[Serious]What do you think about the “you want some freedom” jokes?

19 comments

1. They are a satirical take on the dark truth of how things actually go down a lot. Humor is commonly used to discuss large, unapproachable things.

2. I’m not familiar with any of those jokes. From your description, they don’t sound very funny.

3. >leaving them in a state of anarchy

   What you mean to say here is a state of *chaos* not anarchy.

4. There’s a saying that goes:

   There is a hint of truth in every joke.

5. It’s dark, tongue-in-cheek humor. I don’t think the vast, VAST majority of Americans find upending third world countries in the name of some cause only rich politicians care about that try to parade as “protecting freedom and democracy” as genuinely amusing. The way Afghanistan was handled is pretty much universally criticized here.

6. In large part, they’re effectively ignorant of Cold War and now Cold War 2 geopolitics. It’s all simplistic, childish notions of black and white morality applied to impossible scenarios. The world wants America to take a hit and then turn the other cheek while worse countries do worse things in order to work against us and the very notion of individual freedom. Everyone is hilarious until shit hits the fan and it’s time for Americans to shed their blood and money again for you.

   Maybe these same people will one day get their wish and a country like Russia, China, or Iran runs the show, then they can wallow in their misery and remember the world when America was hegemonic.

   As for leaving countries in a state of anarchy, lol. America effectively hands people the lock and key and pumps endless resources into them. If they can’t get their shit together, that’s by and large a cultural issue. The world shouldn’t sit by while some shitass group like the Taliban plots blowing up trains and buildings in Western countries. The Taliban knows not to do this ever again or we’ll just royally fuck them up again. The Afghan people? We tried. They by and large didn’t want it, and now their lives suck even worse. Not our problem anymore. They had a golden opportunity to build a better future for themselves and threw it in the trash.

   Think you can do a better job? Be our guest. Americans don’t actually like doing this. We’re historically a very insular country and many of us would prefer to focus on our own well-being and accomplishments. Until that point, honestly, grow the fuck up and sit the fuck down.

   Life is not fair and the world is not an equal playing field. America is trying. Regularly donates hundreds of billions of dollars to random countries around the world. We’re very nearly single-handedly footing the bill for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s land-grabby invasion (shoutout to Ukraine’s absolutely beast fighters and spirit; they’re an amazing country). We really don’t have to do this – we choose to. Who else does this on this scale?

   Disagree? ***Good.*** You’re allowed to do that here and say whatever the hell you want and nobody is going to try to stop you, censor you, or put you in prison.

7. They’re jokes made from ignorance. The US hasn’t tried liberating any rural countries with resources. What resources did Afghanistan have? The US military is in Syria to maintain stability because of a civil war. The US government has always maintained that no Americans will profit from the oil industry there under promise of imprisonment. The US is in other Middle Eastern countries, not for freedom but, again, to maintain stability since it’s not only the US that relies on oil from these regions. The rest of the globe is reliant as well.

8. Oh look.. another thinly veiled “America Bad” statement disguised as a question.

9. They’re very common, but they’re satirical. I enjoy them because I enjoy dark, political humor in general. Keep in mind OP that 99% of the time you see those jokes, someone is actually satirically criticizing American intervention abroad.

10. It gets old. People make the same jokes on repeat and act like they just invented the wheel.

11. If you’re not from one of the places that’s been affected by US military intervention and you’re very hurt by mild jokes, perhaps the internet isn’t for you. No one needs a lecture.

    Gallows humor is not an American invention nor is it only applied to US related activities.

12. Probably the same way you feel about people making jokes about Egyptians that don’t apply to the general public.

13. It’s satire, and not just any resources, fossil fuels.

14. I can appreciate dark humor and sometimes I’ll find one that makes me laugh but it’s potentially harmful as it spreads misinformation like a virus. A lot of people won’t have a deep understand of the conflicts and will just accept things they see frequently repeated that confirm a narrative that backs up their internal biases.

15. It’s beyond old. There may have been a time when it was actually darkly funny, but its just the default hackneyed response flooding the comments section on any relevant reddit post. And each poster thinks they are original and funny.

    It’s not offensive or anything since there’s truth in it; its just kind of cringy. Like someone blurting out Chuck Norris jokes in 2022.

16. I think it’s pretty silly that a lot of Americans still (pretend to) get their feelings hurt over it given the past 2 decades. Our military spends four and half billion tax dollars every day, and the most tangible effect of that spending is when we fuck foreign people up on behalf of our wealthiest defense corporations and their investors. Any natural resources gained out of the deal are mostly just a bonus. The vast majority of us can’t point to anything real that we get out of it at all.

    Americans – if you don’t like it then stop crying and organize. If you think it’s cool then congratulations, but stop crying about being teased for it because you’re making us look like bitches. Thanks.

17. It’s a joke. In the finest American tradition of unfettered free speech, I am in favor of it. It is based on a certain amount of fact, and derives humor from it’s inaccuracy.

    Reading the room to know when to say it might be a good idea to avoid offense in interpersonal relationships but I wouldnt use it as a pretext to, say, shut down r/polandball.

    I also happen to run in a circle that understands and appreciates dark and satirical humor. And if anyone on the internet feels a need to interpret that as me being a horrible person, I don’t need to care what they think. I prefer to care about the people whose life and wellbeing i look out for, and if that means laughing at their jokes about toasterbath attempts as they process how close they came to carrying it out that’s my prerogative.

18. We deserve to take shit for what our government has done in our name.

    But I think the less-discussed part of the story is the wars that didn’t happen because of US diplomacy, backed with the threat of our martial power.

    Just sayin’. Joke on us all you want though. We suck sometimes.

19. It’s just kind of internet boiler plate at this point, it fades into the background of obligatory memes and comments.