self⋅ish
–adjective
1.
devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.
2.
characterized by or manifesting concern or care only for oneself: selfish motives.
I decided that my topic today would be selfishness because this was the topic of conversation in my history class. This was the situation: a man is on a deserted island and the group agreed to go hunting together. Then, the group split up to go hunting. The man came back with several wild chickens. Should he keep them or should he have to share with the group?
My reply was that it was his decision, and order to ensure his own survival, he should give one or two to the group, but hoard several carcasses for himself. This was considered selfish by my classmates and it was unanimous that I should be thrown off the island into a sea of sharks.
I agree that it is selfish, but that is survival. In the modern world, there is no need for this "kill or be killed" mindset. Almost everyone I have come into contact with holds this idea firmly in the front of their minds, however. There is a word for this today: SELFISHNESS!!! I don't understand why people so often resort to this primitive way of acting. For a so-called "sophisticated" society, this is pretty pitiful, wouldn't you agree?
This mindset is both unnecessary and just plain annoying. As humans, we tend to have a desire to covet things and be territorial. Studies show that this comes from our ancient animal-like instinct, and so I won't try to blame people for that, but I don't understand why we have to cut in line because we're so worried about maintaining our "status" in the line.
–adjective
1.
devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.
2.
characterized by or manifesting concern or care only for oneself: selfish motives.
I decided that my topic today would be selfishness because this was the topic of conversation in my history class. This was the situation: a man is on a deserted island and the group agreed to go hunting together. Then, the group split up to go hunting. The man came back with several wild chickens. Should he keep them or should he have to share with the group?
My reply was that it was his decision, and order to ensure his own survival, he should give one or two to the group, but hoard several carcasses for himself. This was considered selfish by my classmates and it was unanimous that I should be thrown off the island into a sea of sharks.
I agree that it is selfish, but that is survival. In the modern world, there is no need for this "kill or be killed" mindset. Almost everyone I have come into contact with holds this idea firmly in the front of their minds, however. There is a word for this today: SELFISHNESS!!! I don't understand why people so often resort to this primitive way of acting. For a so-called "sophisticated" society, this is pretty pitiful, wouldn't you agree?
This mindset is both unnecessary and just plain annoying. As humans, we tend to have a desire to covet things and be territorial. Studies show that this comes from our ancient animal-like instinct, and so I won't try to blame people for that, but I don't understand why we have to cut in line because we're so worried about maintaining our "status" in the line.
From my experience (several years in public schools), all lines work the same way. It's sort of comical, actually. It is very similar to a pecking order of hens. If you're not familiar, look it up.
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