Why Are Some Americans So Shockingly Cruel?

Because people are people...there is good and bad, no matter where you go...be it America, Norway, Lybia, Zimbabwe, England, etc.

If you look around, there are lots of wonderful people all over America helping all types of people... with all kinds of needs... and from all walks of life....

Blanket drives, boot drives, food drives, volunteers gaining nothing helping people with shelter and babies and meals and house repairs...

As said before "The work is much, but the laborers are few."

just because you call someone names doesn't mean you feel that way. my best friend is black and ill still crack a black joke occasionally. words in america rarely ever carry any weight. look at peoples actions and not what they say.

reply to post by johncarter

Because those americans are social darwinist, the spiritual descendant of roman and holy roman empire, the red dragon.

Because Americans have been cold and hostile for years, it's nothing new. I've adapted, it's hard to adapt to things when you're just sick and tired of being sick and tired, if you get my meaning.
There are good people, bad people and idiots. Most of us have learned to deal with them and move on.

Why do 5% of the world's population consume 30% of its resources? There are many things wrong with the society, but I blame the systematic destruction of civility & values.

I mean, look at the trash they spew trough the braindead-tube, ranging from adverts (to consume more), tv shows like Jerry Springer (teaching crappy values) etc. The trash they tell you in the news 'we should be thankful for the Chinese for using led paint to make our toys, so prices can remain low'... Then you see that many families don't have time to parent their children (mostly work, some for lack of parenting abilities), so they plop their kids in front of the television, and warm them up a TV-dinner that has the nutritional value of cardboard.

Let me tell you, that isn't a way to raise anyone, let alone a child.

This is also the country where in which some states are nearing the 50% obese level, a huge amount of people eat anti-psychosis and anti-depressants.

It all comes down to the values of your leaders, the quality of your food, the quality of your education and the amount of parenting done. Environment molds. And right now, the environment in the US is largely toxic.

That's my analysis, at least.

(This post is not to say that everyone there is a bad person, no where near, but in my opinion it is mostly a highly dysfunctional environment)

reply to post by johncarter


You likely change your avatar. It is used by one of the top contributors on ATS and may create confusion. No need attributing someone else's words to yourself, right?

In any event, regarding the OP, are Americans some kind of different human? I would assume not, and going on that assumption I can answer your question with, "Humans, on the whole, are shockingly cruel."

How do you think The United States and the majority of all countries in the new world were forged, eh?
It was through brutality, genocide and cruelty. Manifest Destiny is still up in gears and running all through out the world. We can't seem to stop feeding the military industrial complex backed by our government sanctioned corporate conglomerate. Sure..it may have worked for awhile, but the human population continues to grow exponentially and our resources are numbered. Expect the worst...and hope for the best.
I consider myself damn lucky to be living in the U.S. because I certainly wouldn't want to be in a country that the US is not in good terms with.
Now...I'm certainly not going to say the U.S. is the worst country because it isn't, but we can do better for our own people and for our own prosperity, instead of just thinking about 'me me me', which seems to be the mentality that permeates our society these days. Shifting blame to the lowest income bracket isn't going to do a damn thing. It's already been said too many times, there's no point to it anymore. Just going to watch things go from bad to worse as we stumble along now.

Originally posted by TeroK
Why do 5% of the world's population consume 30% of its resources? There are many things wrong with the society, but I blame the systematic destruction of civility & values.

I am not singling you out per se, but what you say mirrors a lot of what was posted already.

If we are to look for blame, we should avoid blaming abstracts like "lack of civlity or values". There is no responsibility or accountability available for abstract concepts.

Instead, we should all look in the mirror. You and I are what is wrong.

If anyone is sick and tired of being sick and tired, the cure is to grow some cajones and stand against that which is making your sick, tired, or both. Until such a gut check is done by humanity, on the whole, this world will continue to suck.

What would you have us do? The vast majority of Americans are neither rich nor poor. The vast majority of Americans work their butt off every day and still barely get by.

Poverty is everywhere. Poverty in some countries is far worse than in the US. It isn't solely an American issue. It's a global issue. The "system" that is to blame is not an American one. It's an international one.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


When you decided to use your own avatar, did you check the thousands of avatars used by other members before you chose your current one?

Until the moderators of ATS can tell me the choice of an avatara may not in any way be equal to one of their chosen ATS elite, or in any way brakes their terms and conditions, this one stays as it is.

Go bully someone else.

It's how america was fashioned. they stole land from natives, massacred them, took all their resources under false pretenses even after the natives shared food with them. Then comes the financial eugenics system wtih america's indoctrination of capitalism and free market (of course, america is anything but free market). Look at the over all statistics. Those who are poorest live the lowest quality of life, while those who are richest, statistically speaking, live the best lives, and the gap is widening ever further between rich and poor. That's how you get stories of some dying person reaching out for help, while americans 1> walk over the person, 2> ignore that person, and 3> let that person die without any help whatsoever. Now would this happen if that same dying person hand several thousand dollars in his hand? Not likely. This is america, and america was founded upon european ideals, so really america should be considered an extension of europe (uk, dutch, italy, spain, france, ancient greek), and modern america should be considered an extension of nazi germany. Read about operation paperclip, only instead of a blitzkrieg, america chose the slow, methodical, and gradual destruction of the world while perfecting the propaganda psy-op of preaching freedom and democracy. Of course, america and the west are anything but freedom and democracy.

A few points from an American:

1) If American's are cruel, I'd hate to think what is said about Africans, or the Chinese, or the Indians/Pakistanis, or even many from Latin America. The fact remains that humans are cruel often times, and if we dwell on that segment of society we'll think it's all like that.

