The Americans who give their country too much credit
In one of my past blogposts, I ranted about certain jingoistic Americans who think they are the reason why the USA is respected globally, not realising they are one of the reasons why their country is constantly defecated on by the world. They also don’t realise how the world respects America often thanks to its pop culture and, most importantly, Americans who are chill, friendly and open-minded.
Recently, I found out there is another layer to the conceit.
Some Americans believe that US military protects every single country and funds and trains every single armed forces on earth. They are not being hyperbolic. They literally mean every single one.
What evidences do they have?
Well, the presence of US bases abroad, US military academies training foreign soldiers and the US funding NATO. Unless you are a jingoistic American or an undignified fanatical Americanophile, you can easily see what’s wrong with the evidences.
For one, the US establishes overseas bases to protect itself; in theory, it is much easier to protect one’s own country from foreign invaders when it arms itself in foreign lands.
Yes, the host countries may get protected as well. But, the protection is just a trickle and, in the end, those bases are intended to defend America and America only. Not to mention those countries — believe or not — have their own armed forces and have always been.
This argument is not stupid, I just think it is a testament of naivety and ignorance. Even if American armed forces do claim that they want to protect their host countries, America will still get benefitted in the end.
There is a thing called soft power, in which a country offers certain nice things to foreigners, who end up having more positive views of said country. Governments all over the world know this, hence the many offerings of scholarship to foreigners and the establishment of state-funded international broadcasting services. The more positive views a country receives on the international stage, the less likely it will be perceived as an enemy state.
People don’t realise that we can defend our country without any weapons.
But, the other arguments are undoubtedly idiotic.
The A in NATO stands for Alliance. Alliance. You know, a cooperation which benefits every single participant. Those jingoistic Americans are not used to the idea that other countries can also help America.
It does not matter if the US is biggest funder; it will still get benefitted anyway. In fact, considering many of the world’s existing security issues were caused or exacerbated by US foreign policy, it should pay the most money.
And I don’t see how US military academies training a handful of foreign soldiers is the same as training entire foreign armed forces.
Basically, this belief asserts that once the soldiers return to their homelands, literally every single one of their fellow soldiers will have the exact same skills and knowledge…. because American magic or something.
Either that or they greatly underestimate foreign armed forces’ sizes, thinking those handful of foreign soldiers are literally the only soldiers of their respective countries. Considering there are Americans who believe Europe does not have indoor plumbing simply because it looks old, this assumption of mine is not far-fetched.
At this point, I am convinced those jingoistic Americans are insecure about their country’s standing on the world stage.
If they aren’t, they wouldn’t exaggerate about their pee pee size, would they?
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