Why is American society so cutthroat and selfish?

[zboy1]

It's something I have always wondered about the US? Why is the country is so materialistic, selfish, and cutthroat--especially in regards to other advanced Western countries, say compared to Canada or the European countries. I noticed there's much less greed and selfishness in other Western countries in comparison. Everyone in the U.S. is seemingly trying to outdo and outcompete one another at any cost...it seems. Americans are also very rude to one another and there is a lot less unity and feeling of togetherness I get living in the USA. Am I wrong or am I just full of nonsense?

[jamesbond]

It's something I have always wondered about the US? Why is the country is so materialistic, selfish, and cutthroat--especially in regards to other advanced Western countries, say compared to Canada or the European countries. I noticed there's much less greed and selfishness in other Western countries in comparison. Everyone in the U.S. is seemingly trying to outdo and outcompete one another at any cost...it seems. Americans are also very rude to one another and there is a lot less unity and feeling of togetherness I get living in the USA. Am I wrong or am I just full of nonsense?

I think this hyper competitivenss starts in high school and continues on through college and then continues in the work force.

The work force competitiveness is off the charts in America. If your making your sales goals, your boss will ask you why you aren't doing better. If your the top sales producer in the whole company, your boss will STILL will want you to do better.

No wonder why the US has the highest rate of mental illness of any industrialized country in the world!

We are a nation of neurotic people, thanks to our employers, teachers and parents!

[E_Irizarry]

Fuckin' agreed. +∞!!! (plus infinity pts.)

[patrick]

The same competitiveness which made the USA the nr1 is now showing it's negative sides.

Perhaps it's the end of an empire, like the Roman empire or how a lot of other great civilications went down. Wars, excessiveness, everything which needed to be done has been done, the land has been taken over and developed, the original people are locked in their camps, no usefull countries left to colonise, no real goal anymore. Just rich people who want to be filthy rich so they can be filthy rich, be happy with it and in the meantime f**k all normal people over. So now the US (or any great empire on it's decline) is just eating itself away from the inside.

[Jester]

The same competitiveness which made the USA the nr1 is now showing it's negative sides.

Perhaps it's the end of an empire, like the Roman empire or how a lot of other great civilications went down. Wars, excessiveness, everything which needed to be done has been done, the land has been taken over and developed, the original people are locked in their camps, no usefull countries left to colonise, no real goal anymore. Just rich people who want to be filthy rich so they can be filthy rich, be happy with it and in the meantime f**k all normal people over. So now the US (or any great empire on it's decline) is just eating itself away from the inside.

You said it.

i wonder if a man, or a society, always needs a goal greater than themselves? Like, excluding money, material possessions, or sex, what is your goal?

America used to have:
Establishing Religious Freedom
Filling the Continent ("Manifest Destiny")
Prosperity for the Common Man
Saving the World from Fascism/Communism

Some individuals are subsumed in their own Higher Purpose:
Some sculptors
Some architects
Some athletes
Some performers
Some inventors
Some golfers

Who else?

Ideas, anyone?

My guess is each of us needs to work this out for ourselves. If we don't serve a purpose, we will end up serving a p***y, or a cult, or a shot glass...

[Jackal]

No wonder why the US has the highest rate of mental illness of any industrialized country in the world!

We are a nation of neurotic people, thanks to our employers, teachers and parents!

Yes, I think that mental illness is both the cause the result of how violent and selfish American society is. It's a vicious cycle of decline. Mentally healthy people just don't act that way!

Add in how Americans are increasingly isolated by technology and rarely talk to their neighbors anymore and the result is isolation which makes mental illness even worse. In normal countries, people actually TALK to each other without needing to have them pre-approved by three friends who are already in your clique.

[fschmidt]

It's something I have always wondered about the US? Why is the country is so materialistic, selfish, and cutthroat--especially in regards to other advanced Western countries, say compared to Canada or the European countries. I noticed there's much less greed and selfishness in other Western countries in comparison. Everyone in the U.S. is seemingly trying to outdo and outcompete one another at any cost...it seems. Americans are also very rude to one another and there is a lot less unity and feeling of togetherness I get living in the USA.

I think the cause is male sexual frustration. American men are the most undersexed in the world. This is a result of lack of prostitution combined with female frigidity left over from puritanism combined with feminist promiscuous hypergamy. Sexual frustration causes extreme competition in the subconscious hope of sex as well as total inconsideration for one's fellow man.

i wonder if a man, or a society, always needs a goal greater than themselves? Like, excluding money, material possessions, or sex, what is your goal?

To support some sane culture. All alternative cultures are based on religion. I am currently leaning toward Orthodox Judaism after realizing that Christianity is a lost cause.