2) America is historically a "Do it yourself" freedom kind of place. When you take that culture and apply large social programs over it, you tend to generate adverse feelings.

That said, this economic situation is starting to change that.

3) When you try to apply anything to a nation that has radically diversity in terms of regional culture, history, lifestyle, etc you are generally left more in the wrong than anything else.

Peace
KJ

Originally posted by KrazyJethro
A few points from an American:

1) If American's are cruel, I'd hate to think what is said about Africans, or the Chinese, or the Indians/Pakistanis, or even many from Latin America.

No other coutnry has a history so blood as america (the united states), except for maybe britain and russia (stalin). From the massacre of the indians, to genocide of third world countries, such as vietnam and the 20 yr war in iraq, to the bogus wars on afghanistan and pakistan, and now libya. I bet history will look upon america as one of the most bloody and cruel nations, and just like germans during the nazi occupation, americans will think nothing was ever wrong right up until its fall.

Americans are among the most generous people on earth, giving the largest percentage of their money to charities and the poor. Of those Americans, so called "conservatives" give the most.

www.usatoday.com...

Americans give record $295B to charity'

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans gave nearly $300 billion to charitable causes last year, setting a record and besting the 2005 total that had been boosted by a surge in aid to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and the Asian tsunami.
Donors contributed an estimated $295.02 billion in 2006, a 1% increase when adjusted for inflation, up from $283.05 billion in 2005. Excluding donations for disaster relief, the total rose 3.2%, inflation-adjusted, according to an annual report released Monday by the Giving USA Foundation at Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy.

Giving historically tracks the health of the overall economy, with the rise amounting to about one-third the rise in the stock market, according to Giving USA. Last year was right on target, with a 3.2% rise as stocks rose more than 10% on an inflation-adjusted basis.

"What people find especially interesting about this, and it's true year after year, that such a high percentage comes from individual donors," Giving USA Chairman Richard Jolly said.

www.realclearpolitics.com...

If many conservatives are liberals who have been mugged by reality, Brooks, a registered independent, is, as a reviewer of his book said, a social scientist who has been mugged by data. They include these findings:

-- Although liberal families' incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227).

-- Conservatives also donate more time and give more blood.

-- Residents of the states that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George Bush.

-- Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average.

-- In the 10 reddest states, in which Bush got more than 60 percent majorities, the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states, which gave Bush less than 40 percent, donated just 1.9 percent.

-- People who reject the idea that "government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality" give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition.

But hey, don't let facts get in the way of your nasty generalizations.

reply to post by johncarter


Damn dude. No one is bullying you. I just noticed something that I thought you may not have known. Calm down. If you want to hitch yourself to Slayers post like that, feel free.
For what its worth, I make my own avatars.. I don't want to ever be mistaken for someone else.

Now, to be honest, that was only an aside. The rest of my post is what was relevant. My apologies for trying to befriend you.

ETA: it has occured to me that in your over reactive lashing out at me, you may have just displayed part of why "Americans are so shockingly cruel". Hyper vigilance, argumentativeness, hyper sensitivity, and over reaction. Just sayin'.

Originally posted by gameoverforyou
No other coutnry has a history so blood as america (the united states), except for maybe britain and russia (stalin). From the massacre of the indians, to genocide of third world countries, such as vietnam and the 20 yr war in iraq, to the bogus wars on afghanistan and pakistan, and now libya. I bet history will look upon america as one of the most bloody and cruel nations, and just like germans during the nazi occupation, americans will think nothing was ever wrong right up until its fall.

Garbage. Human savagery has been around since man has been around.

Much like the world has changed, America has changed with it. I'm not saying I agree with the choices America has made over the years, but America has made the world better in many ways as well. To deny this is to have a biased opinion and ignoring the facts.

But, if America is so terrible then Japan or South Korea should be testaments to our cruelty rather than the places they really are. Shoot, we were about as nasty with Japan as you can get (but it was war so the kid gloves were off), and look at them now.

Same goes with Vietnam. Sadly we got stuck with the effects of the French betrayal after helping to boot the Japanese. We are friends with them now.

America has done many things, good and bad, but you certainly can't count those things that happened before we became a nation.

Peace
KJ

Many people are raised to be. they tell their children they have to be fierce because life is competitive. Empathy is a sign of weakness. I find the cruelest people are those who have never had any real difficulty in life. These same people give to charities to make themselves feel better, but heaven forbid they help someone they know who has fallen on hard times.

ETA: it has occured to me that in your over reactive lashing out at me, you may have just displayed part of why "Americans are so shockingly cruel". Hyper vigilance, argumentativeness, hyper sensitivity, and over reaction. Just sayin'.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


And thats exactly what I displayed. This typical american "mind your own business or I ll blow u away attitude".

I showed you how fast todays americans usually react and why this immature attitude is cause to so much hypocricy, cruelty and inability to understand other peoples suffering. In a way the wild west still rules in US, shoot first ask questions later attitude, but now only with rules slightly modified to our modern technology. If anything our soldiers in iraq and afghanistan was as feared and known for their cruelty towards civilians as were the nazis in russia during WW2.

I will look over a new avatar. thanx for the tip

Americans are no different than any other people, the cruelty or unpleasant behavior exists everywhere; it is because we are "outsiders" and not accepted.

This is why people move from place to place and surround themselves with like-minded people, to gain that sense of community. Our System is designed to break apart the "Community" by removing traditions and local expressions. Now just being a Country's Government is the only expression of the people, we are bully's because they are different, and yet we know that is crap!

They have broken the generations apart and the they have broken the "history" of a people. Eventually we will find the glue to bring back the "nurturing" part of ourselves.

Which brings to mind! John Lithgow is probably not a wise choice for an Avatar either! LOL Just saying!