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You seem to be applying a cultural slant to this. I'm curious, how does it differ outside of America in your perspective? I agree that part of the problem at l

You seem to be applying a cultural slant to this. I'm curious, how does it differ outside of America in your perspective? I agree that part of the problem at least in America, is a mismatch in expectations caused by a media-infused, image-obsessed culture. There is a need to "perform", be larger than life and be interesting. It is incredibly suffocating and makes relationships more transactional than they should be.

vinceguidry 4y ago
Other cultures just don't seem to be as relentlessly status-hungry. Like, I've met homeless people in Colombia with better self-esteem than well-off Americans. Like our visible affluence is eating us alive. Old women in a bunch of Asian countries gather together in public places for some activity or other, often something physically active like ping pong or dancing. America for the most part seems to have lost the concept of public space, every space is private and to be monetized unless explicitly deemed otherwise. This dynamic: "just about any difference between what someone's life is like and what they want it to be seems to manifest in their psyche as loneliness," just doesn't seem to be how people from other cultures process that difference. They don't externalize that difference in a way that makes themselves out to be the victim and deserving of better. They seem at least a little more willing to own up to their own role in it.
- petra 4y ago
  >> Like, I've met homeless people in Colombia with better self-esteem than well-off Americans. That's interesting, can you expand on those Colombian people and why they have such high self-esteem ?
  - vinceguidry 4y ago
    I would hesitate before trying to explain Colombian culture. I've been three times and I can only scratch the surface. But I spotted a homeless guy in Colombia once working to repair a water pipe leak that was spilling a bunch of water out onto the street. It's hard to find Americans with that kind of pride of place. But just about everybody carried themselves with dignity over there.

vinceguidry 4y ago

Other cultures just don't seem to be as relentlessly status-hungry. Like, I've met homeless people in Colombia with better self-esteem than well-off Americans. Like our visible affluence is eating us alive. Old women in a bunch of Asian countries gather together in public places for some activity or other, often something physically active like ping pong or dancing. America for the most part seems to have lost the concept of public space, every space is private and to be monetized unless explicitly deemed otherwise. This dynamic: "just about any difference between what someone's life is like and what they want it to be seems to manifest in their psyche as loneliness," just doesn't seem to be how people from other cultures process that difference. They don't externalize that difference in a way that makes themselves out to be the victim and deserving of better. They seem at least a little more willing to own up to their own role in it.

petra 4y ago
>> Like, I've met homeless people in Colombia with better self-esteem than well-off Americans. That's interesting, can you expand on those Colombian people and why they have such high self-esteem ?
- vinceguidry 4y ago
  I would hesitate before trying to explain Colombian culture. I've been three times and I can only scratch the surface. But I spotted a homeless guy in Colombia once working to repair a water pipe leak that was spilling a bunch of water out onto the street. It's hard to find Americans with that kind of pride of place. But just about everybody carried themselves with dignity over there.