[deadbabe]

I have no idea why they would do this, but I often wonder if maybe soft power becomes less valuable in a world where more countries are able to empower themselves on their own. Perhaps soft power itself is only valuable as long as this asymmetry is sustained. Otherwise, it’s all about hard power.

[gunsle]

Exactly. We are heading out of a time where soft power is stronger than hard. We are going back to the days of hard power being the only thing that really matters. As resource competition becomes more intense, and economies stagnate, you can no longer afford to play “nice” with your countries’ future. It’s pretty annoying to me a lot of commenters on the internet are apparently too ideological or immature to grasp that.

[pousada]

Hard power was always stronger. That’s why the US was so successful in the past century - they just have a lot of weapons and little hesitation to use them. It’s a pretty bellicose culture too.

I still think that soft power helped the US tremendously. For all their faults i really had a very positive view on the US, most of it was coloured through soft power. “Inventing” modern democracy, liberating EU from the nazis, Rock’n’Roll, hippie movement, Hollywood, early internet culture - all that overshadowed the imperialism.

Now the mask has come off. And I believe you are right that it ultimately may not matter too much. But then again I doubt the US will be able to style itself again as the “good guys”, the ones who spread democracy to all the oppressed people and and so on without significant effort.

[deadbabe]

Modern democracy is screwed because of hyperpropaganda and political parties. Liberating EU from Nazis, a long time ago, no one cares anymore. Rock’n’roll not that popular now. Hippie movement is dead, replaced by woke. Hollywood is becoming devalued due to AI and other countries creating their own content, and most things are remakes now. Early internet culture is gone, everything is siloed into social media apps.

The United States has nothing now, back to imperialism it seems.

[diydsp]

Their soft power is being cashed in for the benefit of an oligarchy.