Earlier quoted context omitted.
>One, neither of us said that every HN poster is an example of entitlement, but you are claiming that we said that. Excerpt from the original post: "Reading all the replies on HN reminds me why companies like to outsource. Americans are expensive and have a strong sense of entitlement." I think you're throwing in the "all" in your response as a back door out of what you and the OP have said: [some of the] people post…
> I think you're throwing in the "all" in your response as a back door out of what you and the OP have said: [some of the] people posting on HN are whiners with an entitlement mentality. I put the 'all' into my response because I'm tired of you forcing everything to extremes. I will say in no uncertain terms: some of the people posting on HN are exhibiting an entitlement mentality. Reading all of the posts reveals th…
So again, you're judging some of the people on HN in a very harsh manner based on pure assumptions of your own.
>We are discussing things I have observed that do not happen to fit the extreme case you posted.
I give extreme examples to illustrate the point more clearly.
>But for a value that he admits he was already happy with nevertheless.
Again, he was happy because he thought was getting a good deal. Once he found out he was actually being exploited, of course he was upset!
>The utility of the money he was receiving did not change; he was still able to perform the exact same happiness-increasing things with it, but now he's suddenly unhappy with it. This is entirely irrational.
It's not about utility. He took place in a market transaction by selling his time. He was happy because he liked the arrangement. Then he found out his happiness was based on a lie; he wasn't getting market rate for his "product", far from it. It is not even remotely irrational to suddenly be angry when you find out you were tricked. I'm begging to wonder if you actually know what "rational" means.
>it is happiness that should not be so intricately tied to money.
Fine, and I would say it isn't in this case. Being treated fairly is.
>but if I'm already happy with the price at which I'm selling and find out I could sell for more, my happiness can only decrease if my happiness is intricately tied to money.
But most people are only "happy with the price" when they believe they are getting at or close to market rate. Not being happy anymore when you discover the deception doesn't mean your happiness is "tied intricately to money". Your happiness stemmed from trust and now a betrayal has been discovered. It would be very odd to not be upset.
>How is this not leaving money on the table for no other reason than some feeling of happiness?
I'm not leaving money on the table because I'm getting market rate for what I'm offering. I don't need to get every penny I possibly can, only every penny my offering is worth.
>If it's market value for market value's sake, how is that not money for money's sake?
This is how the free market works. You have to work in your own best interest or you negatively impact others. For example, if you happily donate your time at 10% of the market rate then you've lowered the value of that job and now others may get paid less.
And why is it that you only call out workers? What about Google? They've got billions, surely they could charge less for their advertising? What about CEO's? They make more than they could spend in a lifetime. Why don't you call them out for "wanting money for the sake of money" as if this is the case they're clearly more guilty of it than I am.