"Luke, I'm your Vader"

What's worse? Finding out that Vader is your father, or that your father is Vader?

I've been reading (and listening) to a fair amount of books and interviews that fill in the frequently missed but important details of American history in foreign affairs. I think many high school history teachers (the good ones) give nuanced hints at these details but both time and sensitivity to backlash cause them to rush through topics like the Spanish-American war, and by the time they get to covering the 1950s there is not enough time left in the year to discuss America's overthrow of the democratic Iranian government with any detail.

So with just the nuances about these events, it left me with the general sense that these were minor details to the bigger picture. Sure the US is not perfect, but certainly we are well intended and beneficial to the rest of the world in the long run. I could rationalize that at least things worked out better for everyone; who wants to change it now?

However, as I enter the historical details of American foreign policy, things change quickly when you find out more about your own nation's true character, and the presence of systemic "dark-side" faults. Terms like imperialism and militarism being applied to the USA no longer rings as hollow. An honest look at these terms' definitions and comparing the USA with past empires (British, French, Roman), leads one to a realization that I am a citizen of an imperial nation. Sure, I didn't see this easily and sure some think being an empire is good. However, is it not reasonable that most citizens of the Roman Empire were so wrapped up in their national rhetoric and its benefits that they developed a myopic view and justification where they could only view their nation in a predominately positive light? The typical Roman, like the typical American, probably saw their nation as a positive hegemon of good and progressive ideals and providing the obviously needed oversight of other nations. They also probably excused their nation's own "few" faults as pragmatic realities or minor imperfections in executing the vision. The American citizen today, needs to step outside of his or her national identity; we can't do that by stepping outside of the current time like we can do with the Roman identity (i.e. hindsight), but we can put ourselves in the position or "shoes" of other nations where we can more objectively understand our own nation's faults and the criticisms laid against America.

So as I find out how brutal and unjustified the Philippine-American War was (did you know there was such a war?), I began to realize that my "fatherland" who I grew up thinking was fairly noble has a dark-side, and not just a few quirks. In the Star Wars fantasy, Luke was raised in an environment where while oppressed by the empire, he was able to discern good, so that when he encountered his evil nemesis, Lord Vader, he had to initially reject him as his father and then saught to redeem him. But what if you grew up with seeing Vader as good because you were the unwitting beneficary of the oppressive environments and considered the empire's methods as necessary and even good. I think it is a more difficult path to finally recognize that your father is the detestable Vader and attempt to pull yourself away, much less even attempt to redeem your Vader-father, then to find out that the detestable Vader was once your father but you have nothing to be ashamed of yourself. Maybe the citizens of many western-european countries are feeling more like the latter today, because they only have to read about their "father" once being a Vader (i.e. empire) rather than actually having a father who still is a Vader.