There was a great scene in Bride and Prejudice during which Lalita explained to the hotelier Will Darcy that the amount he wants to charge for one night in his potential hotel is the amount of money people make in one year. Because of that conversation and others, Darcy eventually decides against building a hotel in India, much to the chagrin of his mother, who wanted the tourist money. While this is a fictional situation, reality is that so much of the world is seen as a playground and a piggy bank for those who have money. Instead of bringing a valuable perspective, most imperial “diplomacy” is based on brainwashing the rest of the world.
The entire “luxury” industry is a scam because most luxury is designed on western standards being incorporated all over the world. From the overuse of water to the expensive use of resources, luxury is nothing more than extracting from those who lack the weaponry to resist interference. Droughts and other environmental devastation hit the vulnerable population the hardest, but western media is teaching everyone to internalize the greed of the wealthy. It is irrational to have infinity pools and golf resorts in the deserts, but because they exist in Arizona, idiots think that there should be golf in Gaza.
To make matters worse, there is relentless exotification of everyone not living by western standards, even though there was no such thing as a United States suburb before the 1930s. Other nations have enjoyed different lifestyles for different people, and survival was manageable for most of the population. With all of the indoctrination towards suburbs and personal use vehicles, even the most environmentally sound lifestyles are being destroyed in favor of people trying to live like the rich in the United States live. Suburbs and highways are destroying international socioecosystems instead of the misguided in the empire.
Furthermore, by demanding the right to influence prices, imperial developers are creating spaces that local populations cannot access, thus maintaining segregation. Imagine having a beautiful community with all the resources people could even need or share, and enjoying that community for decades, perhaps centuries. Now imagine a gas station in the middle of that neighborhood, and the comfortable paths being filled up with traffic, and not being able to access it. Additionally, imagine people looking at the original residents like animals in a zoo, despite interfering with and enjoying their community.
For anyone from the United States who is planning to leave, it really is time to stop expecting the empire in other countries. The amount of resources to maintain the empire is utterly shameful, and there is nothin positive about failing to bloom where one is planted. Everyone everywhere cannot live a highly-consumptive, individualist lifestyle, and trying to project that on the masses will only result in pain. Instead, whether deciding to leave for a moment or leave for a lifetime, folks from the United States should understand that they have made a choice to live differently, not to imitate their former homes.
Chasing A Dying Empire 