the US Empire is still far worse than any empire before it. There’s hardly a comparison.
Idk, there are a lot of western nations with a pretty long and brutal history. What criteria are we comparing?
I would say America is definitely the top dog in modern history, but it’s a pretty young country to win the most brutal empire in all of history. I mean the Romans were around for nearly a thousand years and had a slave economy for pretty much all of it.
There are some historical outliers in history, particularly the colonization of the Americas. Collectively the English, Portuguese, and the Spanish empire are ultimately responsible for killing over 100 million people.
The expansion of the Mongol empire, especially in China and on their way to Baghdad killed around 40 million people, an estimated 11% of the global population.
So while America is the reigning champion in our time, I don’t know if they really hold the title for worst in all of history. Hell even in ancient times the Romans were able to murder a million people in Gaul and enslave a million more.
I think the US gets to inherit some of the guilt for the extermination of the native population and the colonization of the Americas.
The expansion of the Mongol empire, especially in China and on their way to Baghdad killed around 40 million people, an estimated 11% of the global population.
For comparison, US sanctions have killed 38 million since 1970. That’s just from sanctions. There’s a tendency for more modern empires to kill more people, simply because there are more people to kill. I don’t think that makes the US some uniquely evil country or anything, it’s just another empire and it just so happens to be an empire when the most people have lived.
I think the US gets to inherit some of the guilt for the extermination of the native population and the colonization of the Americas
Yeah, I would say that’s fair. They have been the largest benefactor over time. I think my original point was a question like that is hard to really quantify in general. Any genuine answer would require a more specific question. I think there’s also a danger of either minimizing the brutality of the past or alternatively minimizing the scale of suffering happening today.
When I say the US is the worst, I don’t mean it’s unique. If any other empire happened to exist in a world with billions of people they’d have easily been as bad as the US is. The US is the worst simply as an accident of history, it’s not special.
Idk, there are a lot of western nations with a pretty long and brutal history. What criteria are we comparing?
I would say America is definitely the top dog in modern history, but it’s a pretty young country to win the most brutal empire in all of history. I mean the Romans were around for nearly a thousand years and had a slave economy for pretty much all of it.
tbh population growth means the most modern empire will also be the most evil, simply as a matter of scale.
There are some historical outliers in history, particularly the colonization of the Americas. Collectively the English, Portuguese, and the Spanish empire are ultimately responsible for killing over 100 million people.
The expansion of the Mongol empire, especially in China and on their way to Baghdad killed around 40 million people, an estimated 11% of the global population.
So while America is the reigning champion in our time, I don’t know if they really hold the title for worst in all of history. Hell even in ancient times the Romans were able to murder a million people in Gaul and enslave a million more.
I think the US gets to inherit some of the guilt for the extermination of the native population and the colonization of the Americas.
For comparison, US sanctions have killed 38 million since 1970. That’s just from sanctions. There’s a tendency for more modern empires to kill more people, simply because there are more people to kill. I don’t think that makes the US some uniquely evil country or anything, it’s just another empire and it just so happens to be an empire when the most people have lived.
Yeah, I would say that’s fair. They have been the largest benefactor over time. I think my original point was a question like that is hard to really quantify in general. Any genuine answer would require a more specific question. I think there’s also a danger of either minimizing the brutality of the past or alternatively minimizing the scale of suffering happening today.
When I say the US is the worst, I don’t mean it’s unique. If any other empire happened to exist in a world with billions of people they’d have easily been as bad as the US is. The US is the worst simply as an accident of history, it’s not special.