Kayla Delaguila: Outside Reading

I recently finished reading this book called Empire’s Workshop by Greg Grandin. It was a book all about America’s attempt to ‘own’ Latin America… in mostly an economic sense really. This book shows the truth behind a lot of the American foreign policy decisions and opened my eyes to an entirely new governmental world. In reading this I can very clearly see the swing that American journalism and the American education system puts on things. I feel like many American’s see America as the best country in the world, that we can do no wrong. This comes from years of being fed a nationalistic view of the world. It is fine to have pride in your country, I am just as proud as the next American. But it is wrong to blindly follow. I feel like often as a public we take news and foreign policy at face value, we do not delve deeper into the decisions the government makes. This book was written from the Latin American point of view. America has poked its nose into things that have nothing to do with us. Such as drug problems in Latin America, that’s all we ever hear about in the news, another drug war ignited in Latin America. It is a large issue, but it’s not an issue that The United States needs to send troops down for. Then there is the issue of America involved in the jungles of Brazil, tearing down trees for their corporations and leaving Latin America with a naked terrain. That is a whole other issue though really…The US is trying to run the show in Latin America so that when it comes time for trading we can say that Latin America owes us. Again, this seems to have a twinge of me riding on my high horse, that America isn’t good enough. In contrast, I have great respect for America, it has taken on the role of ‘big brother’ to the nations, but it’s something we have to control as to not become to inflated in our egos.

*edit* wow... speaking of Latin American Drug Issues, today in class Dr. Redick discussed Mexican drug cartels, what are the chances? This would be a mistake on Latin America's side, this is why America thinks it has the right to get entirely too involved in Latin American affairs... becuase they bring the drugs into the states. I guess I never thought about the direct envolvement of them here. I'm still frustrated with foreign policy and how things are delt with, but fine, I will accept the other side of things.