East Berlin. India. Palestine. South Africa. Hong Kong.
I'm sitting in my basement office in my house, trying to escape the world like any good coward, and I put on Armed Forces; of course, if I'm trying to escape, why am I listening to this Elvis Costello album in particular? It's a mystery. But "Oliver's Army" has come on, and as I listen, I realize that this isn't just about England's imperialism; this is any large, forceful country that believes in the White Man's Burden myth, starting at least as far back as Oliver Cromwell, who I believe is the Oliver in question; his domination of Ireland is still talked about; to speak of Oliver Cromwell is like speaking of Hitler.
When did we--or I should say US--decide that we're supposed to run the world? That we're going to play God with other countries? Don't misunderstand--I'm no fan of Russian Communism, though I suppose I have a socialist leaning. We're not as bad as the UK, I suppose; or, maybe we are, but only on a smaller scale, leaving our actions towards the Native Americans, while Britain was busy with the whole world.
It's economic. It is. There are two forms of racism--that of the perceived superiority when you are part of the aristocracy; this racism is also a classism. The second is the type exemplified by the working classes in both Britain and America--"I'm out of a job; must be the forigner's fault--he stole it!" Of course, it's not that the forigner actually stole the job; he's just willing to work for less, and so the fat cats give him the job, leaving the worker out of a job. It's an old story, and the hatred has been perpetrated against the Irish, the blacks, the Asians, and so on. The irony of these views, particularly in the case of Britain, is that the resentment towards these "forigners" is that they wouldn't be in Britain today if it weren't for the actions of the same aristocracy that the working class continues to support. If they should be angry at anyone, it should be the guys at the top, not the Pakistani or Indian who's just trying to earn a living.
We'll never learn. That's the sad part. In America, the hatred is against blacks (who we--the whites--enslaved), Koreans and Vietnames (who's countries we invaded), the Arabs (where do I even begin with this one?), and so on.
When did America become part of Oliver's Army? | 
