal atrocity happening globally. The genocide of Palestinians being the latest horrific chapter in this modern deadly epoch. The justifications for America's atrocities are endless and boundless, despite its long track record of heinous crimes. The illegal invasion of Iraq was a "mistake". The recent kidnapping of Venezuelan President Maduro "misguided" tactically. The genocidal aerial bombardment of Vietnam a "quagmire". A new Orwellian phrase trotted out each time to obscure the truth of murder, genocide, ecocide, & criminal behavior of the highest order enacted through deliberate U.S policy. Both the actions and the excuses for global gangsterism by the United States give a whole new meaning to absurdity. 

  We have on the one hand an objective truth through overwhelming historical evidence for U.S imperialism and its paramount prevalence in regards to the functions of every day global life and its consequences. Yet, on the other hand, the specter of "otherized regimes" weigh heavily on worldwide consciousness, but especially the American mind. This is not to say one cannot be critical of other governments, political orders, nation states and their policies. This can be done in a reasonable, objective, and constructive manner. What cannot be done, and a tendency that is seen all too often, is the internalization of U.S propaganda as replacement for constructive criticism. Often these propaganda informed criticisms resemble the arguments around climate change by corporate media. Corporate media often allows a both sides discussion around climate change, even though anthropogenically caused climate destabilization is the only side with which a discussion can be had. In the same way, the dialogue surrounding global foreign policy is a false dichotomy; ie: comparing the impact of U.S military overt and covert operations vs that of the rest of the world. 

  Why are hegemony and counter hegemony important in regards to this problem? If we define hegemony as the cultural control that the ruling class has over nearly all facets of life and counter hegemony as a culture created by the mass peoples outside the ruling class that strives to replace it, then we give ourselves a framework that helps us avoid messy arguments and unnecessary counter productive criticisms. For example War, especially the way it is carried out in the modern world, is a hegemonic tool. It overwhelmingly kills the poor. It leaves normal people destitute, hungry, and homeless. At the same time it enriches the ruling class, those that seek to plunder from the wreckage of human existence. Who wages the most war? Unquestionably it is the United States. If that is true by extension it is the United States ruling class who uses war predominantly. Understanding this means that any discussion of war and its global foreign policy implications should be grounded in the United States ruling class as the primary users of Warfare. 

  I titled this the absurdity of hegemony because I think that it is a useful phrase to describe the current state of worldly affairs. U.S power and criminality is absurd and disgusting in its scope and scale. War, the most used tool by its ruling class to exercise its influence across the globe, is still very rooted culturally in the minds of too many people. The collision of the reality of the absurdity and the role of the U.S as the global cultural hegemon I hope will be the thing that finally breaks the camels back. We can all already see the cracks. 

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