Why Americans are Restless Blog

Chris Thompson

9/29/08

1. Is American society too competitive?

In many ways American society is too competitive. As Americans we are capitalists, coveting the wealth of our neighbors and clawing our way to the top is a side effect of this destructive behavior. Trying to outdo those around us with tangible items such as a better car, house, and clothing. Or outdoing each other with non-tangible things such as power and position, how strong or good looking you are, and whom you are friends with. Competition is the basis of capitalism because in an effort to achieve the American dream you must the best at something, not just better but the best. Darwin once said that only one species can occupy a niche. Darwin gave the reason for this, being that in competition one must species must be better than the other the spices that is better will survive. Now in modern society replace species with person, people, or business. And also replace survive with succeed and you get the reason why America is so competitive. Jealousy is a major factor in the competition of Americans; even though we are rich by the world’s standards we do not see our own wealth because it is buried under the wealth of those around us. Since we only see others who have more than us we feel poor, not because we are poor, but because we are poor by comparison, which in itself is a poor comparison to make. If you have a bed, refrigerator, table, 4 walls, and a roof over your head you are already richer than 75% of the world. The scary thing is that in all this competition Americans often lose sight of what is important, focusing only on getting a bigger car or better iPod. We put so much emphasis on the material items in our lives that we have no choice but to compete with our fellow man. We are hardwired as Americans to compete from an early age. We often have fully grown men screaming obscenity over an 8 yr olds baseball game. No wonder we are so competitive from grades to sports, business, and how cool we are. Competition is good sometimes but seeing all people as either for or against you is not a realistic view on life. Americans are an overly competitive society that is blessed with and cursed with money. The people of America are good but greed occasionally shows a face in competition. Competition becomes corruption when someone plays outside the rules to win. We often forget what is important in an effort to reach a superficial American dream. Competition is still important but it is over emphasized and over exercised. Thos are just a few of the reasons why American society is too competitive.