This makes me think of ‘Why a meritocracy is corrosive to society’ by Philosphize This! It was very interesting to hear the downsides expressed, and how ingrained it is in society to the point that we don’t even notice. Perhaps the most important point: how thankful we should be to have the skills to be highly valued in this environment, which will give you some empathy to the people who don’t. https://open.spotify.com/episode/7ASBhftzNrJnFL0NV3Iqtu?si=c...

for anyone who doesn't like Spotify or prefers YT

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TKQTbVT0kzQ

unfortunately the transcript is not yet on the website

> This attitude of "be happy our bubble isn't as bad as the other bubbles" is a tragedy.

Its not really what I meant. Being a bit more stoic about life (which is what I suggested before without using the term Stoic) doesn't mean you don't care about other people's suffering or that you won't do anything to help. In fact the opposite, a part of being stoic is looking at the ugly parts of life and dealing with them. And its also very much about reframing whatever difficult moments we all have with the appreciation that for most of us things usually can be so much worse. You are probably not dying of cancer, you don't live on the streets etc. To ruminate about those facts every now and then is to me a healthy habit and not a selfish act.

I agree that having a more realistic mindset that we are already in a great position can help if the person's comparing themselves with others earning a lot more.

But I argue that this alone is not enough. Phrasing it merely as something we have to deal with as individuals to cope with the insanity of the current affairs is insufficient and perpetuates this individualistic thinking.

I don't believe the comment was mean spirited or anything like that, but when seeing a list of very bad realities we have today, we can't stop at individually coping with it by comparing ourselves to those that have it even worse.

I consider myself a stoic too and totally understand where you're coming from. But I'd argue stoicism is an individualistic solution that cannot really be applied to something systemic as the job market crisis

I think a lot of the problem comes from the phrase - 'comparison is the thief of joy'. Many people would be much happier with life if they weren't barraged by other hypothetical lifestyles and constantly comparing themselves to their neighbors. That's nothing new but much more amplified in the current environment.

You can be thankful that your little bubble is still intact while wishing that there was a way to provide similar bubbles for the masses. I recently realized that the stability I have in my life, which I would've perceived as boring or mundane as a younger man, is more than I ever could have asked for compared to what most of the world gets, especially in times other than ours.

> Not sure how we can have a "peaceful and happy mind" while everyone outside of our little bubble suffers. This line of thinking is, to me, an example of why we'll never fix any of this.

I agree with you that this individualistic line of thinking will never fix the systemic issues we find here. But I challenge you on your conclusion, "That's why we'll never fix any of this". There should be another "line of thinking" that will fix stuff. What is it? Maybe something not individualistic, aren't people able to cooperate?

> Folks, remember we're all in the same boat!

By "we" in this sentence I understand you mean ones reading this, or interacting here. Just want to point out that, there are people out of this boat. Their interests are protected by the State and they never, never had to do a 8h work shift.