[HenryGeorge]

The same competitiveness which made the USA the nr1 is now showing it's negative sides.

Perhaps it's the end of an empire, like the Roman empire or how a lot of other great civilications went down. Wars, excessiveness, everything which needed to be done has been done, the land has been taken over and developed, the original people are locked in their camps, no usefull countries left to colonise, no real goal anymore. Just rich people who want to be filthy rich so they can be filthy rich, be happy with it and in the meantime f**k all normal people over. So now the US (or any great empire on it's decline) is just eating itself away from the inside.

It is indeed quite similar to that of the Roman empire.

The great historian, Gibbons, who wrote The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, gave five reasons for the fall of the great dynasty.

First: Rapid increase of divorce, with the undermining of the sanctity of the home, which is the basis of society.

Second: Higher and higher taxes; the spending of money for bread and celebrations.

Third: The mad craze for pleasure, sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal.

Fourth: The building of gigantic armaments, when the real enemy was within; the decadence of the people.

Fifth: The decay of religion; faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life, and becoming impotent to guide it.

http://www.theexaminer.org/volume6/number6/empire.htm

[FormerWallStreeter]

HenryGeorge nailed it.

I'd like to add conspicuous consumption, insatiable greed, and media-propagandized group-think, all made easier to swallow by fake McFood, unlimited "content", and BigFatPharma.

FWS

[Voice of Reason]

The same competitiveness which made the USA the nr1 is now showing it's negative sides.

Perhaps it's the end of an empire, like the Roman empire or how a lot of other great civilications went down. Wars, excessiveness, everything which needed to be done has been done, the land has been taken over and developed, the original people are locked in their camps, no usefull countries left to colonise, no real goal anymore. Just rich people who want to be filthy rich so they can be filthy rich, be happy with it and in the meantime f**k all normal people over. So now the US (or any great empire on it's decline) is just eating itself away from the inside.

The United States has had it's time of prosperity. Now there's only one direction left that it can go - backwards.

[youtube]https://youtube.com/watch?v=gmUXD3iqSpI[/youtube]

Edit: I DO NOT KNOW WHY THE VIDEO DOESN'T EMBED INTO MY MESSAGE. YOU'LL JUST NEED TO C&P IT.

[jamesbond]

Add in how Americans are increasingly isolated by technology and rarely talk to their neighbors anymore and the result is isolation which makes mental illness even worse. In normal countries, people actually TALK to each other without needing to have them pre-approved by three friends who are already in your clique.

Yes your right, in normal countries, people do actually talk to each other without needing to them pre-approved by three friends who are already in your clique!

[Jester]

i wonder if a man, or a society, always needs a goal greater than themselves? Like, excluding money, material possessions, or sex, what is your goal?

To support some sane culture. All alternative cultures are based on religion. I am currently leaning toward Orthodox Judaism after realizing that Christianity is a lost cause.

Interesting. I plan to move from here, but don't want my grandchildren to grow up as LatinAmerican prettyboys and divas. So I am toying with the idea of founding my own sect perhaps nominally Catholic. Catholic, orthodox and Pentecostal in terms of beliefs, but with clear rules. Boundaries. Separation. Christianity and Judaism - work well when dominant, or when separated. Mennonites, for example.

[Jester]

i wonder if a man, or a society, always needs a goal greater than themselves? Like, excluding money, material possessions, or sex, what is your goal?

To support some sane culture.

Yes.

[aozora13]

You have the same situation as in the Roman empire. They had their high points but then almost every empire (America's imperial Empire too) introduced more equal rights for women (but also catering to rights that women should not have), buidling up the Military complex and introduction of more breads and circuses (sports entertainment and other forms of violence; depravity).

You introduce this to America and most of the western world followed and we are not at the last stage of the American empire. It was a good experient to the have a Constitional Republic but it is on it last legs.

High Debt (Catering to the Baby Boomers and current people of this generations; making future born into automatic debt wage slaves or future serfs)

Degregation of Society
High Unemployment
Greed

[Jester]

You have the same situation as in the Roman empire. They had their high points but then almost every empire (America's imperial Empire too) introduced more equal rights for women (but also catering to rights that women should not have), buidling up the Military complex and introduction of more breads and circuses (sports entertainment and other forms of violence; depravity).

You introduce this to America and most of the western world followed and we are not at the last stage of the American empire. It was a good experient to the have a Constitional Republic but it is on it last legs.

High Debt (Catering to the Baby Boomers and current people of this generations; making future born into automatic debt wage slaves or future serfs)

Degregation of Society
High Unemployment
Greed

Scary.