It is human nature to be selfish. Time and time again, human behavior has become clear as we choose to help ourselves over helping others. However, when we do help others, we look to extract benefits and obtain advantages for the betterment of ourselves. This is evident in how countries behave on a global stage. No country helps others in the international community out of the goodness of their heart. International superpowers like the US, go out to “aid” other countries with the idea to reap benefits. It leads us to ponder if international chivalry is dead. The answer is unfortunately a resounding yes and can be analyzed through three key reasons.
Reason 1: Countries are only looking for benefits to obtain: Countries like the US interfere in developing countries' political problems to refrain from having a new leader whose ideologies do not align with those of the US. For example, when Saddem Hossien became leader of Iran, he began disregarding previous agreements worked out between the US and Iran. This angered the US because they wanted to be involved in Iran for reasons regarding oil. In the pretense of solving a humanitarian crisis, the US killed Saddem Hossien and created even bigger problems for the country. Additionally, economically powerful countries “help” developing countries to harness the natural resources the developing country possesses. The 2020 Libyian situation is a primary example that demonstrates this. In 2020, many key global players were vying for geopolitical hegemony in oil-rich Libya to be able to exploit the oil abundance in the future. Countries like France, Germany, Turkey and Russia were clashing in Libya under the pretense to aid the civilian war on Libya soil. However, the actual reason these countries were present in Libya is to secure the oil. Multitudinous examples on the international stage show how powerful countries take advantage of developing countries’s helplessness to further their own interests. There has yet to be an example in modern day current events where a country helps another out of kindness. In humanitarian crises around the world such as the Myanmar coup, Crimea annexation, Yemen crisis, powerful developed countries do not do anything beyond useless sanctions. That is because there is no benefit to be seen from their viewpoint. This further demonstrates how developed countries only seek the advantages when helping, not because they actually care. Reason 2: The “help” often does more damage than if global superpowers just left the countries alone The lack of developed countries' intention to fix humanitarian issues in the way that would provide benefit for the developing countries' population, has shown other problems that come along with it. Developed countries will meddle in situations and bring a solution that will only benefit themselves rather than the marginalized population. Therefore, the “help” that is given brings upon more harm to the population than before. Coming back to the Libiyan example: The Libiyan civil war was instigated after Western Countries got themselves involved and killed Libya’s leader, Muammer Gaddafi in 2011. The reason for this execution was because Gaddaffi was restricting international interference in Libya’s oil supplies. He was a good leader for Libya and had made great strides socially and economically thanks to its vast oil income. Women in Libya were free to work and to dress as they liked, life expectancy rose to people living up to the seventies as well as the per capita income increasing. After the western countries killed Libya’s leader for their own benefit, chaos broke out and Libya found itself surrounded by many rebel and militia groups that Gaddaffi had kept in check while he was a leader. These militia groups wanted to seize the vacuum of power Gaddaffi had left behind, which was the starting point in the Libiyan civil war. International interference is what caused Libya to become too volatile. Nine years later many international leaders held a meeting that was hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to discuss how to end the conflict in Libya. Even today, the international community still hasn’t learned from their mistakes in the past. They continue to let their influence cause further complications. On the international stage, it seems that the more powerful players are not extending kindness out of their heart for no reason. They want to extract benefits and seek for advantages that often lead to exacerbated situations. This leads me to believe that International chivalry is dead because helping one another is not a priority anymore for most countries.
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I was a very stubborn child growing up. Whenever my best friend wronged me, I did what every rational kid would do: stop speaking to her. In my anger, I used silence as a form of punishment. However, as opinionated as I was, my silent treatment ended immediately after my friend made clear she was sorry. It never struck my mind to prolong a punishment simply because she made one mistake. Mistakes are inevitable, but they are made for a reason. Learning from previous mistakes is key to individual growth. Unfortunately in many cases online, influencers and celebrities are not permitted to grow from mistakes. Instead, they would be “cancelled” for their entire career. While many may believe social media call out is effective to bring necessary change, that is simply not true. Social media platforms should definitely continue focusing on educating others, but rather go about it in a nurturing way.
Here are 3 Reasons Why Cancel Culture is Toxic: Reason 1: It has been blown out of proportion: On social media platforms such as Tiktok or Instagram, cancel culture is inescapable. It is thrown around and used inappropriately. Terms such as “cultural appropriation” and “gaslighting”, both of which are serious issues, have been tossed around at random and overused. This has watered down the original meaning of these terms. Influencers can get cancelled for the littlest things nowadays. Instead of focusing on actual wrongdoers on these platforms, the social media population is spending too much energy on holding grudges and cancelling influencers for their entire career. Reason 2: Inability to grow from past mistakes: Once cancelled, no amount of learning, apologizing, or growth will redeem anyone in the public eye. The consequences of a mistake results in harsh punishments that prioritizes penalizing social media stars over educating them on their harmful actions. If a celebrity has shown that they have understood their mistake and are working on fixing the damage they have done, they should be allowed a second chance (depending on the level of wrongdoing they did). Reason 3: Dehumanizes celebrities and influencers: Cancel culture assumes celebrities and influences are not human and therefore have an inability to possess flaws. Mistakes are human nature, but if we learn from them, then it is perfectly normal to make them once in a while. However, social media stars are put at an enormously high standard from a young age where they are unable to make mistakes. They are expected to be perfect under ridiculously high pressure. If us normal people were scrutinized at the level these celebrities are, most of us would probably slip up once in a while. |
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