J. Ojanpera

Last night me and J were talking about how the US might have been carrying on Great Britain's imperial pursuits ever since the whole tea party thing. Then we discussed The Roman Empire, and how it grew so large that no one had any idea what was on the fringes. Some locations under Rome's thumb didn't even have governors present. Empires have always been glorified, presumably because they control popular culture; or rather consume it. We decided that it made for very interesting history, and that maybe one day the current state of the US could be analyzed in the same way. It all seems so horrid and impersonal now. We humans tend to glorify the past though, so future generations may view our actions as noble -in a science fiction sort of way. Though I doubt it now. The only difference in warfare through the ages has to be our ever-expanding reach. Instead of meeting on a field with hundreds of troops and horses, we can spy on every corner of the Earth from space, or ...

   Imperialism is such a tricky word these days. It's another one of those words whose definition has been subdued for it's true nature; blatant theft of life, land, and culture. Imperialism did not end with our "procurement" of the Hawaian Islands. It didn't end when Britain stole the Falklands. It didn't end at 50 states because it was a good number. It hasn't ended at all. The difference between the glory days of pillaging new frontiers and the more modern form are slight. The main difference is that we pick targets for nothing more than natural resources or strategic posturing. We don't even look for good slave labor any more; just new ways to kill.    During the more innocent years, we sent missionaries into new lands first. The idea was that if the savages of this land, or that could be subdued, saved, and churched with the fear of some alien god, then there would be no need for guns. The first option didn't really work; ever.     The secon...