The American mentality of 'Yeah its bad, but it could be worse" or “Yeah this sucks but at least or sucks more for someone else”
It solves nothing, as long as there are people doing worse than you. Maybe this is why they are trying so hard to mess up the lives of people who already are messed up
I have a hard time believing “could be worse” is a uniquely American thought.
It’s not, but it’s a trademark, often used to excuse selfish behaviour in the US.
“Yeah, you’re getting fucked over on a regular basis, but at least you’re not a ~insert patsy demographic here~”
Out of all the many negative cultural affectations of Americans, trying to pin the extremely common across cultures of “It could be worse” as uniquely or exceptionally American is fucking bizarre.
It is not scientific proof, but i used an LLM to make an overview of where negative social comparison is most common
“It could be worse” in this sense is not a downward comparison with relevance to individualism, personal success, or meritocracy. What’s being said is not “We’re SUPERIOR INDIVIDUALS unlike those NASTY POORS from the PAST”, it’s “Fuck, things might be bad, but it’s good to keep our own circumstances in perspective.”
Also, mandatory fuck LLMs as a replacement for thought.
You obviously shouldn’t use LLMs to think, but they are essentially machines that parrot the average Internet user (or in Grok’s case, the average Internet Nazi). Using them to get a tentative guess at what Internet users say isn’t the worst idea.
I don’t see a difference between the two, besides the attitude and the capitalization. Being an asshole or being compassionate while comparing to people who are less fortunate, to affirm or confirm that you are better off, is imo the same.
In which case no comparisons are acceptable, and no relative estimations can ever be made.
and no relative estimations can ever be made
Oh they can! It’s just not good to do. The question is not if it can be done or not. It’s more if it is a good thing and if it is culturally acceptable
Oh they can! It’s just not good to do. The question is not if it can be done or not. It’s more if it is a good thing and if it is culturally acceptable
… you say as you make relative estimations about Americans.
Combining flour, water, and an egg isn’t difficult. If you told me that was the second thing that happened after figuring out how to make flour I’d believe it. Like flat bread, proto-pasta, leavened bread in that order makes the most sense to me.
Okay but as a chronically ill person in poverty struggling to feed myself in a late stage capitalist hellscape. I feel like I tick the first few boxes.
No tomatoes, no corn, yeah it was rough
Edit btw this means pizza, if you manage to make some, doesn’t have any sauce
Second edit: And no tacos
Tacos aren’t a big thing in Europe even today
Then I guess contemporary europeans have an advantage at imagining being ancient europeans, that’s fine
Sounds awful. Tacos are great!
We have shawarma.
Falafel, Lahmacun…
I can get all of those and tacos.
If you never knew this things you’d never miss them.
But can you imagine the blissful ignorance?
No social media.
No phones.
No 24 hour news cycle.
Almost no literacy.
Just a town crier once a week or month or whenever our lord thought there was important news to share.
The travelling minstrel, or dance troupe, or puppeteer coming through annually and doing shows for a few nights before carrying on to the next town.
