American Greed

[White Panda]

Well, during a long conversation with my class today, I jokingly said the following statement, "‎The world needs to stop *****ing about Americans being greedy. Everyone is greedy, Americans are just successful at it." At first it silenced most of my class, but then they started to think about it and most of my class agreed with me, the rest were die hard, American patriots who were offended and took the statement personally.

Anyways, I want to know your opinions on the statement and the world wide stereotype that Americans are greedy. My reasoning behind why I actually do believe my statement to be true is because America is not a unique country at all. Our government is based off of that of Rome and Greece and the way we run our economy, markets, and the fact that we are so capitalist were all taken from Japan and various countries in Europe. They were methods of marketing brought over through the massive waves of immigration. Our culture as a whole is also heavily based on European influence while China and Japans cultures, outside of government(China) and marketing specifics (mannerisms -- Japan) are based on our own.

tl;dr Do you believe that the stereo type that all Americans are greedy is true or do you believe that as a species we innately want more, thus we are all greedy no matter our cultural specifics? Or of course, another possibility outside of those two?

 

[Gimgak]

Just capitalists in general

 

[Black Angel]

No, and I am not saying that as an American, but rather, the fact that there is no way for anyone to say that they know every person in the group, that they are stereotyping, for any particular stereotype to be true. Attempting to do so, only shows a person's ignorance and gross lack of intelligence.

Stereotypes are based on ignorance, some of them based on fear, and possibly hate, but they are not based on fact. So no, not all Americans are greedy, in the same way that not all not all Blacks are criminals, not all Germans are Nazis, not all British have bad teeth, not all Spanish are Casanovas, not all French are cowards, not all Italians are mafioso, not all Irish are drunks, etc. etc.

The U.S., is, in essence, the sum of its parts. Just like our language and the people that live here. We have the language, culture etc., because of the people that came here, and made their contribution, while putting down roots, and just like Conglomerate rock, this country is what it is because of the diverse people that it is composed of.

I have seen a lot of greedy people, not just here, but elsewhere as well, and I have seen many more that weren't greedy. Personally though, I am not greedy. I live within my means, and I am content with what I have, and don't try to bite off more than I can chew. That is not to say that every person is the same, and the number of people with [multiple] credit card debt, is evident of that.

 

[The Reverend]

Well, during a long conversation with my class today, I jokingly said the following statement, "‎The world needs to stop bitching about Americans being greedy. Everyone is greedy, Americans are just successful at it." At first it silenced most of my class, but then they started to think about it and most of my class agreed with me, the rest were die hard, American patriots who were offended and took the statement personally.

Anyways, I want to know your opinions on the statement and the world wide stereotype that Americans are greedy. My reasoning behind why I actually do believe my statement to be true is because America is not a unique country at all. Our government is based off of that of Rome and Greece and the way we run our economy, markets, and the fact that we are so capitalist were all taken from Japan and various countries in Europe. They were methods of marketing brought over through the massive waves of immigration. Our culture as a whole is also heavily based on European influence while China and Japans cultures, outside of government(China) and marketing specifics (mannerisms -- Japan) are based on our own.

tl;dr Do you believe that the stereo type that all Americans are greedy is true or do you believe that as a species we innately want more, thus we are all greedy no matter our cultural specifics? Or of course, another possibility outside of those two?

Does it count as a stereotype if its true?Not all americans are greedy, but america has become the most hated country in the world for being collectively greedy.

 

[White Panda]

In all honesty, I believe that most stereotypes have a topping of truth at the very least to them all.

 

[Lint]

Not every American is greedy...but the ones that you can see are. On television, and such, and in the government. Also, were a capitalist country. George Bush got us innvolved with a part of the world containing lots of oil. We have a TV SHOW called SURVIVOR. Where you could win a crapload of cash. Cigarette companies actual demographic they aim towards is f***ing children, so they can make money. Athletes make millions for playing games. People think they look ugly, so they get surgery to fix it. Musicians make millions for singing about stupid things like partying and they use synthesizers. MTV puts teenagers on TV for being pregnant. Will Smith buys acts and movies for his kids to be in. And one of them, Willow Smith, is famous for coming up with "I whip my hair back and forth".

???

 

[Tressy]

In my opinion, it's more or less human nature to be greedy. Only differences between individuals, I feel, are how well you can control your greed, to what extent you're greedy and in what ways. My two cents. 🙂

 

[Nuke]

I'm so greedy that I want to flee to Russia and get lower taxes.

Yeah.