719
Banana Republic isnt a good thing. (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/microblogmemes@lemmy.world
109 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[+] -21 points 2 years ago (2 children)

My main point was this isn't imperialism. Words mean things, man.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 40 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Of course it is. How do these foreign companies own such large amounts of land in these countries? (Hint: US-sponsored coups). Why are these countries producing large amounts of a single crop via monoculture practices instead of solving for the nutritional needs of their own population?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [+] -19 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Because the autonomous countries are unable to make those choices for themselves? What about places that produce bananas that didn't have banana republics?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 24 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    If you live anywhere where a banana cannot grow and get them cheaply, you're benefitting from imperialism regardless of where the banana you actually eat is grown because it's the cheap bananas from those banana republics that determined the market value.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [+] -11 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Or you're benefiting from trade agreements and/or cutthroat capitalism.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Can you name some examples of banana-growing exporters that weren't undermined by the US to the point of banana republic

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Then what is it?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [+] -9 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    ...trade agreements?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    At the barrel of a gun? I think that is considered to be under duress.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] -5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    And again, ONE country set up banana republics, which were then overthrown. Anyone who isn't them and can also buy cheap bananas separately. There are also places that were not ever banana republics who export bananas.

    This post takes a very complicated issue and distills it down to a neat little thing by misusing words and then everyone else can be like "oh I feel smart too cause that seems clever". It's bullshit and makes everything worse.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Sure, ONE country did it, while about 100 cheered., And queued up for deliveries.

    Everyone loves to shit on America, without acknowledging their home country's very happy entanglement with them

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [+] -6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Got any proof for them claims?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

    Yeah, all the shit on your shelves, defense contracts, trade regulation, financial markets, so fucking much...even gps (which came to be via cold war weapons research into ballistic missiles and location and targeting needs of the US military

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] -4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Your source seems dubious to me, I don't think you have anything to add here

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Ok sorry "literal reality, everything you can see in the global north" isn't good enough for you.

    Here's one for your book report:

    https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/europe-middle-east/europe/european-union#:~:text=Exports%20were%20%24592.0%20billion%3B%20imports,up%2066%20percent%20from%202012.

    The point isn't just the literal trade though, it's the global system that the United States has developed (through often imperial means) that many smaller countries benefit from, happily.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] -3 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    I also responded to you before you did a few edits.

    Your first response was something like "all the shit on your shelves"

    And my main point here is that the original meme obviously doesn't know what "imperialism" means.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Just look up United Fruit Company and start reading:

    The banana trade symbolizes economic imperialism, injustices in the global trade market, and the globalization of the agricultural economy. Bananas are also number four on the list of staple crops in the world and one of the biggest profit makers in supermarkets

    It's not just land grabs by people wearing crowns

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] -4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    It's a modifier on the word imperialism on purpose. You don't hear military imperialism or diplomatic imperialism because that's that the work means. The actual word for all of this and what happened is corporatocracy.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Sure, modifier, or a type of imperialism, or one of several meanings. It's how the word is used, including by people in this thread and elsewhere. Therefore the phenomenon is both corporatocracy and imperialism and more.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Or maybe it is a reminder that these complicated legacies are still with us? Would you prefer only essays written on imperialism?

    And I have no idea how just one county setting up banana Republics has anything to do with it. Would other countries still not benefit from being able to buy artificially low cost products. At the expense of the county being exploited?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] -2 points 2 years ago*

    See, I'm on board with your point there, and I would love to see how much truth there is to it. Those countries have renegotiated many agreements and some now have socialist governments which are doing quite well, despite the fuckery the US put them through.

    The post doesn't leave room for ambiguity or nuance. It says "x is true". That's why it's dumb and arguably a net bad. Quick little feel good statements for such a complicated issue just help people on the Internet feel better by liking or up voting while harming any actual progress. So fuck the person who wrote the original thing and fuck OP for spreading it.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent