The Age of Rage: Why Are People Are So Angry?

Re:The Age of Rage: Why Are People Are So Angry? by nradov on Sunday May 12, 2024 @03:51PM (#40337051)

Most people in every society want to increase their social status. The metrics vary by society — could be dollars or touchdowns or wooly mammoth meat quantity — but this is nearly universal. And in a closed society this is essentially a zero sum game: in order for someone to rise in status someone else must fall. Whether this competition is "healthy" for people or society is irrelevant since it's not going to change.

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Re:The Age of Rage: Why Are People Are So Angry? by ffsm8 on Sunday May 12, 2024 @04:14PM (#40337248)

> And in a closed society this is essentially a zero sum game

I feel sorry for you, as it seems you've never had any healthy relationships in your life in you honestly think that

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Re:The Age of Rage: Why Are People Are So Angry? by qup on Sunday May 12, 2024 @04:52PM (#40337495)

What he's saying is if there are 100 people, and you go from #50 most prestigious member to #49, you just displaced someone else in the hierarchy.

It has nothing to do with relationships.

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Re:The Age of Rage: Why Are People Are So Angry? by fragmede on Sunday May 12, 2024 @05:27PM (#40337740)

But there aren't 100 people, there are 8.1 billion of us. If your relationships are such that the only way for me to be a winner is for you to be a loser, when we can both be winners, it's sad.

If it's a closed system, like a race, then that makes sense. Only one person can finish first. But life's not a closed system like that, so I can win at the races and you can win at the slots, and we can go for a nice dinner together. Maybe a bit pollyanna, but not everything has to be a competition. My happiness doesn't come from the expense of someone else's.

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Re:The Age of Rage: Why Are People Are So Angry? by orf on Sunday May 12, 2024 @05:38PM (#40337797)

This implies there’s a strict, singular and universal ordering for prestige.

The idea you can rank prestige like that, and displace anyone in a strict manner, or that there’s some metric you can even use, is utter nonsense.

There are bands, of course, but nothing more granular than that.

It’s not a zero sum game unless you’re in a very unhealthy mindset.

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Re:The Age of Rage: Why Are People Are So Angry? by nradov on Sunday May 12, 2024 @06:32PM (#40338075)

You really missed the point of my comment. I am blessed with an abundance of healthy relationships. But for society as a whole, status only exists on a relative scale. The slope of the curve may differ but most people are striving to move up that curve.

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