Imperial Cults
where do broken hearts go - whitney houston
Arikazari: What you have just said is what we call 'Cultural Imperialism', as learnt in the module the essay is for - Communication Issues.
This is my take on the
US of
A.
America are the worlds' masters of marketing; almost everything they come up with is what sets the trend. America has managed to flourish and grow over the many years since their split from Great Britain on July 4th, 1776 - Independence Day. Abraham Lincoln, I believe, laid the greatest foundations for the build up of the American prowess in the 18th century. There's too much to expound - you can read more about what he did
here.
The 20th century was also known as the American Century, with their pivotal roles as superpowers in the wars which took place. By the 1990s, America had established their control as a 'hyperpower' of sorts. You can say that they were a hegemon - not only did they have political influence over the world, they also had vast economic influence. There is a theory that America's stronghold can be seen from the many countries that adopt the
Washington Consensus, but that is also widely debated. On a personal note - the Wall Street certainly does pull much weight on the world's economy. There're always constant comparisons of currencies against the US dollar, and this is but the tip of the iceberg.
If it interests you to know, a think tank was established in Washington D.C. in 1997, called the
Project for the New American Century (
PNAC). It's a non-profit organization which aims to promote "American global leadership". FOX News regular and Weekly Standard editor William Kristol is the chairman, and the group's prominent past and present members include those from the Republican Party and Bush Administration, and basing most of their ideas on
neoconservatism. That, too, is debatable. One word about this group: controversial.
My purpose of bringing this up, is to further emphasize America's power-hungry status; how they are determined to upkeep their influence over the world itself. What a wonderful source of revenue, isn't it? Not local (which they already have a huge market), not regional (ditto), not continental (it
is a continent of its own!), but the
world. And they are doing it good, I must say. Of course, with China coming up strong, they definitely feel their position being threatened. One thing is that I still can't figure out why Bush is doing things in such a way, and my view's another story - which I would rather not blog about.
America has managed to set the world's standards, so to speak. They do have the ways - and more importantly, means - to come up with new ideas and export them to the world successfully, and we should give them the credit for that. Perhaps with major competition - China's rising economy - we can wait for more new products to come our way, provided that the US doesn't fall into the habit of playing around with diplomacy issues again.
Singapore's youth and limited resources will definitely see us looking at the established nations as a template, but yet we still do need to rely on ourselves to break free from following tailcoats. Especially if we seem to only manage verbose about how America is 'just too influential for their own good'.
.
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Omgourd I just realised that the last paragraph is SO national education.
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References: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 2005
