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A professor in the Department of Liberal Studies at Texas A&M at Galveston recently wrote a piece for The Washington Post in which he claims surfing became an Olympic sport due to “centuries of U.S. imperialism.”Thomas Earle kind of stretches the meaning of “centuries” for, as he notes, the American imperialist tendency didn’t even begin until the early-to-mid-19th century, when American missionaries journeyed to Hawaii....Earle notes a man named Alexander Hume Ford then used surfing to “secure Hawaii as an outpost of the American empire.” The newfound adoration of surfing brought whites to the islands which “strengthen[ed] America’s imperial grasp.”During the Cold War, “surfing and U.S. military involvement went hand in hand, bringing wave riding to places such as Japan, Vietnam and Central America.” Along with the assistance of American tourists, this expansion of the sport “became a central part of America’s use of soft power to win hearts and minds.”
Professor: Surfing an Olympic sport due to ‘centuries of U.S. imperialism’https://www.thecollegefix.com/professor-surfing-an-olympic-sport-due-to-centuries-of-u-s-imperialism/So King Kamehameha I and Duke Paoa Kahanamoku were really US Imperialists?! Who knew?
