Would anyone be justified in colonizing the United States?

[Dixie Morrison]

I certainly do not think that anyone would be justified in imposing
their customs and practices on modern-day United States. None of the
usual "benevolent" colonization excused apply; we have the world's
best technology and, for the most part, lifestyles within our borders.
Since our actions, like those of the popular kid at school, tend to
set the trend for what other countries do, we are not getting left
behind in any Renaissance or Industrial Revolution like China was. I
could simply be ethnocentric, but I don't think we have any customs
barbaric enough to warrant forceful intervention for the greater good.
Naturally, if the U.S. were to inexplicably degenerate into a post-
apocalyptic dystopia, that would be a different situation, and some
other nation might well be justified in saving us from ourselves. But
that is groundless speculation and not at all the case of reality, so
my answer to the Subject question is a firm No.

[Kyle Calabria]

I don't believe any country is justified in colonizing another
country. It destroys the diverse customs and cultures of the world. I
believe when a country colonizes another one it has the belief that it
is superior. I don't think any country is completely superior to the
United States, but I believe in certain aspects the United States
could learn a lot from other countries. For example the conservation
of fossil fuels, and natural resources.

[Dominic Ryder]

Personally, I found this argument rather odd to think about, simply
because of how unlikely it is that any nation would manage to colonize
the US by force. If we are talking about colonization by force, the i
would certainly agree with Dixie that there is no justification. It
all changes, however, if we expand the definition on colonization just
a bit. If the absorbtion of customs from another culture, not by
force, but simply by interaction, can be counted as colonization, then
my answer changes completely. I find it slightly unreasonable to say
that the US has the wolrds best technology. be the standards of many
other countries, much of our technology is hopelessly outdated.
Americans drive some of the most inefficient modern vehicles on the
planet. many of the cars that are seen to have good mileage her, would
be a joke in Europe. In that sense, I would say that our technology
could certainly use some improvement, and if that would count as a
form of "colonization" i would wholeheartedly agree with it. In
addition, i find the statement that the US has the best lifestyles in
the world extrenely ethnocentric. I dont think that that there could
ever be such a thing as the "best lifestyle in the world", not even
for any individual. I'm sure that everyone sees some kind of problem
(s) with US society. If the solution to one of these problems happens
to come from another culture, I do not see any problem with it.

[Mark Nimar]

Although Dixie is right in some respects, I disagree with her
statement that America does not do things that are "barbaric." Like
every other nation in the world, America has corruption, poverty,
disease, wrongdoing and other human qualities that make it primitive
and animalistic in nature. Even though America is a great and stable
country, America is prone to uprisings and revolution at any point.
for instance, during Hurricane Katrina when the Bush Administration
was at its low point, the people of Louisiana could have risen up and
fought against the government. Primal qualities exist in every group
of people, and elitism among Americans does not put America on a high
mountain of "civility." It is just like Umuofia; Okonkwo and Obierika
thought they were better than white men and their "bizarre" ways
because they were uneducated in the ways of Wester Culture. It did not
make them more civilized; it just made them less educated about
European Culture. In the world of colonialism, the most dominant
nation claims power, not the one with the most "civility."

On Sep 24, 5:21 pm, Dixie Morrison <dmorriso...@yahoo.com> wrote:

[Maya Allen]

I would have to agree with Mark, but I understand where Dixie is
coming from when she says that the United States would be difficult to
colonize forcefully. Of course, it has been non-forcefully colonized
before, and is continuing to be when taking into account technology
and science as well as many other things. What Mark is saying is also
true. The United States has had its weak points throughout history
that could have possibly made it prone to attack or forceful
colonization from other countries. Even though the United States is a
world superpower with the strongest military and most wealthy, it can
still be subjected to forceful colonialism. In the book, Umofia was
one of the strongest, war-like villages in the clan, but when the
White men turned them against each other, even they were defeated by
the new customs of Christianity, as well as the weaker villages. So
if the United States was divided and at war with each other, another
nation could take advantage of that opportunity and catch us off
guard.

[Peter Cohen]

I'm going to advocate a stance in between Dixie and Mark. I don't
think we can claim to have the "best lifestyle" in the world, simply
because that subject is so difficult to judge. America does have flaws
like Mark pointed out, however i would not call us barbaric. Just
because we aren't perfect doesn't mean we are barbaric. I don't
believe utopia is possible. I also disagree that America is prone to a
revolution and uprisings at any point. I believe we are the most
stable country in the world, comparable with some countries of western
europe. People may strongly desire change from the government, but a
literal armed revolution is out of the question. This is because we
are a free democracy, if enough people really want change, they will
vote in politicians who will accomplish this. Plus most have such nice
lives, especially compared to the rest of the world. I doubt people
would give up their comforts to literally fight the government. Its
easy to say, "oh sure we could revolt" but in reality its much more
NUANCED (ha) than that. I believe that we are the most advanced
country in the world, however that doesn't mean that another culture
wouldn't want to colonize the US.

[Lucas Morrill]

It seems absurd to think that anyone could colonize the United States.
We certainly have a very large military and our economic power is
greater than any other country in the world. Therefore practically
speaking, it doesn't seem like anyone could possibly colonize the
United States. If they tried then we most certainly would defeat them
militarily with help from our NATO allies and our brute strength. That
being said, there are many nations who disagree with our beliefs and,
if they could, would like to colonize our land and suppress our ideas.
It just doesn't seem to be feasible for any nation to attack, and
defeat the United States.

