America and what it means

[Slavoj Zizek's Balls]

I'm gathering bits of information for a class discussion and I want to see what you can come up with to reinforce what I'm doing.

Explaining this to people is going to be a little tricky, but I'll use what ever you provide as a sort of doorway into some research. That's really all I need, something to kick me off.

There are a lot of things to attack and I considered criticising the USA's foundation, (not the constitution) the British colonisation of North America.
Basically it was founded on blood and the eradication of native resistance, started off by the British but continued by the "Americans".

[erupt]

There are a lot of things to attack and I considered criticising the USA's foundation, (not the constitution) the British colonisation of North America.
Basically it was founded on blood and the eradication of native resistance, started off by the British but continued by the "Americans".

Started by the Spanish in North America, and followed by the Dutch, French and English, but yes, the newly independent U.S. colonizers continued things almost unchanged as far as I know.

[Jesus Saves Gretzky Scores]

Listen to Toby Keith music, and then you'll know what to say.

[Jimmie Higgins]

It's pretty broad, the way you've introduced it. I mean America is a landmass which is categorized as two continents geographically.

EDIT: should have read more than just the first part of the first post before starting typing.

EDIT: should have just deleted all that and started over:D

OK, well the founding of the US is still pretty broad. Is the prompt really just "What does the US/North American colonies mean? What are the limitations are requirements? It sounds like you want to talk about the removal of the native population, though.

I'd maybe focus on the drive for accumulation which provided the "start-up capital" for North America and partially for European capitalism too. This can kind of create a united theme to talk about a lot of history and developments in regards to how the colonists interacted with the indigenous population.

Accumulation of basic commodities at first by the Spanish, but quickly into the accumulation of slave-labor (first indigenous and then imported from Europe and Africa... and then massively from Africa) to produce cash-crops like sugar and later cotton which in turn fueled British textiles and created the wealth for increased capitalist production and trade in the North of the US after the Revolution. Accumulation of land for trade routes and for the expansion of cotton production with slave labor.

It's this influx of initial stolen land and stolen labor that paved the way for capitalism to become dominant and was the engine to create capital for later industrialization in the US. The pyramid on the back of the dollar is a nice symbol: like the Egyptian pyramids, US dollars were built by slaves.

[Questionable]

If you're going to point out that America's ruling class has a rather bloody history I can't think of a better source for your research than "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. It covers everything from Columbus's first slaughter of Indians to the modern age.

[Slavoj Zizek's Balls]

Sorry folks, I apologise for the historical inaccuracy of the British starting it all off, forgot about the Spanish and other factions etc. Basically the discussion is:
"What does America mean to you?" (The USA)

This means, what does the modern USA actually mean for you? Is it good for the modern world, is it bad for the modern world or does it have a bit of both?

I am taking the stance saying that if its base was poorly constructed, then the rest of it has to be too. Any other stances to take?

[Jimmie Higgins]

Sorry folks, I apologise for the historical inaccuracy of the British starting it all off, forgot about the Spanish and other factions etc. Basically the discussion is:
"What does America mean to you?" (The USA)

This means, what does the modern USA actually mean for you? Is it good for the modern world, is it bad for the modern world or does it have a bit of both?

I am taking the stance saying that if its base was poorly constructed, then the rest of it has to be too. Any other stances to take?I think it would be interesting and probably a good way to learn some useful things to take this approach and talk about early America, but personally I think it might be more provacative to talk about contemporary US. A lot of people will probably already agree that "things were 'imperfect'" and that slavery and american genocide were bad, but this also fit's into the common view that "things are always getting better - slowly" and "change takes a lot of time"... both of which are just myths as far as I'm concerned.

But you can do both by drawing a connecting line, which it seems like it's your intention to do so. Maybe include an argument about how all modern nations and governments are basically for the ruling class of whatever time to organize its own power and the logic of their order over everyone else in society. Because IMO there are some pretty strong social and political and class differences between Revolutionary-era US and industrial modern US.

[Slavoj Zizek's Balls]

So in this way, I can discuss how the USA evolved from persecuting their own indigenous population to doing the same to foreign countries and all the while exploiting their workers in order to create a global market that allowed for this evolution to exist. Then mention the Cold War and Vietnam, invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR as balance etc and just how much of a threat bourgeoisie wars are to "common" human being.

[erupt]

So in this way, I can discuss how the USA evolved from persecuting their own indigenous population to doing the same to foreign countries and all the while exploiting their workers in order to create a global market that allowed for this evolution to exist. Then mention the Cold War and Vietnam, invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR as balance etc and just how much of a threat bourgeoisie wars are to "common" human being.

Can you elaborate your thoughts and opinions your discussing? I'm sure that'll get a discussion going because I'm a bit confused by what you mean. No criticism on my part, just trying to help out.