Here's the problem I have with this (I probably haven't worked this out well enough in my mind to pursausively argue for it on the internet, but this is what go

Here's the problem I have with this (I probably haven't worked this out well enough in my mind to pursausively argue for it on the internet, but this is what goes through my mind every time I encounter this): - (all/most/many/some/ at least a few) problems are best solved locally, by treating the people around you as well as you can - you have the most control first over your own happiness, then over your immediate family's happiness, then over close families happiness ....... etc etc etc - you have almost no control over someone's happiness on the other side of the planet ----------- look, I don't want some kid in Côte d'Ivoire to be a child slave, but I'm relatively sure my chocolate consumption is a tiny drop in that bucket (though just typing that out made me want to use less chocolate) moreover, even if I stop using chocolate, his happiness is still far more dependent on the people local to him than it is to me -------------------- anecdotally, strikes me that the people I know who love to get on their high horse about normal western consumer patterns, don't put that much thought into being fairly miserable to the people that they actually directly interact with (I'll concede that that's not a fair generalization) ------------------- TLDR, it strikes me that treating people better that you actually interact with is the best way to make the world a better place