[oschultz]

If someone or something had some way of significantly helping out the
U.S.A. and not abusing our trust and respect then by all means,
colonize us. However, in the real world this probably won't happen in
the manor that we may usually think of as colonizing. Though we may
not realize it, we are essentially colonized on a daily basis when it
comes to cultures trying to implant their own culture on is as they
see fit. Though it is to a much nicer extent cause it's just their
food, customs, and ideals that are being implanted upon us if we go by
the initial definition of colonization. Though we should embrace these
traditions and differences of these cultures in order to improve our
own culture.

[Alex Steinroeder]

Nice usage of the word nuanced Peter. I think that colonizing the
United States would be very difficult to do. The only possible way
would be to do it non-forcefully because of our elite military and
economic power. The majority of the people in the United States have
set views on how they want to live, so to disrupt this would be tough.
It is possible though because the people of Umuofia were very
spiritual and believed in their practices, but when a different group
of people came to impose a different religion and viewpoint on life,
many of them gave in which divided the clan. Even though the Europeans
thought that their invasion of Africa was justified because they were
"saving their souls from going to Hell", in my opinion no colonization
is justifiable unless the majority of the citizens in the country
being colonized agree to this process. Because of the United States'
reputation, high power, and many alliances it would take the rise of
almost everyone else in the world to potentially successfully colonize
the country.

[Jon Mayer]

Alex mentioned Umuofia, but if we think about the main force behind
the imperialism in Things Fall Apart it was spreading of the Christian
faith. Why is this implausible from another culture or religion? Does
only Christianity seek to force itself on other nations? I would
wholeheartedly disagree, and as such I disagree with Dixie. She claims
that we have the best technology and lifestyles in most of the world,
so no culture would dare touch ours or be justified in doing so. While
I may not argue against the technology, many people frown upon the
culture of the United States. Despite being one of the largest powers
in the world, we have some of the most annual gun related deaths each
year within our borders. This remains true even when relative size of
the populace is considered in relation to other countries. This would
more than a little barbaric and savage to some, where we can not even
control our own people enough to stop them from killing one another
off.

The other aspect to be considered is religion. As I said above, this
is often a driving force behind colonization. I think the Muslim world
could more than justify an imperialistic bid for a piece of the United
States. Our citizens routinely violate things that they hold sacred,
and appear to have no understanding of the place of things in the
world. We do not even pray towards the holy city of Mecca! What kind
of uneducated fools cannot understand the city's sanctity? Along with
that is the growing number of converts to Islam in the U.S. Some could
argue that Muslim culture is already gaining an American foothold, and
could spread throughout quietly like Christianity through Umuofia,
until one day our population cannot stand together against anything,
and anyone who so chooses can sweep through and conquer sections of
the country.

This is just a thought, but clearly there are ways that other cultures
could see the US as uncivilized even in the present.

[Phil Lavely]

I do not think that another country would be justified in colonizing
America. Yes, as every country does, America has its faults, but there
are many more good things than faults. I do not think it would be
justifiable for another nation to "better" our nation by colonizing
us. Our independent nation is strong and advanced. We have many
cultures within our country, as there are many immigrants from all
around the world. People can make their lives in America, reaching the
American Dream, or their own interpretation of it. It would not be
justifiable for another country to come and colonize us because we are
already (relatively) civilized and we are a sovereign nation. People
living in the United States have chosen their way to live, and another
country trying to colonize America would be ignoring our basic human
rights.

[Nick Jessee]

It would be unnecisary and pointless to attempt to colonize the USA.
We have a "melting pot" of cultures and ethnicities in our own
country, where colonialization from another would simply make no
sense. When looking back at countries that have been colonized, they
are primarily, not technologically advanced, and rely mostly on their
culture and way of life. To colonize a technologically and mulit-
cultured country would be inneffective because there is very little to
be done diferently. We have an advanced technology, a strong
military, advanced agriculture, and a generally well educated
population, so what is there to colonize.

[richard...@comcast.net]

Kyle i completly understand your point, but i believe that colonizing
is not always bad. If a country is colonizing another country simply
to help the country without destroying its culture and history i
believe its not bad. However the problem is that usually when
colonization happens the natives get exploited instead of being
helped.

[Jake White]

a) I don't think that any country has the power to come in and try to
colonize the United States
b) No one would ever be justified in colonizing this nation because
most people living here are living here because they believe in the
government that is ruling them and no nation has the right to come
here unwelcome and try to disrupt our culture and government and try
to take over and change everything.

[richard...@comcast.net]

i agree with Dixie. There is no way that any country could colonize
modern USA. You only can successfuly colonize a country if they are in
shambles and extreme poverty. Whereas when the country is doing well
there is no reason or way that a other country would colonize USA

[Jake White]

I think that the only way that the U.S. would be able to be colonized
is if we were extremely upset with what the government was doing to us
and a foreign government came in and offered to bring stability and
wealth to this nation. The idea of a country forcefully coming in and
trying to take control and colonize us is just unrealistic. I think
that because the majority of people living here in the US are content
with the current government I believe that it would be close to
impossible to colonize us.