4 ms·

Its easier to be a victim than a hero even in peoples minds.

PartiallyTyped 4y ago
Sometimes you get tired of everything being a constant fight from the moment you were born. Sometimes you are tired of grinding endlessly with little if anything to show for it, all because we threw a bad dice at birth.
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  It absolutely is tiring! Still there is nothing virtuous or noble about suffering itself.
- lo_zamoyski 4y ago
  As Marcus Aurelius once wrote, all men suffer, but not all men pity themselves. Somewhat tangentially: Thomas Aquinas once wrote that if we experience a loss, we may allow ourselves to grieve for a while, and then stop. The danger of sadness is that we may indulge it indefinitely and sink into despair. A person who wallows in such despair and self-pity would be well served by considering whether he is poisoned by envy, perhaps the envy of egalitarianism. To paraphrase Chesterton, at least the aristocrats of old had the satisfaction of feeling superior than others. The egalitarian man cuts down all those he fears are better than he is (typically by denying the qualities of others)! The majority of our suffering, especially the spiritual and psychological variety, is our own doing. There are plenty of people born with all sorts of conditions who live happy lives because they've accepted the immutable and made the best of the cards they were dealt. If self-pity deserves anything, it is not compassion, but contempt.
  - heavenlyblue 4y ago
    > The egalitarian man cuts down all those he fears are better than he is Yeah or rather that man sees tbat often those who are better have counter-balanced that better by a marginal worse in other dimensions :)
s1artibartfast 4y ago
Having personally struggled with serious depression and feelings of victimhood, I actually disagree. I can confidently say that it is a lot easier to go through life not feeling like a victim. It takes extra work and introspection to change states, but it is far easier in the long run.
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  > It takes extra work and introspection to change states, If you can't achieve the activation energy needed to change, then staying stuck in that rut is the easiest thing you can do.
  - s1artibartfast 4y ago
    If there is actually no choice, it is the easiest, hardest, and only thing you can do. My personal experience that activation energy comes from knowledge. The process of finding it can be more unpleasant but not necessarily harder to put it a different way, the decent to rock bottom is painful but easy. Inflection only occurs when and if someone discovers or internalizes something new.
- thrown_22 4y ago
  The irony here being that you claim to be a victim to claim the high ground in the debate. It's like trying to explain water to a fish.
  - s1artibartfast 4y ago
    I don't claim moral moral highground based on my personal history. I claim to be right based on the merits of my argument alone.
    - thrown_22 4y ago
      Which you claim based on personal history.

Sometimes you get tired of everything being a constant fight from the moment you were born. Sometimes you are tired of grinding endlessly with little if anything to show for it, all because we threw a bad dice at birth.

s1artibartfast 4y ago
It absolutely is tiring! Still there is nothing virtuous or noble about suffering itself.
lo_zamoyski 4y ago
As Marcus Aurelius once wrote, all men suffer, but not all men pity themselves. Somewhat tangentially: Thomas Aquinas once wrote that if we experience a loss, we may allow ourselves to grieve for a while, and then stop. The danger of sadness is that we may indulge it indefinitely and sink into despair. A person who wallows in such despair and self-pity would be well served by considering whether he is poisoned by envy, perhaps the envy of egalitarianism. To paraphrase Chesterton, at least the aristocrats of old had the satisfaction of feeling superior than others. The egalitarian man cuts down all those he fears are better than he is (typically by denying the qualities of others)! The majority of our suffering, especially the spiritual and psychological variety, is our own doing. There are plenty of people born with all sorts of conditions who live happy lives because they've accepted the immutable and made the best of the cards they were dealt. If self-pity deserves anything, it is not compassion, but contempt.
- heavenlyblue 4y ago
  > The egalitarian man cuts down all those he fears are better than he is Yeah or rather that man sees tbat often those who are better have counter-balanced that better by a marginal worse in other dimensions :)

s1artibartfast 4y ago

Having personally struggled with serious depression and feelings of victimhood, I actually disagree. I can confidently say that it is a lot easier to go through life not feeling like a victim. It takes extra work and introspection to change states, but it is far easier in the long run.

MichaelCollins 4y ago
> It takes extra work and introspection to change states, If you can't achieve the activation energy needed to change, then staying stuck in that rut is the easiest thing you can do.
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  If there is actually no choice, it is the easiest, hardest, and only thing you can do. My personal experience that activation energy comes from knowledge. The process of finding it can be more unpleasant but not necessarily harder to put it a different way, the decent to rock bottom is painful but easy. Inflection only occurs when and if someone discovers or internalizes something new.
thrown_22 4y ago
The irony here being that you claim to be a victim to claim the high ground in the debate. It's like trying to explain water to a fish.
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  I don't claim moral moral highground based on my personal history. I claim to be right based on the merits of my argument alone.
  - thrown_22 4y ago
    Which you claim based on personal history.