Dagra Dai MC. VSO. said:
Joccaren said:
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First world problems are, sadly, just as serious as third world problems to the people experiencing them. Its called the hedonic treadmill, and that kid in Africa starving to death is probably about as happy as the kid who doesn't really fit in at school, despite the vastly better lifestyle the latter kid has. -
That seems like a series of assumptions and generalizations (designed to ease the guilty conscience) that borders on delusion. I'm just going to assume that your description of a happy starving child is based in ignorance, and not psychopathic disregard for human suffering.
Look up the Hedonic treadmill, it is an actual psychological phenomenon. See those people with lost legs? Without the hedonic treadmill they should be hyper-depressed and liable to off themselves at any minute [Obviously this is put very bluntly with a bit of hyperbole, so I apologise if it offends anyone] - imagine if you suddenly lost your legs, it'd be shattering. However, the loss of their legs becomes a normal state for them, and they end up as happy, healthy members of society after a while from whatever caused them to lose their legs - despite never regaining the functionality they had with their legs.
The same holds true comparing first world people to starving kids in Africa. No, the starving kid in Africa isn't happy. Christ, whoever said that? But neither is the kid that doesn't fit in at school and is ostracised by most people they know. Which is more unhappy?
Some would say the African child, 'cause they have nothing and are dying so they should be literally the most unhappy person in the world. This isn't the case. Again, hedonic treadmill. That kid in Africa has only ever known the life s/he has. It is the normal state for them, and where their 'neutral' happiness rests. Sure, they're not happy, but they're unlikely to be crying themselves to sleep every night after bottling up their emotions, only to take an overdose of pills in a weeks time to end their suffering.
The kid being ostracised, however, may have been really popular in Primary school and had lots of friends, only to move to High School and be completely alone. This person's neutral happiness state was a lot higher than their current happiness state, and thus there is actually potential for them to be more unhappy than the starving kid in Africa. There is a reason things like this are life changing events for some people. Unhappiness and happiness isn't absolute. The kid in Africa isn't 100% less happy in their life than a kid in the USA. Its relative to what we know.
This isn't to say that the plight of starving children isn't important - it is - but it does mean that you can't just say 'first world problems', like it means that your problems are irrelevant. They're not, and to the person experiencing them they are just as serious - potentially more so - as that kid starving in Africa. The lack of compassion people experiencing 'first world problems' at times get because they aren't starving children in Africa is, honestly, pathetic.
Sometimes its deserved. A teenage girl who didn't get the newest iPhone so she throws a fit certainly deserves that extra unhappiness. If she didn't have to deal with that unhappiness now, her unrealistic expectations and high neutral happiness state would utterly ruin her when she finally has to deal with the real world.
Someone has trouble making friends, or is stuck in a dead end job/marriage/relationship they hate? Is a serious problem that does deserve due consideration.
To try and pass of the importance of first world problems as 'delusional' shows a sever lack of empathy TBH, and as you yourself describe - a psychopathic disregard for human suffering. ALL people suffer, not just the children in Africa. To try and downplay the suffering of some people because other people don't have as many privileges as them, is asinine. In the context of this thread: Sure, women's rights is an issue, but children are starving to death in Africa, I think that's more important.
Its an asinine argument. We shouldn't simply ignore the poor treatment of women - and men - and their suffering because the circumstances of someone else out there are worse.
To simply state we should only worry about global issues, not local or personal ones, like the poster I quoted was implying, is an asinine bit of advice that, if followed, would lead to the collapse of the world.
Perhaps, rather than trying to berate others for actually caring about people that don't happen to be on the poorest continent on Earth, you could try actually caring about the problems of everyone - you know, a little bit of human compassion. African children aren't the only ones that deserve it, much as you like to make it sound like they are.
Dagra Dai MC. VSO. said:
He's not presenting a theory, he's presenting salve for guilt in the form of disorganized opinion. Stretching that out for a paragraph or two didn't change that in your hands either.
Guilt for what?
Again, look up the Hedonic Treadmill - it is actually a theory in Psychology. Your insistent need to push some sort of blame for vague general 'guilt' onto me is a bit strange, to be honest. I seem to be utterly missing the context for it, considering the only statements that I've made have been that world-scale problems aren't the only important ones.
Honestly, a little less arrogance, and a little more research might do you well.