4 ms·

Not to reduce a complex topic to an aphorism but: if the world is configured in a way thats antagonistic towards you, a negative response is understandable. A l

by ixtli 6y ago

Not to reduce a complex topic to an aphorism but: if the world is configured in a way thats antagonistic towards you, a negative response is understandable. A lot of this stuff fits neatly into a tradition of blaming people for their conditions that, by and large, they have little control over. Oh, another aphorism that's always stuck with me is "the difference between 'crazy' and 'eccentric' is a million dollars."

opportune 6y ago
I feel this is particularly apt as depression has grown considerably over the past few decades. Could be the result of destigmatization, or could be the result of society worsening in some way. If you have a poor social life and feel like an underachiever (which describes increasingly more people, IME) it’s no surprise to me that you would experience depression
- ixtli 6y ago
  To start, I hope that if you're talking about yourself you are doing ok. But yes I think its possible all of the things you're talking about put together. The long term effects of the extreme wealth gap are so broad they're difficult to even take a survey of. But at the same time, we're becoming more open about mental health issues and acknowledging them as legitimate problems so reporting in accepting, progressive communities is going to make it seem like there are more.
closeparen 6y ago
If you look at outcomes instead of responsibility, you get the opposite conclusion. If your suffering is a defect, then maybe we can fix it. If your suffering is a correct response to your circumstances, then it's right and proper for you to experience that suffering fully and indefinitely.
- ixtli 6y ago
  I think you might be missing my point: often the conditions are not correctable by the individual. They can only be resolved by collective action, and we can’t really start on that until we stop holding people responsible for things they don’t have meaningful control over.
  - closeparen 6y ago
    Whenever I read this, I hear "I need people to stay miserable so that they will be willing to join my revolutionary army." Something really slimy about pivoting from human suffering to your pet critique of society & insisting that the only worthwhile course of action is your political agenda.

by ixtli 6y ago

opportune 6y ago

I feel this is particularly apt as depression has grown considerably over the past few decades. Could be the result of destigmatization, or could be the result of society worsening in some way. If you have a poor social life and feel like an underachiever (which describes increasingly more people, IME) it’s no surprise to me that you would experience depression

ixtli 6y ago
To start, I hope that if you're talking about yourself you are doing ok. But yes I think its possible all of the things you're talking about put together. The long term effects of the extreme wealth gap are so broad they're difficult to even take a survey of. But at the same time, we're becoming more open about mental health issues and acknowledging them as legitimate problems so reporting in accepting, progressive communities is going to make it seem like there are more.

closeparen 6y ago

If you look at outcomes instead of responsibility, you get the opposite conclusion. If your suffering is a defect, then maybe we can fix it. If your suffering is a correct response to your circumstances, then it's right and proper for you to experience that suffering fully and indefinitely.

ixtli 6y ago
I think you might be missing my point: often the conditions are not correctable by the individual. They can only be resolved by collective action, and we can’t really start on that until we stop holding people responsible for things they don’t have meaningful control over.
- closeparen 6y ago
  Whenever I read this, I hear "I need people to stay miserable so that they will be willing to join my revolutionary army." Something really slimy about pivoting from human suffering to your pet critique of society & insisting that the only worthwhile course of action is your political agenda.