Counting the electronics I own, it adds up to 10s of thousands of dollars. Even if I subtract what I would require to do my job, continue my career, and to keep contact with others, I still have vast amounts of electronics often for the purpose of entertaining myself. That amount of money could've saved many lives, even provided education so that someone could not just survive but make a living for themselves.
Yet I seem to lose no sleep over this.
Or consider the case where clothes manufacturers, giving in to public pressure, ended child labor in some third world countries. Those children ended up in even worse 'jobs' if you could call them such. Not only did people behind this not feel bad about it, they saw it as having done a good thing.
On take all the time I devote to entertainment. While some relaxation is necessary to keep a good work life balance, I likely far over indulge in it. That time could've been spent making the world better in some way.
I really don't feel I'm in a place to criticize someone for building their a masterpiece of their craft.
> Counting the electronics I own, it adds up to 10s of thousands of dollars... I still have vast amounts of electronics often for the purpose of entertaining myself.
That's not a display of opulence, that's you using your own wealth to make your life more pleasant. You didn't get a $500,000 computer, did you? _That_ would be a display of opulence, and would be on par with a million dollar watch.
> it adds up to 10s of thousands of dollars
There is a very limited amount of investment you could do with $20-30k. You could build much, much more with a million dollars.
It's a matter of degree. The wealthy have such potential to make the world a better place, much more potential than the normal middle-class American. They have power, and instead of using that power to make the world better, they buy a machine that shows off how rich they are.
> Or consider the case where clothes manufacturers, giving in to public pressure, ended child labor in some third world countries.
That has nothing to do with this situation. That is capitalism gone awry to maximize profit at the expense of the workers. There's no display of wealth there. I'm not saying that guy with a million dollars should build a sweat shop.
> take all the time I devote to entertainment... I likely far over indulge in it.
I have no issue with the wealthy relaxing. They're people too. I have issue with them having such potential to help people, yet spending massive amounts of money on stuff like this instead. It's obscene to those of us who aren't and will never be wealthy like they are.
The core of the disagreement seems to be the view that I'm not wealthy, yet I'm sure there are many who would trade parts of their life to have what I have. I can't save millions, but that excuse me from not saving the dozens I could've?
Yet I seem to lose no sleep over this.
Or consider the case where clothes manufacturers, giving in to public pressure, ended child labor in some third world countries. Those children ended up in even worse 'jobs' if you could call them such. Not only did people behind this not feel bad about it, they saw it as having done a good thing.
On take all the time I devote to entertainment. While some relaxation is necessary to keep a good work life balance, I likely far over indulge in it. That time could've been spent making the world better in some way.
I really don't feel I'm in a place to criticize someone for building their a masterpiece of their craft.