United States Hegemony and its Perils! | PART III | Thinking Out Loud

In this episode of his "Thinking Out Loud" series, Double D uses a memorandum from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, coupled with other sources, to examine the nature and breadth of U.S. technological and cultural hegemony and how this hegemony relates to the American Empire as a whole.

Jumping in to the video, Double D recaps some of the discussion from the previous two episodes, before starting an analysis of the Plaza Accords and the Fairchild Agreement. Citing an article from Los Angeles Times, printed in 1987, he outlines how Japan was outcompeting the United States semi-conductor and microchip companies. A realization that lead U.S. corporations, in conjunction with the Defense Department and the Intelligence Community, to hobble Japanese financial markets as well as their high-tech industries; forcing them to open up their markets to U.S. industrial competition as well as financial speculation.

Double D also outlines the various other ways the United States engages in protectionism. He insists that the "free-market" is an egregious lie, and shows how increasingly U.S. tech firms amount to nothing more than financialized conglomerates. Using Apple as an example, he explains how Apple does not manufacture products, provide research and development, or ship their own products; rather third party corporations do all the productive work, while Apple Corporation receives "rent" on their intellectual property.

Double D goes on to explain how the same scheme used to hobble Japanese competition is being weaponized once again in the ongoing trade war with China. He highlights the recent barring or condemnation of Chinese firms such as Huawei or TikTok. He scoffs at rhetoric around this trade war, where the U.S. claims "the protection of democracy" or ensuring "national security" around these bans, noting that the situation really constitutes protectionism for American corporations which are increasingly no longer innovative or competitive on the global stage. He points out that this "high-tech economic war" has higher stakes for the U.S. Empire beyond controlling global markets, acknowledging that much of the recent "Chip War" rests on the fact that U.S. military hegemony is rooted in having access to cheap microchips as well as other tech commodities which are essential for military hardware and AI.

Moving on, Double D attempts to provide some analysis which shows the conjunction between U.S. technological hegemony and its global surveillance state; noting the ties between the Intelligence Community and Tech Giants such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google. He goes on to outline the history of the U.S. surveillance state, noting the revelations brought about by Edward Snowden, as well as recent leaks which show that the United States has been spying on its European Allies, including French Presidents and Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Ending the discussion on technological hegemony, Double D begins to analyze cultural hegemony. He begins by describing the "culture industrial complex." That is the relationships between Hollywood, Mass Media, the Intelligence Community, and the political class; and how this industrial complex is used to instill "cultural hegemony." Next he plays a brief video outlining Antonio Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony, which explains how the dominant ideology of the ruling class is trickled through stories and images to become a "common-sense", that the majority of people will never question. Double D relates this to U.S. political culture as well, explaining how the same process, the same "spectacle" is played out via mass media. He ends the video by playing a brief explainer-visualizer that outline the principles of Noam Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent", which shows on the mass media corporations act as a filter through which all political discourse must be sieved.

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