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Being selfish is RIGHT in every situation, if you properly define "selfishness":

"The meaning ascribed in popular usage to the word “selfishness” is not merely wrong: it represents a devastating intellectual “package-deal,” which is responsible, more than any other single factor, for the arrested moral development of mankind.

"In popular usage, the word “selfishness” is a synonym of evil; the image it conjures is of a murderous brute who tramples over piles of corpses to achieve his own ends, who cares for no living being and pursues nothing but the gratification of the mindless whims of any immediate moment.

"Yet the exact meaning and dictionary definition of the word “selfishness” is: concern with one’s own interests.

"This concept does not include a moral evaluation; it does not tell us whether concern with one’s own interests is good or evil; nor does it tell us what constitutes man’s actual interests. It is the task of ethics to answer such questions." http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/selfishness.html

That demonstrates "why selfishness and greed had negative stigmas attached to them."

Ok, it is the "task of ethics" to answer what is a proper concern for your "self". We know something historically: the final great political act of the Enlightenment was the definition by America's Founders of the concept of "individual sovereignty". This means that one owns one's self, because since we live under a "government by consent of the people", then those individual people to begin with must have had the power that they are handing over to the State to deal with (like being the police, the judge, and the jury.)

"Individual sovereignty was not a peculiar conceit of Thomas Jefferson: It was the common assumption of the day;" http://www.friesian.com/ellis.htm

And so that concept plays out this way:

"Individualism regards man—every man—as an independent, sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to his own life, a right derived from his nature as a rational being." Rand

Man's nature as a "rational being" is not to trample over the rights of others, because that explicitly give them equal permission to trample on his. But ownership of one's own sovereignty means comprehending that one does not have the right to trample on others, so he SELFISHLY does not do so.

What you say about "I have bread and you have meat. It would make sense for us to help each other out because then would have sandwiches" is a selfish thing for both of you to do.

You don't think that is "selfish"? Then you have not yet understood the criticism about the meaning ascribed in popular usage being wrong. You must have a strong sense of "self" if you wish it to survive, grow, prosper, and to get along peaceably with others. If you want a sandwich and you only have half the ingredients, it cannot be said to be a "negation" of self to trade. Trade is the basis of capitalism, except where you take your sandwich and trade it for something more valuable to you.

For example, have you seen the teenager in the news who kept trading until he got a Porche? He started with an IPHone! Everyone got what they wanted in his deals, and yet he went from an IPhone to a Porche!!!!!!! Tell me that kid doesn't have a strong sense of "selfishness"; and yet so did everyone who traded with him who could walk away not feeling cheated, which I presume was all of them.

http://vodpod.com/watch/4069573-video-17-year-old-...

Or the guy who traded up from a paperclip and got a house? the man who traded one red paperclip and ultimately ended up with a house http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20011064-71.html

FIRST OF ALL YOU NEVER TO ANYTHING FOR SOMETHING IN RETURN YOU DO IT COS YOUWANT TO . SO IF SOMEONE ASK FOR YOUR HELP HELP IF YOU CAN IF YOU DONT WANT TO SAY NO IF YOU CAN'T SAY NO BUT NEVER DO ANYTHING WAITING OR EXPECTING ANYTHING IN RETURN DONT DO IT AT ALL IF THATS HOW YOU FEEL DARE TO BE REAL IN A WORLD OF SELFISH GREEDY FAKES. KARMA COMES BACK AROUND YOU GIVE GOOD YOU WONT GET BAD YOU GIVE BAD YOU GET BAD 10 TIMES WORSE THAN YOU GAVE IT AND WONDER WHAT DID I DO TO EVER DESERVE THIS HAPPENING TO ME. AND THEN THINK ABOUT IT. GREED IS WHAT CAUSES WAR SELFISHNESS TOO MONEY DONT MAKE A PERSON CHARACTER DOES PEOPLE ARE TO BE LOVED THINGS ARE TO BE USED REMEMBER THAT ALWAYS

I think you're really asking about generosity. When to be polite is fairly obvious. There is nothing obvious about generosity, except in the context of the logical arguments in your question, however incomplete it is. Because sometimes being generous just feels good, and that makes it a selfish thing(!!!). Being magnanimous is easy for the emotions, but it looks 'funny' without character. To be completely and genuinely generous would be to do something to or for someone where no one will find out where the 'gift' came from or why

i didnt read all of this but sometimes being selfish is a good thing. You have to look out for the most important person in your life YOU!

If you never think about others, you're gonna live a very lonely life.

Never mind if your question is long. You made your point.

Nevertheless, do you know what's missing in your line of argument.

Think hard.

What's missing is the big picture. If life is just about you, one other person or your future, life would be simple. But life is not simple. Life is complex, and world peace and prosperity are complex.

What is the big picture? The big picture is the view that takes in hundreds and thousands of factors, people, resources, culture, and level of civil society that eventually determine the prosperity, security, and standard of living for a community, a town, a city, and even the whole country.

For example, the reason why North Korea is a threat to world peace is because its leader only thinks of him and his two sons. That's the problem.

The reason why there were losses of so many innocent lives in Iraq is because Saddam Hussein only thought of his 16 palaces and his two sons.

Whereas in more sane countries like the United States, China, Indonesia and Singapore, any selfishness on the part of their leaders would cause outrage in the populace.

Little drops of water, little grains of sand

Make a mighty ocean and a pleasant land.

What every citizen is contributing in terms of service, health, security will eventually produce the kind of country that these citizens are part of.

One more thing - evil flourish when good men do nothing.

The reason why evil people continue to rule some countries is because the good men in these countries are not united and brave enough to band together to start a revolution that would eventually rid their countries of their evil leaders. The British, Americans, French, Russian and Chinese, for example, thought beyond their own comfort and through their revolutionary struggles rid themselves of their corrupt and unjust oppressors in 1688, 1776, 1789, 1905, and 1949 respectively.

Even in as small a unit of community as a family, the thinking, attitude, and behavior of individual family members will determine the degree of warmth, prosperity, cleanliness, and open-mindedness of that particular family, do you agree?