America: The Most Selfish Nation In The World?

[SavageTaker]

A couple of weeks ago in my political science class we were having a debate and the topic was, is America the most selfish nation in the world? At first I didn't think it was a good topic to debate because I thought that everyone if not most of my peers were going to say no. I was actually surprised because majority of the class actually said yes, and I was on the side that said no we aren't with about 4 other people. So I decided to bring this topic to you, the people of WrestleZone, to get your thoughts and feelings on this subject.

I personally feel that America isn't the most selfish nation in the world, but that doesn't mean we aren't selfish at all. We give billions of dollars in foreign aid to many countries throughout the world and sometimes it maybe for political and/or selfish reasons, but no one can deny we still give less fortunate countries help. Additionally, every time or at least most of the times there is a natural disaster in other countries, like most recently in Japan, we are usually right there to help them with relief efforts. Furthermore, when other countries need help that doesn't involve natural disasters or anything like that, we will sometimes offer them our help and some other countries will do so too just like we (as in America and every other country currently helping) are doing for Libya.

So clearly, I don't think America is the most selfish nation in the world. Who is the most selfish is another question, one which I can't answer because I don't have sufficient knowledge to really judge that.

So what do you guys think? Is America really the most selfish nation in the world? If so, why? If not, then which nation is?

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

No, of course not. This is just something that other jack-asses around the world say for political brownie points. You could say that America contains some of the most selfish individuals in the world but it would be flat-out wrong to say that we're the most selfish nation in the world. We can rightfully be considered a nation of consumers, but I fail to see how that's bad for the people that normally bitch about us. Our consumption of oil has provided for the wealth of many Middle Eastern countries (look up the United Arab Emirates, in particular the city of Dubai) and our consumption of shit manufactured products from China will be one of the factors that plays no small part in their ascendancy to world hegemony.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I wouldn't say that America is THE most selfish nation in the world.... but we are definitely up there. Some Americans are rich, spoiled, and greedy.... Which makes us appear selfish to the rest of the world, as they represent the same country as those of us who are not that way. Other countries have their fair share of greedy and selfish people too, but Americans often take things they have for granted and then act selfish when they only care about their own advancement. We all as humans are guilty of that at one point or another, no one's perfect. I can see why people might think America is the most selfish nation though. We often get portrayed that way in media.

 

[SalvIsWin]

I'm going to reply to this in more depth later, but I have a question for you three who disagree that the most selfish nation is The United States - Which nation is it then?

 

[Mustang Sally]

We give billions of dollars in foreign aid to many countries throughout the world and sometimes it maybe for political and/or selfish reasons, but no one can deny we still give less fortunate countries help. Additionally, every time or at least most of the times there is a natural disaster in other countries, like most recently in Japan, we are usually right there to help them with relief efforts. Furthermore, when other countries need help that doesn't involve natural disasters or anything like that, we will sometimes offer them our help and some other countries will do so too just like we (as in America and every other country currently helping) are doing for Libya.

When first reading your topic, I thought your question was pertaining to the people of our country; whether we as citizens of our country are selfish. But the paragraph quoted above applies to our government, not regular citizens like you and I. After all, it's the government that arranges for all this foreign aid....we just read about it in the papers, no? If we were asked to vote on whether or not to extend some of the aid you're mentioning, I truly wonder what the results would be.

As for the people of the U.S., I don't think "selfish" is the word I'd use. We can't understand why we aren't loved throughout the world but I would narrow it down to this: We don't appreciate that we have so much.....we take it for granted and that's what I think people from other countries hold against us.

Don't get me wrong; we are the greatest country in the world and we don't have to apologize to anyone for what we have. I'm just suggesting that we take the time to appreciate that we have so much and understand how lucky we are to live here.

 

[SavageTaker]

I'm going to reply to this in more depth later, but I have a question for you three who disagree that the most selfish nation is The United States - Which nation is it then?

