Altruism occurs when (usually) animals cooperate with one
another, to the benefit of all of them. One kind of altruism, recognized by
evolutionary scientists, is indirect reciprocity, in which an individual gains
recognition and admiration for doing generous acts—and along with that
admiration comes profit. We all want to do business with people who have a
public reputation for generosity.
Nearly everyone recognizes altruism as good. Everyone,
that is, except Donald Trump. He seems to believe that it is evil to do good
things for other people.
One way that more fortunate countries have of helping the
less fortunate ones is through the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Educational and
scientific exchanges promote world peace, one of the express purposes of the
United Nations in general and UNESCO in particular. UNESCO facilitates
altruism, especially indirect reciprocity.
But Trump has removed the United States from UNESCO.
Not only does he not believe that the United States should promote world peace
in this way, but he also appears to hate the reputation for goodness that the
United States used to enjoy as a member of UNESCO. It used to be that when the
world looked at America, it thought, “they want to help us,” and we got a lot
of admiration for that. But today the world looks at us and thinks, “they hate
us.” Trump, who is always sneering and insulting everyone else, already
promoted this image, and has now backed it up by action. We hereby send the
message to the world that, even if you are our friends, we do not need you. We
do not even like you.
Trump’s consistent message has been “America first.” But
this is not what he meant. Probably every nation puts itself first. What Trump
meant, apparently, was “America only.”
America, Trump thinks, does not need the admiration or
goodwill of the world. All we need to do is to intimidate them.
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