Raging Hard for Counter-Imperialism

Dear Classier Hoeing,

I largely agree with your argument. To a certain degree, imperialism has allowed us to lead a "first world" lifestyle in the United States, Europe, and other "select" parts of the globe. Economies stagnate without new markets, raw materials, and resources; imperialism allowed Europe to jump start the long process of globalizing. However, I don't believe that standards of living would be less had the invisible hand not extended itself over the "unoccupied" territories of Africa, the Orient, and the Americas. Every region of the world had experienced the flux of empire. China, Egypt, the Aztecs and Incas. I think that had the natural rise and fall of isolated empires continued, new technology would gradually emerge, and the process of forming the so-called "global village" would arise from the integration of these disparate technologies.

This counter-imperialistic theory is by no means all about flowers and peace signs and cute furry animals living together in uninterrupted harmony. There is no way to avoid the violence that would inevitably come of power play. In fact, without European imperialism, some attempt at integration and conquer would most likely be made, and the world's wealth would still become heavily concentrated on select regions. (If Africa stayed in control of its plentiful resources, they would prove to be a major power in the world market, perhaps even an imperialist one.) So would much change? Perhaps there would be an equalization of world power. Perhaps there would be less oppression, racism, and debt. Regardless, allowing the rise-and-fall cycle of empires to continue without intervention would not drastically alter the contemporary standard of living. We're not eating the cake that we somehow have. This is just the way things happened.