#imperialism

Part of what is wrong with the view of American imperialism is that it is antithetical to our interests. We are better off when people are governing themselves. I'm sure there is some guy that will tell you that philosophy is no different from the Roman Empire's. Well, it is fundamentally different. ↗

— Paul Wolfowitz

#antithetical #better #better off #different #empire

We take off into the cosmos, ready for anything: for solitude, for hardship, for exhaustion, death. Modesty forbids us to say so, but there are times when we think pretty well of ourselves. And yet, if we examine it more closely, our enthusiasm turns out to be all sham. We don't want to conquer the cosmos, we simply want to extend the boundaries of Earth to the frontiers of the cosmos.... We are humanitarian and chivalrous; we don't want to enslave other races, we simply want to bequeath them our values and take over their heritage in exchange. We think of ourselves as the Knights of the Holy Contact. This is another lie. We are only seeking Man. We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. (1970 English translation) ↗

— Stanisław Lem

#imperialism #jingoism #new-worlds #racism #science-fiction

Als it is hard for America to fight wars in the name of freedom, if those people themselves choose for nonfreedom. Can America and England save India from communism, if they vote communist themselves. ↗

— Oswald Mosley

#communist #foreign-policy #freedom #imperialism #india

It is simple impertinence for any man, or any body of men, to begin, or to contemplate, reform of the whole world. ↗

— Mahatma Gandhi

#men

They (Romans) were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force - nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others. They grabbed what they could get for the sake of what was to be got. It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as is very proper for those who tackle a darkness. The conquest of the earth which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea - something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to... ↗

— Joseph Conrad

#men

The arrogance and brutality of empire are not repealed when they temporarily get deployed in a just cause. ↗

— Michael Kazin

#arrogance #brutality #imperialism #united-states #war

That’s what imperialism is all about, shoving your language, religion, culture, and race down others’ throats and telling them that they’re beneath you – and it’s not unique to the West either. ↗

— M.B. Wilmot

#colonialism #imperialism #racism #religion

We first crush people to the earth, and then claim the right of trampling on them forever, because they are prostrate. ↗

— Lydia Maria Francis Child

#imperialism #injustice #oppression #racism #rationalization

We should get out of this business of empire. It is untenable. We should get out of the business of interfering in the affairs of other nations. We should get out of those lands before they kick us out. ↗

— Pat Buchanan

#militarism #militarism-war #business

Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings. ↗

— Edward W. Said

#imagination