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There are one or two countries that have banned those particular sects, because of a long history of those sects organizing illegal movements threatening the security of the state or public order.
Please don't keep letting yourself fall into the fatal trap of using a single anecdotal example or two to paint a huge swath of mankind the color you wish to see them.
Abortion is legal in the US, so why are you bringing that up? I couldn't agree more about capital punishment. However I've no idea how you can defend certain middle eastern countries' violent suppression of Baha'i and other minority religious groups. It's beyond comprehension. It's hardly a single anecdotal example, it's well-documented by human rights monitoring organizations, the UN, etc. You can spin it however you want though, it's naught to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMOREBOY
Ok thank you for the information about Egypt; maybe I should read more on it instead of being ignorant (no sarcasm). And ok if not Egypt that we sold our religion to; I'm sure we've (the western world which is powered by the US) done it some nation in the middle-east or Africa. And it's not about religion and this is rightful place for this thread because I want to know what Americans have to say about this. I'm a fair person; if you give me a good reason to prove that we aren't egocentric then I'll withdraw what I said.
No problem, I wasn't trying to call you ignorant. I also don't care if you think the US is egocentric - you are entitled to that opinion! I was mostly trying to draw out how you formed that opinion and show you some facts that might perhaps lead you to a different, or at least less extreme conclusion.
To answer your last question I think you're casting a critical eye on US egocentrism, which is good. However you seem to have a very romanticized view of the rest of the world; it seems you believe that everyone just magically gets along and understands, accepts and respects other cultures/religions/whatever. Reality is not that rosy...for example, I just read a Nat Geo feature about Marseille, France (secular gov't, considered one of the most diverse & integrated cities in the world), specifically about tension there between Muslim immigrants and French citizens. Each of these parties are 'egocentric' in the sense that they view their own desires/agendas as most important - neither really wants to defer to the other. I believe this is human nature, rather than a US-citizen-specific problem: ultimately people want what is in their own self-interest.
Talk about ego-centric, LOL. Its a wonder how Europe came to be without us influencing them on anything.
I'm pretty sure it's a confirmed that America is the worlds sole superpower and we have the greatest influence on pop culture (call it egocentric if you want but those are pretty much facts) so we have the ability to influence those nations; rather it be their people or their government. The UK is always having agreements with us that really aren't in their best interest but they do it because of us.
I understand that we all have to defend our nation; if someone said "America is the worst nation on the planet" I would def. disagree but something of these matters are a tad bit more real. I haven't said anything about Americans being ignorant but rather we could give a f*** things if they aren't our way. Maybe it's just because I'm in the South, I don't know but it really is surprising me that you guys haven't realized that we are egocentric when we have no reason to be. Like I said before we have the greatest diversity of people, why in the world cant we accept or at least have interest in other things.
I just expect more out of our people.
Someone please say something that shows me we aren't egocentric. Please.
Using your one-off experiences with individuals you know to call Americans "ego-centric" is highly ego-centric in and of itself.
I think Americans can be ego-centric, as in when we travel it's "why don't they speak English", "I hate this food", "why don't they take dollars", etc. But that is SOME people, not even most and certainly not all.
Likewise foreign policy is driven largely by American self-interest. But that is not different than any other country's foreign policy. It's just that we have a "bigger stick" to shake.
For all of our faults, Americans also give a lot to charity, foreign aid, etc. That's not ego-centrism.
I'm pretty sure it's a confirmed that America is the worlds sole superpower and we have the greatest influence on pop culture (call it egocentric if you want but those are pretty much facts) so we have the ability to influence those nations; rather it be their people or their government. The UK is always having agreements with us that really aren't in their best interest but they do it because of us.
I understand that we all have to defend our nation; if someone said "America is the worst nation on the planet" I would def. disagree but something of these matters are a tad bit more real. I haven't said anything about Americans being ignorant but rather we could give a f*** things if they aren't our way. Maybe it's just because I'm in the South, I don't know but it really is surprising me that you guys haven't realized that we are egocentric when we have no reason to be. Like I said before we have the greatest diversity of people, why in the world cant we accept or at least have interest in other things.
I just expect more out of our people.
Someone please say something that shows me we aren't egocentric. Please.
A couple things:
1) Influence and egocentrism are two different things that you seem to be mistakenly using interchangeably.
2) In previous posts you say it's our people that make us egocentric, but then here you start talking about policy. Which is it?
3) The foundational problem here - as in why you haven't gotten the answer you want - is that you have come to an unreliable conclusion based on faulty and inaccurate logic.
You have not done any real research or gathered nearly enough information to be able to say that we as Americans "cannot accept or have interest in other things". As an American I resent that. If you are having problems in your own Southern community with this then that's one thing, but you cannot project it onto the entire country.
Now, if you have credible evidence to support your claim, let's see it!
In addition to what Wag more and DynamoLA said, I also think that the OP is conveniently ignoring the fact there was a time, not so long ago that America wasn't the Superpower, but the European countries/empires were. A lot of the problems that exists today stemmed from those times. America isn't necessarily the root of the problems and while they have done things that turn out to be completely thoughtless-- what can they do? Give more money? That already causes problems! ... Give more aid? Its never enough. Help meditate? Ah, the arrogance of thinking they can solve the world's problems! Its a completely damned if they do, damned if they don't issue. Only a moron would think that being a Superpower means without having any problems.
Also OP, I do agree you need to get out more and travel-- you obviously haven't done enough. And if you keep running into the same kind of people everywhere... let's be real here: This warrants a huge self-perception on your part. It may not be its everyone else that's the "problem", but you. If you can't do that... then that is the very definition of ego-centrism.
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