When did Joes become Cobra?

I'm reading a Noam Chomsky book called Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance. It details basically how the US has fucked other nations for the past fifty years. Virtually every president since WWII has green lighted terrorist activities in other nations under the guise of national security. There was even one point during the Cuban missle crisis where the US government was thinking about sinking a ship or shooting down a drone airplane (said to have carried college students on holiday) in order to sway the US public opinion in favor of invading Cuba.

I'm only a hundred pages into the book right now, but every page is full of insights. Chomsky says the US goes to war with countries that: 1. Can't defend themselves 2. Has a much needed resource and 3. Can be demonized as a threat to US national security. For Iraq one and two were not a problem. The third point took a bit of work, but the US propaganda machine took care of that in no time.

The US government can do anything to any country anytime it feels like it. No one can stop them. They disregard the UN and world court orders because they can. The US is the playground bully pushing aside any opposition and taking whatever they want in the world.

Having been outside of "normal" life for a while now, I've had the luxury to think about the bigger picture. I've reflected on my life as an American and how brainwashed and complacent we've become (I'm seeing this in other nations as well). At an early age we're already in the grip of the machine. I still love cartoon and watch Cartoon Network when I can. The advertising on that channel is fierce and nearly gives me seizures. Kids are already taught to want even need things in order to be happy. This carries on through to adulthood and is one way of pacifying people.

In school you are taught to do well in order to get good grades to get into a good university. Why? Is it to become educated? A thinker? An artist? I think that most of the time it is to find a job and make a shitload of money in order can buy all the crap people think they need. This is what helps alienate the US from what is really going on in the rest of the world. I know. I used to be there.

I didn't really know or care about the rest of the world, I was dealing with my own crisis. I had a routine. I went to work in order to pay my various bills, buy food, and hopefully have a little left over so I could go out and forget about life. And of course buy whatever crap I thought would make me feel better, for a little while.

I feel like countries all over the world are becoming more like the US in this sense, where things are more important than anything else. I think things are coming to a head for me because here in Vietnam communism rules by being capitalistic. "Communism refers to a theoretical system of social organization and a political movement based on common ownership of the means of production. As a political movement, communism seeks to overthrow capitalism through a workers' revolution and establish a classless society."