Are americans high in themselves?

[Lg2000]

Average American is arrogant and selfish
.they full of themselves for no real reason.

 

[FireDragon76]

America is a nation in decline.

Trump supporters sort-of had the right diagnosis, but the wrong "cure". Every society that has had a loss of confidence is tempted towards fascism and fanaticism, but it's the wrong move. Thank goodness the American people rejected that move.

Americans are becoming much more narcissistic and self-involved than they were decades ago, and far more tribalistic. Also, there's more people given to low social trust than in the past. Conservatives have also run out of a compelling moral vision for the world.

I think decline in the US is inevitable. America's success in the world was due to being the survivor of two world wars that left much of the world in ruins, and not due to any kind of intrinsic exceptionalism. An ex-patriot Youtuber I have been following, Cyrus Janssen, has said that this century will be the Chinese century, based on having lived in China for the better part of a decade, and I am inclined to agree with him. The cultural center of gravity for global civilization likely will shift towards east Asia, and Anglo-American style democracy will increasingly not be see as morally compelling. Nations will be attracted to competent bureaucracies and expertise as models for their development, not government by the opinion of rubes and louts.

And in the end, I believe this is actually a good thing. America's lifestyle is threatening global civilization and undermining even peoples natural resilience (America is the biggest drug user in the world, after all, and our suicide rate is increasing among people who are otherwise relatively affluent). It can only be a good thing to dispense with bad, played out modes of being.

 

[FireDragon76]

I am aware of how certain people promote that the United States is God's country for promoting the Gospel. But there is not the example of the Gospel functioning in the overall United States culture, I would say.

Also > there are TV ministries which promote that America must "bless Israel", in order to keep on being blessed. So, they are tacking on an Israel agenda to their promotion that America is God's country for spreading the Gospel. But it appears to me, how there can be virtually no evaluation of any candidate of theirs, who is pro-Israel politically, and no evaluation of if Israel is obeying Jesus as their Messiah. But it seems ones mainly talk about returning to land . . . not how ones need to return to the LORD by trusting and obeying Jesus who is the Lord of all.

Christianity in America is increasingly a bunch of incoherent religious ideas/sentiments. At times, one must strain hard to find a "love your neighbor" in there, somewhere. It seems the most ardent advocates for your religion are obsessed with telling people what they shouldn't do in their private lives, rather than offering a compelling moral vision or ethic for living.

I am a Canadian who has travelled a fair amount in the USA. I have found Americans to be quite insular and the majority seem to have little knowledge or understanding of anything outside the USA and a fair number of those not even outside their state. The most extreme personal example is a man I met in Buffalo NY. He did not believe me when I told him that those bridges down at the river went to Canada. Having said all that I must admit that I have not been to the USA for about 30 years. I also must say that I found the people to be very friendly and hospitable.

I agree, Jack. America is very inward looking and parochial. That wouldn't be so bad if my country (right or wrong) didn't presume to tell the rest of the world how they should live, through threats of sanctions or military force.

Whenever an immigrant moves into my town, a family member of mine is always interested in why s/he chose Canada instead of the USA. One South American person in particular said, "Americans are all 'MONEY MONEY MONEY!'"

Another example is a young American. This person was very happy with the daily fear of getting shot being no longer there, even if there was nothing to do in my town.

...And there are many, many more anecdotal stories where those came from.

Not getting shot is a good thing indeed. "Boring" is better than having worries. Excitement is overrated.

Unfortunately, many Americans seemingly are OK with living with random acts of violence and they have unrealistic fantasies about personal success. It's not a wonder Americans are some of the biggest drug users in the world, as a result. When you live in a dangerous fantasyland, life hurts and it's full of ennui.

 

[Ophiolite]

Average American is arrogant and selfish
.they full of themselves for no real reason.

I'm interested to know how many "average Amercans" you have met? How many have you worked with? Which states did they come from? What education did they have? What was their ethnicity? Their religion?

I lived in the USA for two and a half years. I 've spent a further two to three years there on visits of from one week to a month. I worked for American companies for just shy of forty years. I've sold to Americans, trained Americans, hired Americans, fired Americans, shared apartments with Americans, had Americans subordinates and American bosses. I don't claim to know what an average American is, so I am curious to how you acquired this deep insight.

 

[bèlla]

According to Reference.com...

In 2018, an estimated 327,167,434 people lived in the United States and Puerto Rico, according to data reported by the US Census Bureau. Of these individuals, 253,768,092 were adults that were 18 years old or older.

‘Average’ exists within the world you know. The people you see. The experiences you have. Your reality isn’t true for everyone.

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. —Anais Nin

Yours in His Service,

~bella

 

[Lg2000]

Don't need to ask every person. That's not how things work. You don't ask every single person to make a rule.
Everything about self .
Look at how citizens are towards the pandemic and how bad it is over minor inconveniences then act like they being oppressed
." this a free country you can't tell me what to do " is huge in this country .
" A mask doesn't protect me , why should I wear one to protect you "
It doesn't just end there .
The majority American mindset is selfish, exceptions don't break the rules.

From putting they parents in homes , to everything being about individual and less about family and caring about others , motto basically is " I got mine, I don't care about you "

Arrogant comes from where we think we the best but we really aren't. We aren't even top 10 in quality of life for the average citizen.

