People tend to complain about a lot of things. People will find a reason to complain about anything and everything. Lately, however, in a sort of ultimate paradox, people are now complaining about people complaining! I seem to be hearing a lot of people these days bitching and whining about how they don't like that other people are bitching and whining. Sometimes, this takes a spiritual or metaphysical aspect, as in creating "negative energy" in the universe. Other times, this takes a more practical "his attitude is bringing me down" aspect. The most annoying variation on this, however, is this idea of "first world problems," that if you live in a first-world country, then any "problem" you have is not really a problem, and we should all just shut up about our lives. I take issue with this. Yes, that's right, this blog is me complaining about people complaining about people complaining. Deal with it. Anyway, in defense of first-world complaints, here are the reasons why this "first-world problem" concept is bullshit:
1. Not everyone who lives in a first world country is rich. Living in the United States (which is the specific "first world" country that we were all thinking of anyway) does not mean that your life is better than anyone else's. It just means that you live in closer geographical proximity to people whose lives are better. Being poor in America is no better than being poor in any other country. It's not as if we can all live off of the money that accidentally falls out of rich people's pockets as they walk down the street. (I compare this to the easily disprovable theory that poor white people are somehow better off than black people.)
2. People are either happy or unhappy based on a particular moment. If I stub my toe, I react to the pain in that moment. I don't integrate the experience into an overall analysis of the value of my life as a whole. So if a rich person stubs his toe, he's going to be just as pissed off as a poor person who stubs his toe. Why? Because it hurts just the same.
3. Everyone always says "money won't buy happiness." Is this something we say to make poor people feel better, but don't actually believe it? I think this is a phrase we should take more seriously. Whenever we have our health and lots of friends, but don't have any luxury, we always say that we have "the things that matter." Well, what if you have lots of money, but don't have any of the "things that matter," such as health, friends, love, freedom, etc.? Do we suddenly think that all THOSE things aren't important? Or do we just assume that if you have expensive things, the free things must have already arrived? Hardly likely, when you consider the fact that necessities generally cost more money than luxuries. Food, shelter, medicine and transportation are WAY expensive, but companies are giving away cell phones for FREE!
4. People say, "What right do you have to complain?" Well, we've got EVERY right to complain, according to almost every legal document written in the last 200+ years. Even if, theoretically, we weren't allowed to be unhappy because there were people poorer than ourselves, would this logic work in reverse? Do I have a right to be happy, even though there are people richer than I am?
5. The quest in life should be for perfection. This doesn't mean that we should be unhappy unless our lives are perfect. It just means that we should be constantly trying to improve our lives and the lives of the people around us. We didn't get to be where we are today by settling for just "good enough." We strived for better, and in order to strive for better, we have to acknowledge where our lives have room for improvement.
6. Actual poor people don't give a shit. If some child of wealthy parents isn't happy with his new iPad, do you really think that the starving children of Africa are being upset by this? I think they'd rather have food than have the knowledge that some kid they've never met thousands of miles away is "being appreciative" of how privileged he is. Besides, what's the alternative? Should the rich white kid give up everything, go out and live on the streets, and start physically torturing himself to "even things out?" Of course not, because the starving children would still be starving, and wouldn't feel half an ounce better about the situation. Resenting rich people is not what poor people do. Resenting rich people is what upper-middle-class people do to make themselves feel more worldly and morally-superior without actually having to do anything productive.
7. This problem comes with an expiration date. Those starving countries are getting better all the time. World hunger and poverty is lower than it has ever been in human history. More countries have more freedoms than ever in history. It's just going to keep getting better an better. What's the future going to be like? Are we going to be guilt-tripping people in first-world countries who aren't happy with their teleporters because 1% of the people in third-world countries have the hardship of not getting very good cell phone reception? Imagine a future in which EVERYONE has not only the basic necessities of life, the freedom of self-determination, AND approximately the same amount of luxury. What then? Will it be horrible, because we'll have no one left to point at and say, "at least we don't have it as bad as those people?"
Okay, that's my little rant. Now all the people who disagree, go ahead and complain about my complaining about people complaining about people complaining.
