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At least for me it’s more like “this guys career is still way better than mine so it’s hard to think of his situation as suffering”.

disgruntledphd2 2y ago
It's still hard. Maybe he or she has had better luck and opportunities than you, but that doesn't mean they don't suffer just as much when bad things happen. We're all on this rock together, and either nobody's pain is worthy or everyone's is.
- mathgeek 2y ago
  > We're all on this rock together, and either nobody's pain is worthy or everyone's is. This overgeneralizes IMHO. While the pain of being laid off due to something other than your own actions is fine, there are certainly folks out there who cause a lot of pain to others and aren't worthy of universal sympathy when their own pain comes along.
  - disgruntledphd2 2y ago
    > This overgeneralizes IMHO. While the pain of being laid off due to something other than your own actions is fine, there are certainly folks out there who cause a lot of pain to others and aren't worthy of universal sympathy when their own pain comes along. Everyone thinks that when they're angry or upset with someone. Ultimately people are people, and everyone deserves sympathy when bad things happen to them. Note that i don't always accomplish this, but I certainly think it's worth trying.
    - mathgeek 2y ago
      Sorry, but I simply don't agree. You're overgeneralizing again with "everyone thinks..." but no, you will trivially find folks who believe that someone (as an example) who murders or facilitates the murder of innocent people does not deserve sympathy when they suffer the consequences of their actions. It is not true that all rational people believe that all people deserve sympathy for all causes of suffering.
      - disgruntledphd2 2y ago
        > all rational people As soon as you find me one of these unicorns, I'll concede the point. Like, ultimately you don't have to show compassion for other humans, but in general, life will be better for all of us if we all do.
        mathgeek 1y ago
        What are you referring to by unicorn? I claimed that not all rational people believe such in all cases. There's trivially at least one such person in the world (as evidenced by this discussion).
john-h-k 2y ago
If someone much richer and with a better career than me got punched in the face i would still see that as suffering. I don’t know why someone’s situation being better means they can’t be suffering

disgruntledphd2 2y ago

It's still hard. Maybe he or she has had better luck and opportunities than you, but that doesn't mean they don't suffer just as much when bad things happen. We're all on this rock together, and either nobody's pain is worthy or everyone's is.

mathgeek 2y ago
> We're all on this rock together, and either nobody's pain is worthy or everyone's is. This overgeneralizes IMHO. While the pain of being laid off due to something other than your own actions is fine, there are certainly folks out there who cause a lot of pain to others and aren't worthy of universal sympathy when their own pain comes along.
- disgruntledphd2 2y ago
  > This overgeneralizes IMHO. While the pain of being laid off due to something other than your own actions is fine, there are certainly folks out there who cause a lot of pain to others and aren't worthy of universal sympathy when their own pain comes along. Everyone thinks that when they're angry or upset with someone. Ultimately people are people, and everyone deserves sympathy when bad things happen to them. Note that i don't always accomplish this, but I certainly think it's worth trying.
  - mathgeek 2y ago
    Sorry, but I simply don't agree. You're overgeneralizing again with "everyone thinks..." but no, you will trivially find folks who believe that someone (as an example) who murders or facilitates the murder of innocent people does not deserve sympathy when they suffer the consequences of their actions. It is not true that all rational people believe that all people deserve sympathy for all causes of suffering.
    - disgruntledphd2 2y ago
      > all rational people As soon as you find me one of these unicorns, I'll concede the point. Like, ultimately you don't have to show compassion for other humans, but in general, life will be better for all of us if we all do.
      - mathgeek 1y ago
        What are you referring to by unicorn? I claimed that not all rational people believe such in all cases. There's trivially at least one such person in the world (as evidenced by this discussion).

john-h-k 2y ago

If someone much richer and with a better career than me got punched in the face i would still see that as suffering. I don’t know why someone’s situation being better means they can’t be suffering