This statement surprises me. I'll admit to being a little bit unstable perhaps, but when I look at people I know who have succeeded and don't need to work anymore, I struggle a lot with feelings of anger and rage.
The "story" we're told is: work hard and you will succeed. But these successful people aren't working. They're just rich. Isn't that the whole idea? Passive income?
But then I look and see, my labor is supporting their passive income. That makes me angry. Not out of some altruistic desire for equality, but out of jealousy. Why can't I be the one with the passive income?
Class structure has only a little to do with absolutes and a lot to do with relative comparisons. You could tell me that, worldwide, I'm the 1%. I have a place to sleep (heated), food to eat (cooked), and the safety of a policed city. Boom, that's more than most of the world will ever dream. But does that help? No, it doesn't. Because we always compare upwards. It's miserable. I'm miserable every day. I'm angry, I'm rageful, I'm scared. I'm a broken person.
I try to fix these things by focusing on amazingly lucky and well off I actually am in the global scheme, by focusing on how my Maslow needs actually are being met, by focusing on pride in my work and professional accomplishments, and by ignoring both the horrors below me in the world and the lavish luxury above me. But can I understand how someone could lash out, could become violent, at such perceived injustice? Absolutely I understand!
> You could tell me that, worldwide, I'm the 1%. I have a place to sleep (heated), food to eat (cooked), and the safety of a policed city. Boom, that's more than most of the world will ever dream.
Oh for God's sake. I'm fairly sure you're not actually in the worldwide top 1% just for having food, housing, and safety. Those things have actually been reasonably common throughout history.
Now I understand this too. In time the humanity worked to combat the causes of more crude crimes which now are relatively rare. I guess the next step is to work out the remaining causes of violence, which is exactly what the article mentions - socioeconomic acceptance and being happy with beans.
The "story" we're told is: work hard and you will succeed. But these successful people aren't working. They're just rich. Isn't that the whole idea? Passive income?
But then I look and see, my labor is supporting their passive income. That makes me angry. Not out of some altruistic desire for equality, but out of jealousy. Why can't I be the one with the passive income?
Class structure has only a little to do with absolutes and a lot to do with relative comparisons. You could tell me that, worldwide, I'm the 1%. I have a place to sleep (heated), food to eat (cooked), and the safety of a policed city. Boom, that's more than most of the world will ever dream. But does that help? No, it doesn't. Because we always compare upwards. It's miserable. I'm miserable every day. I'm angry, I'm rageful, I'm scared. I'm a broken person.
I try to fix these things by focusing on amazingly lucky and well off I actually am in the global scheme, by focusing on how my Maslow needs actually are being met, by focusing on pride in my work and professional accomplishments, and by ignoring both the horrors below me in the world and the lavish luxury above me. But can I understand how someone could lash out, could become violent, at such perceived injustice? Absolutely I understand!