I took care of asking that in my OP but I'll respond anyways.

Honestly, I really don't know which nation is the most selfish and that can be attributed to the fact that I've only lived in two different countries and I've never really done a lot of research on what the other nations around the world do to contribute.

Overall though, I think every nation has a little bit of selfishness in them whether it has to do with money or helping others, every or at least most are selfish in their own way.

When first reading your topic, I thought your question was pertaining to the people of our country; whether we as citizens of our country are selfish. But the paragraph quoted above applies to our government, not regular citizens like you and I. After all, it's the government that arranges for all this foreign aid....we just read about it in the papers, no? If we were asked to vote on whether or not to extend some of the aid you're mentioning, I truly wonder what the results would be.

You can interpret my OP however you want. If you'd like you can tell me why the people in America are selfish or not or you could tell me just about the government here, it's up to you really.

As for the people of the U.S., I don't think "selfish" is the word I'd use. We can't understand why we aren't loved throughout the world but I would narrow it down to this: We don't appreciate that we have so much.....we take it for granted and that's what I think people from other countries hold against us.

I completely agree, and I think a better word for America and some Americans might be ungrateful. We should be more thankful for everything we have. Had it not been for the selfless French who knows where we would be at right now. Hell, we might not even be referring to this wonderful country as America had it not been for them. So I definitely agree with what you said and it really would hurt for us to sometimes show a little more appreciation.

Don't get me wrong; we are the greatest country in the world and we don't have to apologize to anyone for what we have. I'm just suggesting that we take the time to appreciate that we have so much and understand how lucky we are to live here.

Get ready to take some heat or at least some responses to that first sentence .

 

[Mac Attack]

No and I am Canadian.

I don't see the logic behind them being the most sefish country. The United States of America annually gives the most money to the following, charitable contributions, the WTO, the U.N, the GATT, and many more very well known and benefiting to society organizations. Also, the United States is a figure in the free market and as economists know free trade is what generally boosts everyone's economy. I think in general if you were to try to find a selfish nation then you would need to have a truly communistic nation who is having an isolationist economy. I think you would need to have an African country (Rwanda). So for these reasons United States is clearly not the most selfish nation.

 

[wrestlingfan]

Like others have said you could say we have selfish, lazy, racist, etc individuals but the country as a whole in terms of the upper society and the actual country itself is not selfish. I think America can be selfish and can't be at times so they kind of flip-flop.

 

[RockFan89]

Is the U.S. the most selfish nation in the world? Of course not!

1) Our government, our corporations, and our people give away more wealth then any other country.

2) Despite what people may perceive it to be, our society is more accepting of poor immigrants then the rest of the world (including parts of Europe).

3) It's our military that is pretty much protecting the entire world. Our young men and women having to live in foreign countries (at the U.S.'s expense) so that other countries don't have to protect themselves.

4) We have for free trade that allows our corporations to move into the less developed world, cut American jobs, and give those jobs to those countries.

5) Who is the most selfish nation in the world? Well, to name a few off the top of my head:

North Korea - Looking to cause trouble in their region, threatening to develop nuclear weapons if the world doesn't bow to its needs. (Oh yeah, and the U.S. still has provided billions in aid to North Korea since their government won't take care of it's people)

China - They artificially keep the value of their currency low so that it's harder for foreign countries to sell to them, they have economic policies that make it extremely difficult for foreign companies to sell there, they block many actions from the U.N. that deal with Human rights in order to protect their own interests in the region

OPEC Nations - They increase/decrease oil prices for their own interests

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

What are the criteria for being labeled as "selfish"? It sounds to me like a completely subjective label based of cultural and economic differences between nations.

Even with that said, isn't the American government generally the first one to spend millions of dollars they'll never see again in the wake of huge international natural disasters? We sent more help to both Haiti and Japan than any other country in the world (don't quote me on the Haiti part, but we certainly did the most with Japan).