Cultural Imperialism good?

[Mahatma Gandhi]

Comrades!;)

I know this is a contentious issue, but my friend (the same autie guy) tells me that imperialism for the sole purpose of civilizing the people is good. By this, he means cultural imperialism as opposed to economic imperialism.

British Imperialism civilized the people in India and it went wrong only when the focus shifted from culture to economics. The Portuguese did a fantastic job civilizing the barbarians in Goa. The same goes for the glorious Spanish invasion of the Americas where, he contends, the natives were able to taste peace and freedom for the first time.:) Islamic imperialism has been wonderful too and it spread arts, music, poetry wherever it went. This is the crux of his argument.

But I wonder whether it is possible at all to have one without the other. Cultural imperialism without economic imperialism? I personally feel it's impossible and that the two go hand in hand. But if it were possible, would it be acceptable since nobody gets hurt if the whole thing centers merely upon cultural aspects rather than politics?

Regards,
Mahatma

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

The problem as I see it is that cultural imperialism tends to be a package deal - it's all well and good if the negative attitudes and behaviours of the natives are surpressed, but that usually means something else takes its place, most likely something from the invader culture.

For example, I would really like to see female genital mutilation, among other practices, become history, globally. But how does one achieve this without introducing a fresh tranche of other problems?

I'm open to ideas.

[RGacky3]

positive cultural change comes through more openness and democracy, imperialism is almost never altruistic, historically its ALWAYS come because of profitable gain, thats why nothing will be done about horrible practices in countries where imperialists have no profitable gain.

Imperialism is by no means the answer because imperialism is alwasy imperialism within a capitalist context which is only interested in profit.

As far as Spain civilizing the Americas, thats a bunch of crap, the Spanish were the most Barberic of all, you want to talk about civilized, Europeans have not been any more civilized in history than any other people.

[#FF0000]

The same goes for the glorious Spanish invasion of the Americas where, he contends, the natives were able to taste peace and freedom for the first time.

And genocide. Don't forget genocide.