Ja, it wasn't obvious because you were complaining that they were being selfish and spoiled rather than saying they should get off their lazy asses. Because you can be selfish and still do something about your own situation; you'd still be selfish if you didn't either. Not choosing to do something when you can is laziness, not necessarily selfishness.
Well the interpretation is that they should get off of their lazy asses. At least if they are going to be lazy and selfish...dont complain about it.
And actually, laziness, like selfishness is also useless. Just imagine what we'd be doing without computers decades ago. But because we're lazy to some degree, we'd rather have the computer organize all our paperwork instead. But that's probably a different discussion for a different thread, so that's all I'll say on it.
I would post into that thread if you created it
I understand what you're complaining about, and again, this is where we differ. You seem to care about the people making only complaints about their own country and not caring about other people's countries, and I only care about the complaints themselves. I don't really care who makes the complaints.
Ah but I do care about the complaints themselves, and honestly most Americans wear their opinions on there sleeves so it seems to go hand in hand. Not all of them, but most of them.
Again, how do you distinguish between people who are necessarily selfish because they have no choice, and people who are selfish because they can? Is it just the people who are too lazy to do anything about their own situation that you have a problem with, or people who happen to be both selfish and ignorant (I'll address that in a moment), and have the means to help people other than themselves? I just think using the term selfish is too general and doesn't get your point across.
Well in general you have to use better judgement to determine which people are which and I guess you just use your eyes and your brain. Also I will crarify some things later.
Personally, I just choose not to involve myself in other people's affairs because how they spend their personal wealth is none of my business. Besides, there are quite a few rich people who have charities and donate money to people in underdeveloped countries.
That may be true but honestly there is a significantly MORE rich people who has the only goal of growing more powerful or taking more money for themselves, and honestly those people still complain just like lower wealth people. I dont invole myself in their affairs either I am just mentioning it.
Well, if it helps clear up some of the points you were trying to make, I'm happy for you.
I'm actually not too bothered by people who are ignorant because ignorance can be cured; you can inform someone of something, and they'll be less ignorant of certain issues. Actually, we're never fully cured of ignorance though; we are only cured of ignorance of particular matters, but in the grand scheme of things, we're still pretty ignorant. There's lots of stuff we don't know, and stuff we'll probably never know.
It would actually be a problem though if you were willfully ignorant or possibly arrogant because then being informed about something doesn't affect what you're willing to consider.
However, I don't think lots of people would be ignorant about the underdeveloped countries on this planet. We might not have been to China or India or Africa, but we know enough about them to know they don't have it as nice as we do here. So I don't think they're self centered because they're ignorant of poor countries. They're probably just complaining because they can.
Yes I see your point. Yet even though they wont complain for the sake of less fortunate countries don't you think that maybe they should more often? Like I said this was more or less a rant and honestly even if they know enough about those countries..they will never realize or feel the impact of the difference until they experience it. I say this from personal experience as I started to get older and see more. I always knew there was more unfortunate countries and povery around the world, and I just assumed my country has poverty so its the same thing. Yet after seeing it I realized that it is not the same thing and in general it is very different from the commonwealth in America. Honestly I truely think that there is a lot more poverty in America due to poor decisions than there some of the other third world countries. And this is the concept I am trying push at, that even though we have a lot of opportunitys we have a lot of idiots who feel sorry for themselves and think they have it so bad. To clarify I am saying that I believe there are more spoiled people in America than most other countries
I think all countries that are now developed existed in some state before in which it was not favorable for people. I mean, look at places in Europe and America from before. There was no gender equality, there were black slaves in the States, and religion basically took control of governments in Europe for some time. They tortured the wrong people, they discriminated against Jews and others, and it was just crap living in Nazi Germany. Now Germany and most parts of Europe are nice places to live in, as are the States and Canada. They weren't that way before though. People had to fight tooth and nail to get those rights and freedoms that we value so much now. So poverty and underdeveloped countries or their equivalents don't exist just now, they also exist in history as well. I suppose that's why some people are rather appreciative of living in America, and complaining might just be seen as a means of improving it in the same way I see how America was formed - I think it was a reaction to the repulsive way in which European countries used to treat their citizens.
This is true all countries did have a low point at some point. Yet as our countrys grow stronger sohuld our morality grow weaker? I think that the more powerful america becomes the less independent and free thinking the people will become, and it doesnt have to be like that. America is a place where people are allowed to think for themselves...lets hope more people stop thinking about being greedy.
Again, I happen to think that not all complaints are valid. Some of them don't deserve any attention (creationism in science should be shot down, for example), and others, regardless of if they originally came from someone selfish or ignorant (okay, or even arrogant or spoiled), are important for the country and deserve at least some consideration.
Still like I said before. The more the people complain about oil prices the more we will go to war that involves oil every chance we can. Those complaints do nothing but tempt the goverment of an unrestful people. UNLESS, it pushes the government to do alot more research into an alternate fuel source. Which would be awesome =)
Well, I happen to think we should sort out the problems at home first before bothering to help someone else. If you can't help yourself, you can't help others. If you don't even have enough money to support yourself, you can't be bothered to donate money to people in underdeveloped countries. And some Americans are in that position. I agree it would be nice if people were encouraged to learn more about the world out there, but what they do with their time and money, and what they choose to complain about is ultimately their problem. I don't know why, but I'm just not bothered. Afterall, I can choose to ignore the complaints I find trivial.
Yes but is a country ever going decide that they have sorted out ALL of the problems? Its always going to be a struggle between resources and poverty and the rich throughout the world because the goverment of all countries will look out for their people first (a good thing). Yet in a government like America where people have a lot of freedom of speech and choice than maybe the first step towards change is the people becoming less selfish before the government does.
Whereas if you look at some other countries throughout history, if they don't like something that's going on and really want to change things, the people will organize a revolution and try to overthrow their faulty government and replace it with something of their own design that works better. Rather than just sitting there and complaining but not do anything about it. 
