Why is everything so superficial in American society?

I never said they don't care about money; everyone cares about money. You're the one that said they care about it above all else, which I disagree with.

Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that unless it crosses over into gold digger territory. It's perfectly reasonable to desire financial security.

Everyone cares about money, but not to the same degree. Many women will ignore just about every aspect of a man if they don't have a job. We can agree to disagree on that point. Maybe you've met tons of women who seek out men who lack jobs, I've never met such a woman.

Men typically don't ignore women for that same reason, they usually see that as an opportunity to prove their own worth. I'd date a girl who's going to college and has no job, I've done it before. On the flipside: I've never met a girl, or even heard of a girl, who works a lot of hours and is partners with a guy who doesn't work but goes to college. It's so uncommon that it's practically unheard of.

I agree, but my very point is that many women always prefer more financial security as opposed to less, and that's a sign of superficiality. There's more to life than money, you know? As long as you're at least getting by...

How many old rich men do we see dating young beautiful women? Do you know any breathtakingly beautiful women that are with men who have little to no financial success? If many women didn't care about money above all else, I'm sure there'd much less of a blatant trend.

Yes, I'm aware the superficiality flies in all directions. Guys are just as superficial, if not more superficial than woman. I'm not pointing fingers exclusively at women, it just so happens that the argument picked out was related to my statement on many American women. The majority of guys care about looks similarly to how women care about money. I'm not going to lie on behalf of males - majority of men filter their relationships based on looks. Some guys even hold more respect for guys that can date more beautiful women. I'm not one of those guys, but I'm just saying it's a blatant aspect of society that you'd have to be oblivious to ignore - similarly to how you'd have to be oblivious to not see how girls commonly prefer men who offer more financial security.

@donquixote: You're generalizing dude

You might wanna tell that to the oil companies, I don't think they got the memo. =P

American people more than any other society believe in what they do. They do it without question. There are many who are set up to skim and work at exploiting this nature, which leaves them with nothing, but the spirit never dies.

Perhaps you should find a philosophy group so you can discuss these big topics rather then the small talk most engage in.

i wish you did sometimes, get tired of your bashing of Americans, a nation of over 300 million people as diverse as any country in the world. Strange how people actually think they can stereotype a country with immense population AND diversity.

That being said yes, there are plenty of superficial people I've met in this country. I'm not one of them. Our country is a land of plenty so they CAN cater to most anything including plenty that is superficial. Most countries don't have that luxury.

Basically, the rich county I live in the U.S. seems to be full of people with just 3 things in mind for life before they die: Working, partying, fucking .....but many would suggest thats not a bad approach, and this county, with a nice college town, is full of hot women for sure. So, not much to complain about.

To be fair, men are just as superficial on PoF. There's no doubt that a profile with a hot looking woman will certainly draw more messages from horny men than a profile with a fat and ugly woman.

@TC, first off; you'd have to define "deep" so that we could discuss reasons behind lack of it. i know many folks who keep blabbering philosophical crap on their FB posts (for an instance) and yet they too fall into another level of shallowness when one gets to know them better. all the shit you see on FB is people's way to impress one another. there's absolutely no thinking behind any of these; whether it being pictures of their cars or quotes by some philosopher.

If you're ready right now, why wait? Why even tell us that? I think you're full of shit and you're just trying to be edgy.

This forum is full of America hating trolls. How pathetic.

You turn into an adult and you lose your innocence as a child.

@donquixote: I have ruminated over this very question, for quite some time now. I have asked many people, from many different walks of life, and of various different ages, and cultures. I have posed this question to males and females alike. Here is the Truth, and it will be hard for some people to accept (the Truth of any matter usually is) but it is the Truth and it is irrefutable - the Truth of the matter is this: that the vast, vast majority of people sucking wind right now are essentially morons. They harbor shallow, moron thoughts, they value ridiculous, moron things, they make thoughtless, moron actions, they live unenlightened, moron lives and it makes itself manifest in the superficiality that you witness all around you, each and every day.

So why don't you go right now?

I have no interest in this thread. Mostly because I do not know what superficial means, and I have zero interest in looking it up because this thread isn't worth the time and effort for me to do that.

That sentence was dangerously close to a run-on, but whatevs.

@Master_Live: That's not an option.

I like this post.

Woo HOO misanthrope time!

There's the world that exists outside our bodies, the environment, culture, society, animals, and other people and...

There's the world we perceive through our experiences, thoughts, perceptions, and collections of preconceived notions of how the world works. How you view the world really doesn't depend on how the world actually is but what you see through your own eyes. Your outlook may change for example if you find places where you are surrounded by non-shallow, deep thinking, intellectuals who work hard to improve themselves and this world which will take searching but they are definitely out there!

lol, amazing.

