Post by @queermunist@lemmy.ml

2026-09-15 16:09 UTC

You’re probably familiar with the US Civil War, yes? The Confederacy declared independence and established itself as a new nation, the Union took exception to that and fought them. Was that imperialism?

Replies (1)

@robear@lemmy.zip 2026-09-15 16:42

I see where you’re going with this. It’s interesting to think about. I think the crux of this argument isn’t the definition of imperialism, but of nation. Which if given the same scrutiny, could also be considered to be too vague a definition to be useful. Asking a confederate, they probably would have said yes. Asking anyone else? Well, not a single other nation on earth recognized the confederacy, so probably no. But I think the objective ambiguity you’re pointing at doesn’t make a word useless. A policeman shoots and kills someone. One side says murder, the other doesn’t. That’s the same fundamental ambiguity, but it’s resolved when we apply objectivity to it. Murder as a word isn’t useless, the same as imperialism.

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