#so you pretend that you are not responsible at all. even though thats demonstrably untrue.

[aesthetics-over-ethics]

You made my point- isn't it the government and rich people that money is going to that is the evil ones, not us? We are a part of an evil system, yes. We have no choice. We are exploited by our government, who is even more exploitative towards others. It's like saying a medieval peasant is evil just for working for the rich lord that uses that money for more cruelty, when it's either that or die. There's no way to truly "opt out". I'd rather have solidarity with other exploited people so that maybe one day we CAN opt out and not involuntarily contribute to this anymore. The rich politicians, of both parties want us divided and demoralized against doing anything to stop the cruel system, so we don't resist them

You exonerate yourself because you have no choice, but having no choice doesn't make you not responsible. Your being American is a cosmic accident, but accidental murder is still manslaughter. There is no way to have clean hands. You can only do what you can, what we all can, in trying to clean them. It's demoralizing to acknowledge the part you play - but it's necessary to acknowledge that part, to understand why we have the responsibility to help those people our money and labor harm. And those same people are right in distrusting us, because we are hurting them, much more than we are helping them.

We have to understand what harm we cause before we can attempt to fix it properly - just as you have to understand how your actions have harmed another person before you can apologize and make it right. I'm not saying you're personally responsible for everything, I'm saying you should take responsibility for the small part of it you are responsible for, as we all should. It shouldn't be divisive to say the American people are responsible for US imperialism because we're the ones funding it. I understand hating having a guilty conscience for something you had no power over. But it's better to be apologetic for the harm you've caused than to pretend you didn't cause it at all.

You might think of a car accident as a metaphor here. You were driving your car safely, and got into an accident. The other driver, who was also driving safely, passed away. It isn't your fault that that person died, but you are responsible for it. Wouldn't their family hate you a little less if you were at least apologetic instead of saying, essentially, "I didn't do anything wrong! It was the traffic light's fault for being defective!"