A debate about the "Peace Corps" what is this?

[☭World Views]

We were discussing the peace corps. One of us said that it's a good organization to be involved with.

But I think it's just a front organization with a capitalist imperialist face to appease people.

Thoughts?

What exactly do the Peace Corps do, and are they a friend or an enemy for the peoples of the world?

[gorillafuck]

I thought they just went and built schools and stuff?

[The Idler]

According to Wikipedia they seem to be an arm of the United States government.

[Raúl Duke]

But I think it's just a front organization with a capitalist imperialist face to appease people.

It goes around the world to do community service volunteer things. But yes, it's basically a PR thing so to "improve the U.S. image" abroad; probably much so in Latin-America.

[Revy]

We were discussing the peace corps. One of us said that it's a good organization to be involved with.

But I think it's just a front organization with a capitalist imperialist face to appease people.

Thoughts?

What exactly do the Peace Corps do, and are they a friend or an enemy for the peoples of the world?

I don't think it's imperialist, that's a stretch.

However, it is true that a lot of its purpose is for PR on the international scale (as was said by JohnnyDarko.

[Kukulofori]

I was JUST looking into them actually, they won't let me in without a bachelor's degree.

Guess they want the ones without the Bachelor's in the military. lol.

And I don't have any facts to back this up, but I suspect most of what they do is constructing capital that will eventually go back to the US.

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

I remember hearing that the Peace Corps started around the Kennedy administration to put a "humanitarian" face on the US government. I haven't actually heard of them doing anything significant or meaningful for "peace." It's a front for US imperialism.

[FreeFocus]

It is a front for imperialism, although its volunteers might not think that way. Nonetheless, it probably does accomplish some limited good, but that's not to say that the US does the world good because the places the Peace Corps goes and "builds" houses in or repairs wells and whatnot wouldn't be so devastated economically and structurally if not for American imperialism and capitalism.