I also think someone got caught buying into the Hollywood America mentality. Do you know, @donquixote, how tiny Hollywood actually is and how big America really is? Do you really know?

@musicalmac: No I am not... this is a fair point. I know how big America is.

I take enormous pride in my lack of depth. Unless your going to make a living out of staring into the void that is humanity analysing it, singing about it, writing poetry or books about it, why even both being so bothered by it.

Live and let live.

Stop judging the air headed vacuous blondes with coke habits talking about shoes and start enjoying them for what they are. They dont feel embarrassed for themselves...why should you. If anything I would argue they are probably having a lot more fun.

Not exlusive. But the most prominent. Pretty much a norm.

No. I'm just telling you how you appear....

I personally find stupidity much less irritating than pseudo intellectualism. Half of the people on this forum pride themselves on being smart and "deep" but a substantial number of them moan about how their social lives are lacking and their love life is non existent. Perhaps its because you consider your peers to be inferior and not worth the time of day that you end up in this position of loneliness if the first place.

Can anyone tell me what is so inherently wrong with being superficial?

@always_explicit: This isn't pseudo anything... I am telling it as it is. Also that idea about being lonely do to feeling superior is misguided. There are truths to be known about this world regarding what brings about human well being. Obviously there are a lot of answers we don't have yet... but if I know a lot more about you (not saying that I do) about these things, AND you reject them when presented to you due to being foolish... obviously we will be too distant to bond and both of us could end up lonely.

Being superficial isn't always bad... but largely being superficial I think is bad. Why? It prevents genuine, deep and sincere relationships... and that is inherently good for us since we are social creatures that thrive in healthy social environments.

@LJS9502_basic: I accept your apology.

It's not an issue exclusive to America. Last time I checked, make up is sold in other parts of the world, too

@donquixote:

In a sense though most people project a false sense of themselves, or if not false a limited or slice of their personality. People do it when their behavior changes with respect to their family, friends, their job, with strangers, when they're around certain groups of people. Rarely do I find people behave consistent toward everybody.

People do it though for a reason. Psychologically people probably do it because it brings some kind of reward with regard to social behavior. I don't think people do it just to do it, people do it to seek the same kind of social rewards that everybody want.

I'm not ready literally, I would be if I did not have anything to lose out of it and it was actually that simple. I apologize for the original comment for this thread and I deleted it, I did not expect a mean response like this; I guess I need to be more careful yet again.

I'm completely superficial but I do share your hatred of enemy windmills.

@KHAndAnime:

Yeah, Tony Montana had America figured out.

In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.

Such a compelling argument. You, sir, truly are a master debater.

Sorry, if you don't want the truth you shouldn't post on an internet forum where people can be blunt with you.

Well I live in the USA and I've got to say that many people are like that but then again the majority is called the "ignorant majority" for a reason. I myself am introverted but still social with a small group of people such as family or friends, however I don't like clubs or parties, and don't really drink. The small group of friends I have are people that I can conversations with about anything such as news around the world, politics, philosophy, movies, books, music, society, religion, and all types of topics. I like to think that not everyone here is how you put it and I've been proven correctly. I think it depends on the person you decide to have a conversation with. I have never befriended a superficial person but that might be because those are the people I simply don't care enough for to form a bond with. Then again, my social circle is quite small.

Glancing through this thread, I can see that people here love to make generalizations about anything and everything.

Here's the answer to this thread:

People in general are superficial (everyone is in one way or another, some people more than others) and idiots are everywhere.

/thread

The evidence shows that there is nothing after we die.

I believe that when we die it is all over for us, there is nothing more and our decedents will continue the eternal struggle for survival. It's the cycle of life. We die so that others could live.

http://www.thekeyboard.org.uk/Is%20there%20life%20after%20death.htm

Interesting thread. I study this kind of stuff, and the OP is right. Many people are extremely superficial and shallow, and this is particularly true in America. One experiment my group has performed involves testing people using fake dating profiles to see their reactions. The results were not surprising: women tend to be more superficial than men with regard to mate selection, and Americans in general scored the most superficial of all (out of about three dozen nations). The hostility toward the OP is a classic reaction by those for whom the topic has hit a nerve... the idea is that they recognize their own superficiality and lack of interpersonal depth, and thus react negatively to anyone who brings up the subject. In contrast, the least superficial groups tended to be people from Asian and Scandinavian countries... and interestingly these nations tend to score the highest on studies of intelligence.

Please look at the age of a thread before responding. It's disruptive to bring an old topic back. Thanks!