Skeptical Scholar

    Are We The Baddies?

    Core Theme

    The video argues that the United States is not the “good guy” on the world stage but rather the single greatest barrier to global progress, responsible for genocide, imperialism, coups, and mass civilian deaths. The host stresses they are not anti-American people, but anti–American political project—seeing the U.S. as a nation founded on genocide, slavery, and theft.

    Key Historical Crimes of the U.S.

    1. Genocide of Native Americans

    • From ~15 million indigenous people pre-contact to ~200,000 by the late 19th century.
    • Trail of Tears (1830–1840): forced relocations under Andrew Jackson; thousands died.
    • Systematic slaughter of bison to starve native populations.
    • Brutality and propaganda dehumanized natives; admired later by Hitler as a model of extermination.

    2. Early Imperial Wars

    • Philippine-American War (1899–1902):
      • U.S. annexed Philippines after Spanish-American War despite Filipino declaration of independence.
      • 20,000 fighters and 200,000+ civilians killed; scorched-earth tactics and concentration camps.

    3. Nuclear Bombings of Japan (1945)

    • Hiroshima & Nagasaki chosen for their civilian populations, not military value.
    • Japan was already prepared to surrender.
    • Goal was to intimidate the Soviet Union and demonstrate U.S. willingness to kill civilians en masse.
    • The U.S. remains the only country to use nuclear weapons in war.

    4. Cold War Imperialism

    • At least 81 interventions between 1946–2000.
    • 1953 Iran coup: CIA overthrew elected leader Mossadegh, reinstalled the Shah.
    • Cuba: CIA attempted to assassinate Fidel Castro over 600 times.
    • 1973 Chile coup:
      • Salvador Allende, elected socialist president, enacted reforms and nationalized mining.
      • U.S. and Kissinger orchestrated coup; Allende killed during palace bombing.
      • Pinochet dictatorship tortured, murdered, and disappeared thousands.
      • Chicago School economists imposed neoliberal policies, leading to economic collapse.
    • Proxy wars:
      • Vietnam: ~365,000 civilians killed, use of napalm, white phosphorus, Agent Orange.
      • Korea: 2–3 million civilians killed; 20% of North Korean population wiped out.
      • Dozens of smaller interventions across Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

    5. Iraq War (2003–2011, ongoing effects)

    • Launched on false claims of WMDs.
    • “Shock and Awe” destroyed infrastructure, killed 1 million Iraqis.
    • Abu Ghraib prison: torture, sexual assault, war crimes by U.S. personnel.

    6. Current Support for Israeli Genocide (2023–present)

    • Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians framed as “self-defense.”
    • U.S. provides billions in aid, weapons, and unconditional diplomatic backing.
    • 1986 Biden quote: “Were there not an Israel, the U.S. would have to invent one.”
    • The U.S. and Israel compared to twin settler-colonial projects (Native genocide vs. Palestinian genocide).
    • UN voted overwhelmingly for a ceasefire—U.S. was one of only 10 nations opposing.

    Underlying Pattern

    • U.S. foreign policy consistently driven by imperial interests, not democracy or freedom.
    • Uses coups, proxy wars, interventions, propaganda, and direct massacres to secure resources and suppress alternatives to capitalism.
    • History books in the U.S. sanitize or erase these atrocities to maintain patriotism.

    Conclusion

    • The U.S. has committed some of the worst crimes in modern history: genocide, nuclear bombings, coups, imperial wars, and support for apartheid states.
    • The rest of the world widely sees the U.S. as the “bad guy,” even if Americans are taught otherwise.
    • Recognizing these truths is framed as the first step toward building a better, freer, and more just society.

    Sources

    Citations and Further Reading:

    • Washington Bullets – Vijay Prashad
    • Rogue State – William Blum
    • Killing Hope – William Blum
    • Endless Holocausts – Mass Death in the History of the United States Empire – David Michael Smith
    • The Jakarta Method – Vincent Bevins
    • School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas – Lesley Gill
    • The Triumph of Evil – Austin Murphy
    • Spooks – Jim Hougan
    • The Capital Order: How Economists Created Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism – Clara E. Mattei
    • The Counterrevolution of 1776 – Gerald Horne

    Genocide of the Native Americans, Slavery:

    • An Indigenous People’s History of the United States – Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
    • American Holocaust – David Stannard
    • Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation – John Ehle
    • Hitler’s American Model – James Whitman

    Genocide in the Philippines:

    • https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1138&context=historical-perspectives
    • https://webhispania.info/the-forgotten-genocide-the-philippine-american-war-and-us-atrocities/
    • A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 – David J. Silbey

    Genocide in Korea:

    • https://blowback.show/Season-3
    • https://open.spotify.com/episode/78BdsG6eicVXJ5cQBRs2Md
    • https://thefunambulist.net/magazine/against-genocide/wipe-out-all-life-postwar-liberalism-and-mass-killing-in-korea
    • https://liberationnews.org/psl-editorial-occupation-continues-70-years-after-the-pentagons-forgotten-genocide-in-korea/
    • https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/world/gi-s-tell-of-a-us-massacre-in-korean-war.html
    • https://www.thenation.com/article/world/korean-war-armistice-70th-anniversary/

    War crimes during the Vietnam War:

    • Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam – Nick Nurse
    • https://www.ucpress.edu/blog/35354/the-violent-legacies-of-the-u-s-war-in-vietnam
    • https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23427726

    War crimes during the “War on Terror”

    • Blowback Season 1 –
    • https://open.spotify.com/show/2pibBnPuHqKr07hxEMZE41
    • https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/03/iraq-20-years-since-the-us-led-coalition-invaded-iraq-impunity-reigns-supreme/#:~:text=Between%202003%20and%202011%2C%20Amnesty,cruel%2C%20inhuman%20or%20degrading%20treatment
    • https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/03/19/twenty-years-iraq-bears-scars-us-led-invasion
    • https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/lib-docs/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/session9/US/AIJ_TheAssociationofIraqiJurists.pdf
    • https://truthout.org/articles/for-20-years-team-bush-has-escaped-prosecution-for-war-crimes-in-iraq/
    • https://www.ecchr.eu/en/publication/the-iraq-invasion-is-a-crime/
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse
    • https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/04/04/472964974/it-was-torture-an-abu-ghraib-interrogator-acknowledges-horrible-mistakes
    • https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/10/1/abu-ghraib-the-legacy-of-torture-in-the-war-on-terror
    • Chain of Command – Seymour Hersh
    • The Ballad of Abu Ghraib – Philip Gourevitch, Errol Morris
    • Blowback Season 4 –
    • https://open.spotify.com/episode/3PIyNOhaBeAfwa3rWKmvtP

    Cuba and Latin America:

    • https://blowback.show/Season-2
    • Open Veins of Latin America – Eduardo Galeano
    • Cuba and its Neighbors – Arnold August
    • https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/world/americas/chile-coup-50-anniversary.html
    • Chile 1973: The Other 9/11 – David Francois

    Palestine:

    • The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine – Ilan Pappe
    • https://decolonizepalestine.com/
    • Gaza Fights For Freedom (2019) | Full Docu…
    • Shell Shocked – Mohammed Omer
    • Apartheid Israel – Sean Jacobs, Jon Soske
    • On Palestine – Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappe
    • Freedom is a Constant Struggle – Angela Davis

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