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Well, I suppose I've never heard alternate color symbolism for the US flag, so this seems as official as any
(lemmy.world)
this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2025
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It would probably be more accurate to observe that genocide, land theft, and slavery are pretty common throughout human history.
Context matters. Colonialism is a uniquely European affair with a particularly potent flavor of slavery and genocide. It’s not simply groups going after their neighbors to settle generational feuds.
Eh, Imperial Japan sure had a good crack at Euro-style colonialism, even if they started a bit late.
If you're not going after your neighbours (or your neighbours' neighbours, once you conquer your neighbours), then you need a blue-water navy and preferably gunboats. And that's mostly a European thing, though you've got a bit of Qing Dynasty, Japan, and some chicken/egg questions over building the boats vs colonising.
There's a big pile over on /r/AskHistorians: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1aot4nr/why_is_the_term_colonialism_largely_not_applied/
While that’s a good example it’s an exception not the rule. Imperialism vs the racist genocidal settler colonialism witnessed by European global expansion isn’t quite mom-and-pops old style imperialist or empire-style expansionism.
You can argue while some newer players like WWII Japan and modern-day Israel may not be as Eurocentric, that doesn’t change its birthplace.
Also, when you mention modern slavery and indigenous genocide people don’t go, “oh right! Japan!! The Ottomans or the Ming Dynasty!” They immediately think of Native American or Aboriginal genocide and multigenerational slavery based on race and industrialized into a global economy; one still hellbent on erasure of local culture and homogenization of “values” globally.
In fact, if neo-colonialism has its way the only place for unique human expression will be looking down upon it from behind museum glass as a memory of a different “time”. Cultural uniformity makes stable profitable consumer markets (or so the theory goes). You’re not wrong but I wouldn’t be so quick to say “hey, but look, they do it too!”