Why is humility something which is most prevelent in Buddhist nations like Thailand and so lacking in the USA?

Answer 1

You sure have a point there!.. and thank you for sharing this question with us.

I'd suggest you to look at it from a different angle: Would you REALLY like to have it otherwise?

Oh by the way, please take a good care of yourself. Have a nice day!

Answer 2

Thailand is a bunch of wimps. The United States owns the world. If the US felt humility than they would be no better off than Thailand. If the US got humility it would be just a matter of time until some other bully got control of everything.

Answer 3

We have been taught from infancy to be proud of ourselves and accomplishments. Most of us are fiercely proud of the country we live in and we show it with our, slightly pompus at times, attitudes. We strive to be the best, and sometimes sacrifice along the way. Some may be "lacking in humility" but it is because they have been taught to work hard for what they want, and when they get it they flaunt it. Also, humility is not something actively promoted in the US, unlike in other places in the world. We seem to promote lifestyles touting more progress, making your own etc.

Answer 4

In Thailand the people are basically from the same background. In the USA the people have migrated from all over the globe; many of them misfits in their own countries (meaning they don't blindly follow orders and let themselves be walked on). The people are diverse and individuals and armed to the teeth so it is not a good idea to kick them in their privates as they tend to get a little mean.

Answer 5

That is an extreme generalization.

Sect or country has nothing to do with a person's humility. Look at North Korea, for friggin' sake.

I'm so tired of the world be so ignorant to Americans. Quit bashing us because we are free.

Answer 6

It's a shame, isn't it. We are taught to be Christ's followers and to be imitators of him. He was the epitomy of humility. A very humble man. Yet not weak--either physically, emotionally or spiritually.
One of my daughters used to get so annoyed with me, thinking I was a weak person. I told her "Since I claim to be a Christian, I try to honestly be a follower of Jesus, who was meek, mild, humble, but definitely not a weak person" She couldn't get it(understand) What a shame.
I think, we, here in the USA are encouraged to be independent thinkers, doers, and "becomers" Being self reliant and expressionists. Humble and humility, to some appears to be a weakness. Rest assured, it is not.
This extreme sense of independence gets in the way of a close knit family, which includes the closeness and nearness of Grandparents, Husband and Wife, their children and their children , etc. The family unit is broken when this extreme sense of independence is present. It's truly a shame, because, in the majority, the family will always be there for you. They will be there in good times and bad.
You are blessed to have strong family connections. Because of this closenes, having humility and being humble is easier for you. Likewise, others around the world who have this wonderful family closeness( familial bond, family orientation, strong family ties)these, too, will have humility.
God bless.

Answer 7

This sounds like a bit of a loaded question. You are kind of making a statement of "Buddhists embody humility and American Christians embody arrogance."

If that's what you're saying, it's pretty sweeping. I think Xians or Buddhists can be arrogant or humble (even in the same afternoon).

Answer 8

Back before most people lived in big cities they lived in villages surrounded by farms. In such a community, what mattered morally was your character. Your character meant the way you were likely to behave in various circumstances. Your character was a set of virtues, things like friendliness (ability to cooperate with your neighbours), generousity (ability to share with them), courage (if the community was attacked), etc.

The thing about virtue-morality is that different things are considered virtues, depending upon the values of the community. Aristotle considered that a virtue was a middle position between two extremes, two vices. One vice was too much of the virtue and the other vice was too little of it. For example, he considered that humility was a vice, that it was too little of the virtue of self-respect or pride (too much pride was the vice of vanity).

Later, when Christianity developed, they simplified morality into just two 'sides', called virtue and sin. And they considered pride to be a sin opposed to the virtue (as they saw it) of humility.

Most religions simplify morality (it's part of their distrust of human intelligence), including Buddhism, in which humility is also a virtue.

The effective morality of the modern U.S.A. is not a religious or virtue morality. It is a struggle between law-and-religion based morality on one side, and the 'morality' of market economics on the other. Virtue is pretty much dead as a morality in the U.S. because it is best suited to small communities, and the U.S. is dominated by big-city big-business. Americans think they have freedom, but it is proving to be the freedom to become the slaves of market economics. In market economics, *everything*, as far as the law allows or fails to enforce, is for sale - including personal privacy, dignity, political influence, and so, ultimately, freedom. (Most Americans stupidly give away their political influence by not voting). The freedom of this morality is the freedom to be ruled by desires - your desires and the desires of others.