this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2025
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We should stop calling it "the west" then.
It's always been a ridiculous name for a group that includes Australia, Europe, and USA.
We should think of a new name...
The Last States of Democracy
Nice acronym
Kingdom of the billionaires.
They actually own a pretty small fraction of the total stuff.
I mean, obviously it's grotesquely large proportionately, but they amount to <2000 individuals in a region of well over a billion.
The Free World
Ahh yeah, because people in China arenβt free, theyβre all slaves. Same with Russia. And all of the Middle East.
Westerners just have for the lowest wages their companies will pay them because if they donβt theyβll become destitute. Certainly not coercive.
Hey yo, isnβt there a little exception in our βabolishing of slaveryβ? I wonder why we have such a large percentage of prisoners here in America, compared to the rest of the world.
Ever heard of prisoner leasing?
Free world my ass.
There's stops between free and enslaved. Seeing as we're talking about not including the US, I think I'll stand by it being freer.
What is this, 2010?
^TM^
the empire
The free world maybe?
How do you explain this to the slaves in USA?
"The US is an enemy of the free world, just look at this Lemmy thread!" (that we're currently in)
The who?
Likely referring to the millions of people who are subjected to forced prison labor either without pay or for less than $1 an hour by for-profit prisons. This system has direct historical roots in the chattel slave economy, and even served as a direct drop-in replacement for chattel slaves on the very same plantations after the 13th amendment prohibited slavery except as punishment for a crime.
To this day the profit motive creates a perverse incentive for the owners of for-profit prisons to fight against efforts to reduce recidivism, since recidivism is good for their business. Our prison system serves not to rehabilitate, or even to punish, but rather to exploit the waiver of prisoners' rights that is enshrined in our constitution for profit.
Just kick out the "freest" country
we know tbh
Because if ya ain't white, you can't be free!
the Imperial Core is already a more descriptive name, methinks
The "other side" is imperial too. That doesn't make sense.
The entire thing is just imperial powers battling and using everything in-between as pawns.
Do you think Russia, China and Saudi Arabia aren't doing the same thing to places?
No need for whataboutism when discussing the imperial tendencies and supremacy in the west.
not a whataboutism
imagine if we named the West, the guys with guns. The other guys have guns too so it's not a great name. That's not a whataboutism lol
"the country currently invading another country to claim their land, people and resources is far less imperialist than the ones that don't"
Wild take komrad.
sorry they absolutely are.
Just less successful
I guess "NATO and friends" might be a bit shortsighted?
NATO and Friends sounds like some Paw Patrol type cartoon.
There's also Canada, NZ, South America, a lot of Africa and Asia
No country in South America, Africa or Asia is part of "the west".
I admit I forgot Canada and New Zealand, as is tradition.
Japan and South Korea aren't in Asia? I'd certainly count them as "western", especially Japan. if I'm feeling especially generous I might provisionally include Brazil too.
I wouldn't. You're mistaking countries under the thumb of the West as being the West
WWII and Korea are how those countries came about their position today. I don't think they're entirely against their position but they don't have a seat at the table like the others do
Japan's the third largest economy in the world and they aligned themselves with the West in the Meiji restoration. they sought imperial conquest of their neighbors in the 1900s. what more do you want for them to be the West
Not willingly. This is a core tenet of meoliberalism.
Japan has blurred porn because of the US. Any laws Japan has made that US citizens have to follow? Nope. How many Japanese military bases exist in America. 0.
They do not have an equal seat at the table.
They have has as much of a seat as warrants their size and economic power, perhaps even more because of their location as a buffer against China. Most EU countries have pull only because they are part of the EU. Compare Spain and Japan on the world stage, for example.
I understand what you're saying but how many Japanese military bases exist on US soil?
It's not an equal seat
I don't think that's a reasonable metric. Germany and the UK wouldn't be considered influential either, and yet they are.
The point was to stop using the term the west, because there's a lot more
pee pee poo poo hehehe (don't tell my mom I said that)