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How Bad Are Things? (2015)

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Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)

#21

Post by newswriter99 »

shaki-dora wrote: post #5
gbuk2013 wrote: post #2

> The town where I practice psychiatry is mostly white and mostly wealthy. That doesn’t save it. Ethnicity and wealth are physical things. Happiness is an emotion you feel. They are related only insofar as one depends on physical things for happiness. This is a spiritual issue really (not to be confused with religion or any sort of belief) and this is something that our (otherwise very successful) modern way of life…

Scott wasn't trying to make an incredibly racist point that being white is intrinsically linked to happiness, but merely that being white in the US is considered privileged, a.k.a. "playing life on easy".

Try being white trash in a poor part of the south and get back to me how "easy" things are.

Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)

#22

Post by gedy »

qntty wrote: post #16

> This is part of why I get enraged whenever somebody on Tumblr says “People in Group X need to realize they have it really good”, or “You’re a Group X member, so stop pretending like you have real problems.” One of these is not like the other. You can have it good by being white and still have real problems.

I read that as in response to someone white/Group X being told "What are _you_ complaining about?"

Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)

#23

Post by overthemoon »

qntty wrote: post #16

> This is part of why I get enraged whenever somebody on Tumblr says “People in Group X need to realize they have it really good”, or “You’re a Group X member, so stop pretending like you have real problems.” One of these is not like the other. You can have it good by being white and still have real problems.

You're right.

I think it's unremarkable to say:

People who are not straight and/or white tend to have worse outcomes than people who are straight and/or white.

-- and --

Straight white people can have hard, miserable lives.

His specific anger is at the notion that members of minority groups suffer THEREFORE members of majority groups do not suffer. But as you said, you can still have it better than people in a minority group--on average--and also suffer.

There's so much annoying crosstalk when it comes to these issues. That being said, his call to empathy is a good one.

Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)

#24

Post by SolaceQuantum »

asdf21 wrote: post #15

Isn't that just entropy in action... There are a zillion ways for any system to be disordered, and only a handful that we would consider "ordered". Life is constantly fighting entropy, and always eventually fails. It makes sense for disorder and even misery to be fairly common. I do tend to dismiss the concerns of others, simply because I've come to the conclusion that I cannot fix the vast majority of the problems o…

"I do tend to dismiss the concerns of others, simply because I've come to the conclusion that I cannot fix the vast majority of the problems of other people."

Sorry, I don't understand this logic. I cannot solve world hunger but I recognize that poor food distribution is a problem. Similarly, I cannot solve someone's traumas but I can recognize they've been traumatized. Are we operating on different concepts of dismissing someone's experiences or concerns?

Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)

#25

Post by WhompingWindows »

I loved the 20 person simulation the author used. His point about universal suffering reminds me of another point by Sam Harris:

"Everyone you know is practically drowning in suffering"

SH brings up this point to contextualize our own suffering. It's hard for us to socialize with others and make connections, but if we consider other peoples' plights and struggles, it gives us more perspective and may aid us to talk, converse, and collaborate with them.

I tried to apply this in driving. If I am honked at, I usually feel it's not justified and it slightly harms my mood. Therefore, when I see other drivers doing something unsafe or unskillful, I try to spare the horn and simply slow down myself. This is likely another suffering, late person with back pain, bills weighing on them, possibly phone addiction or something urgent going on, and the least I can do is slow down and give them space.

Looking around us and appreciating the suffering of others is a very useful exercise.

Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)

#26

Post by [deleted] »

newswriter99 wrote: post #21
shaki-dora wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scott wasn't trying to make an incredibly racist point that being white is intrinsically linked to happiness, but merely that being white in the US is considered privileged, a.k.a. "playing life on easy".

Try being white trash in a poor part of the south and get back to me how "easy" things are.

[deleted]

Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)

#27

Post by ehvatum »

burrows wrote: post #7

Pop-psychology on the frontpage? We're hackers and founders.

This article is a reminder of why I hack and found: existing to be happy does not result in happiness. We're evolved to be happiest when we carve it out from a hostile world, I think.

Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)

#28

Post by gbuk2013 »

SolaceQuantum wrote: post #6

In my experience this is very true upon simply becoming the kind of person who is open to listening to others. The vast majority of people you've run into have had huge difficulties in life, or are affected by people close to them who have huge difficulties in their lives. People tell me I'm a wonderful listener due to my lack of judgement on their problems (more than once, people, including my therapist, tell me I'd…

> less than what they hoped their life would be

Now this, to me, would have made a much more interesting subject of investigation.

Re: How Bad Are Things? (2015)

#29

Post by g_sch »

newswriter99 wrote: post #21
shaki-dora wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scott wasn't trying to make an incredibly racist point that being white is intrinsically linked to happiness, but merely that being white in the US is considered privileged, a.k.a. "playing life on easy".

Try being white trash in a poor part of the south and get back to me how "easy" things are.

I think that if you read GP more generously, you'll see that they weren't implying that being white guarantees success. Rather, the point of privilege is that, all things being equal, people who appear white will on average face less conscious/unconscious discrimination and thus fewer obstacles over the course of their lives.
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