every time someone in the imperial core- especially the US- does whatever outrage theatre about potentially losing access to imperial benefits like cheap and universally accessible bananas- primarily from Guatemala- i think about all the imperial boons that aren't even stated. Brazilian lumber. Congolese copper. Colombian coffee. Indian gemstones. Malagasy vanilla. Mexican liquor. Ecuadoran shellfish. Vietnamese textiles. Peruvian gold. motor vehicle parts, unrefined petroleum, raw aluminum, leather, plastics, vegetable oils, cement articles, furniture, and on and on and on, exploited and stolen at gunpoint the world over. the enormity of violence that buys their comfort is practically impossible to overstate, as is its ubiquity. an endless cavalcade of invasions and coups and unpayable loans and structural adjustment policies and legal and economic advisors preaching austerity. it is an imperial benefit in itself to be capable of ignoring something so omnipresent and overtly insulting to immediately launch into a "woe is me!" act whenever they can't
