the imperial core is the primary beneficiary population in an imperium. the three main imperial cores are New York City, Moscow, and Beijing. in these places wealth stolen from the fringes are used to placate the masses. there are still people who suffer in the imperial core, but the material conditions of the populace convince the masses that some of that suffering will be resolved soon and then the comfort will be extended to all.

it's like… you know how people in the nordic countries are happier than most of the rest of the world, but then within those countries there is hardcore ignored racial bias and sami people don't have access to ALL the benefits of their society? and then when you look into how wealth moves in the nordics you find that much of their comfort comes thanks to an extractive petrochemical industry that is not sustainable? that's this concept in micro. in macro, the nordic countries are part of a three empire system that isn't immediately obvious thanks to neocolonialism hiding who's exploiting who behind multinational trillion dollar companies.

Some people are more concerned with feeling right than being understood. Also a touch of in-group-joy by using phrasing of in-group

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_countries

Yep, sounds like an average USAian.