If you see things differently that's cool. That's how I look at things and view the American mindset .

 

[SigurdReginson]

According to Reference.com...

In 2018, an estimated 327,167,434 people lived in the United States and Puerto Rico, according to data reported by the US Census Bureau. Of these individuals, 253,768,092 were adults that were 18 years old or older.

‘Average’ exists within the world you know. The people you see. The experiences you have. Your reality isn’t true for everyone.

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. —Anais Nin

Yours in His Service,

~bella

Well said! All things percieved are subjective; only we can know what we know, and only we can own the experiences we have encountered in life. I could go on about this subject, as I find it super fascinating... but I'd rather not derail the thread.

 

[Chrystal-J]

Do you think it's proper to paint with such a broad brush? I've been around the internet too and I find people from a lot of other countries including Norway that exhibit the same behavior that you attribute to Americans. I can think of one person, a family friend of my wife's from Sweden, who is completely arrogant and thinks Sweden is the greatest country on Earth and all he does is bash America when he comes to visit. Also, the supposed anonymity of the internet doesn't help either. People say and do things online that they wouldn't face to face.

I agree. Also, if it's so bad, why are people clamoring to get here?

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Lying. It's one of the favorite American pastimes.

Ignoring the truth is worse. Not everyone lies, but most ignore truth.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I agree. Also, if it's so bad, why are people clamoring to get here?

For the "Benjamins".

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Many words but no answer to the question in the OP.

I didn't detect a coherent question there.

 

[gaara4158]

I agree. Also, if it's so bad, why are people clamoring to get here?

Most people aren’t. It’s mostly people trying to escape the Global South. Most immigrants come here from China, India, Mexico, or the Philippines.

 

[Robban]

I didn't detect a coherent question there.

Plain enough,
two question marks, one after the title and one after the post.

If you have difficulty understanding, ask the poster. (The OP)

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Plain enough,
two question marks, one after the title and one after the post.

If you have difficulty understanding, ask the poster. (The OP)

That's ok. It's more of a rambling rhetorical statement than a question.

 

[Chrystal-J]

Most people aren’t. It’s mostly people trying to escape the Global South. Most immigrants come here from China, India, Mexico, or the Philippines.

Link?

 

[gaara4158]

Link?

Key findings about U.S. immigrants

 

[Bradskii]

My wife and I spent a few months travelling around the US in 2019. And without fail, everyone we met was easy going and friendly. But before we got there I told my wife we needed a rule: We don't discuss religion, guns or politics. And we got on fine with everyone. But there were times when we were in a bar (in Georgia for example) and I thought that a reasonable percentage of people in there may well believe that the end times are due, might well be carrying a gun and probably voted for Trump.

But I can't wait to get back there to be honest.

 

[BNR32FAN]

I mean, they talk about how great they are, but think about it, the presidents doesn`t have to be social ether in society with normal people or on the internet and they don`t even mention the struggles some people have with that and they also kill people out of country instead of just using humour and talk and I`ve been around the internet also, forums, games and so fourth, they all just talk garbage the americans there, why do they stand up there and lie to everyone?

Your stereotyping 326,000,000 people. Surely you would agree that in a group of that magnitude there would be some diversity? The truth is there are a lot of Americans who can’t believe how stupid a lot of Americans are. So we’re not all in the same category.

 

[MehGuy]

Your stereotyping 326,000,000 people. Surely you would agree that in a group of that magnitude there would be some diversity? The truth is there are a lot of Americans who can’t believe how stupid a lot of Americans are. So we’re not all in the same category.

Agree.. also America is a very vast land area. You could almost look at parts of America as different countries. I live in a state that consistently ranks high in degrees of living and education and I've had many people who moved here from another state remark how peaceful and rational people are compared to where they once lived in the US. I have also read some studies on IQ and SAT scores depending on the state.. with some states averaging around 95 IQ points and others 103. While may not seem much, I think when you get to half a deviation level you'll start noticing things with the average population.

Your experience of America is going to depend where you live.

 

[Jaxxi]

You do know "Americans" include Canadians, Mexicans, Central Americans...all the way down to...what is it...Argentina...don't you?


But, yeah, okay...you mean U.S. Citizens.

I really don't know the answer to your question, I guess, because I've never been outside of the Americas. They say world travel is the greatest education and I can see why that may be. I would think that empathy...having the capacity to peer through the lens of many different cultures would make one wiser and more humble. But, maybe not. I mean, the U.S. is a sort of worldwide melting pot drawing from the rest of the world, so one could argue that we have been (ahead of the rest of the world) about the business of tolerance and empathy, but it has been a messy business, that's for sure.

But you have to admit that our culture has taken everything God finds disgusting, ( greed, violence, porn, sensuality, idols, envy, pride, divorce, gluttony, lust, power, status) and made it our everyday culture. I hate to think that our " freedom" we have valued so much for so long was essentially " freedom from God." Our money says " In God we trust" yet it has occult symbols on it so it makes me question what God they had in mind. I mean, God Almighty wouldn't be associated with money for one, or the All seeing eye and a pyramid, right?