Massive Cultural Empire...Not So Much

That is a picture from the Washington Post of Mark Apram, Baghdad's "most popular tattoo artist", who is proud to say "Anything American, I love it" (h/t Tom Bowler). Well, the Iron Maiden "Killers" shirt is British, but you get the idea. With this bold proclamation that didn't even involve throwing a show, you know he's not winning any friends in the American liberal community. The WaPo has an extensive article of how even though American forces are pulling out of cities, the cultural influence will have a lasting effect:

But the whispers may linger just as long -- the far quieter way in which two cultures that often found it difficult to share the same space intersected to reshape Iraq's language, culture and sensibility. From tattoos of Metallica to bellybutton piercings, from posters for a rap concert in Baghdad to stories parents tell their naughty children in Fallujah of the Americans coming to get them, the occupation has already left its mark.

The big benefit of cultural globalization is that the people have the freedom to choose how they live their life from a variety of trends rather than ones dictated by the state and religion. Reason had a huge article celebrating this phenomenon late last year. They've got metalheads in Iran, you can't go in a club in Southeast Asia right now without hearing "Poker Face", and even communist Laos has it's own Gangsta Rap outfit. Usually when you hear overeducated people talking about how America is "culturally imperialistic", it's because their culture of Segways, organic food, and self-righteous attitudes isn't the one being exported. Besides America is just a cultural stew of the rest of the world after all, who are we to judge what people can't pick and choose.