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I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

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Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#131

Post by butlike »

jdw64 wrote: post #61

My situation is similar. I'm exhausted from life, and I don't even have a disability I got scammed and lost all the money I had saved up. AI reduced my workload, and because of the war, factory expansions were canceled, so for a while I had no work at all. I've worked 96-hour weeks for six months at a time. Even working nonstop, I can't save any money. I don't have enough to buy a house, and I'm exhausted. I've done…

You gotta start prioritizing 'the soul' over what you think you're supposed to be doing. "Can't even think about marriage?" I bet marriage will take you further than you think. Maybe. But you gotta try. Try coming at it from a different angle. The answer doesn't leap off the page when you tick enough boxes. The answer becomes apparent when you take it.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#132

Post by inigyou »

meta_gunslinger wrote: post #38
inigyou wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting how this is always post-hoc justified. It's always "you made bad decisions in the past so now you deserve cruelty". It's rarely "you are making a bad decision right now so you should stop that before you deserve cruelty in the future".

> "you made bad decisions in the past so now you deserve cruelty" Somebody will have to endure cruelty when someone makes bad decisions. The question is whether the cruelty will be received by the person making the bad decision or somebody else. > It's rarely "you are making a bad decision right now so you should stop that before you deserve cruelty in the future". So it's the economic system's fault that you weren't…

wtf are you talking about

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#133

Post by meta_gunslinger »

sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #118
meta_gunslinger wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ad-hominem is what you resort to when having no argument ;)

"They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words." Sartre didn't respect your kind and I don't either.

Sartre was a nihilistc pdf-file and a prolific liar. I don't have any respect for his ilk either.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#134

Post by bko »

Telaneo wrote: post #5

> If your worth is not determined by your productivity, then what remains of you underneath it all? Everything else. You are worth so much more than your productivity. I'm glad I never got sucked into the protestant work ethic, since defining yourself based on your labour and the value you generate from that sounds woefully narrow-minded (this doesn't feel like quite the right word, but close enough). It's probably h…

> Reading the classics is productive because it's enjoyable, even though it doesn't help with your work

It's productive in that it is hard and a sign of high intelligence. Don't believe me and swap it out with Candy Crush. Is playing Candy Crush productive?

This obsession about people with disabilities is weird. Yes, people with real disabilities exist. But focusing on pathologizing every day life is extremely harmful. This constant focus on "mental health" ironically worsens mental health. For instance, any mild discomfort is "anxiety". Most of these things are pretty normal range of emotions. Roughly 20% of undergraduate students at Ivy Plus institutions (including Harvard, Brown, and Cornell) are registered as disabled and receive accommodations. This figure has surged dramatically over time, rising from fewer than 3% at Harvard and under 6% at Cornell in 2015. This is obviously partly cheating the system, but it's also this harmful over-focus on "mental health"

Hard work is a good in it of itself. People pay lip service to the idea that we shouldn't be productive or measure our "worth" (whatever that is) by productivity but they don't live it. For instance, I don't know any parent that doesn't push or at least hope their children work hard at something. Anything. Do something hard. Play a sport. Learn an instrument. Study math. This is common sense.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/opinion/mental-health-exe...

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#135

Post by inigyou »

meta_gunslinger wrote: post #96
esseph wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Moreover, actions have consequences. Instead of traveling and having fun when you are able bodied, you can work more, save and invest your money for the future and safe-guarding against situations like these. Other people have chosen to do that. In the end of the day, all that outcry about capitalism is the classic "I made the wrong decisions and I want society to bail me out of them". People don't choose to be bor…

> instead of traveling and having fun when you are able bodied Are you having trouble with reading comprehension? Jesus.

Why would you wait to travel and have fun until you are no longer able-bodied? If we go for QALYs as people with this ideology usually do, isn't it better to front-load your high-quality years so you'll at least have the memories for longer?

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#136

Post by meta_gunslinger »

inigyou wrote: post #108
meta_gunslinger wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can speak for yourself, because you know nothing about my background and your ideological bias leads you to embarrassing assumptions. My family until my parents generation were dirt poor in one of those countries you would also call piss poor.

So you got lucky, thought it was because you were a genius and now you think everyone who didn't get lucky is just stupid. A common thinking pattern. To prove it's luck, though, your great-grandchildren will be poor again - that always happens - they say rags to rags in three generations.

I am not poor but I am not rich either, why do you make assumptions?

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#137

Post by codechicago277 »

veddox wrote: post #64

[flagged]

It’s sad to see people in the thread conflate capitalist greed with the “Protestant work ethic.” Despite the popularity of prosperity gospel teaching in the US, Jesus’ actual teachings clearly condemn greed and oppression of those who have less. A work ethic is still valuable, because goods have to be produced, but the reason we can’t solve worldwide poverty by just writing a check is that oppressive leaders at some point in the chain will use that money to enrich themselves, or they will take it from those who can’t defend themselves.

This isn’t to say that the purpose of Christianity is to fix these social problems, but it’s easy to forget how central generosity and compassion are to the Christian message. “Money Cult” by Chris Lehmann is a good exploration of how American Christianity corrupts these truths.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#138

Post by inigyou »

AllegedAlec wrote: post #92
inigyou wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are a fish unable to see water. Yes, you need food. Guess what, we have plenty of food. But the system for allocating food says this guy doesn't get any because he's disabled.

You're missing my point. Shortage and conflict is the default . It's not a fault unique to capitalism, and to say that it's its fault is missing the mark. I'm not saying it's an ought situation or even an is situation; it's that I disagree with his diagnosis of what causes it.

Well right now there isn't a food shortage so what should we do while there isn't a food shortage? Should we perhaps say, that we only jettison the disabled people once we're actually running out of food and are forced to make a tough decision about who to keep alive, instead of doing it 20 years in advance just because there might be a shortage one day?

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#140

Post by zbentley »

QuadmasterXLII wrote: post #126

We could provide food for the poor and disabled who lack or are not using family support with a tiny fraction of our industrial output. We wouldn’t even notice this expenditure, let alone whine about it. But what we are providing is actually “Healthcare. Specialists. Medications. Supplements. Mobility aids. Physical therapy. Accessible housing. Delivery fees when you cannot physically shop for yourself. Ride shares w…

I'm not clear on what you're trying to say here.

Are you saying we're providing those things instead of food? Or that if we provided food we wouldn't need to provide those things?

If so, that's patently false. A lot more than food is needed to give someone a better standard of living.

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