Though I know this is an apologetics website, recently we've had a few very interesting threads discussing the epistemological aspects of morality and personal responsibility. Though I spoke out against their anti-theistic undertones, like I said I think ethics and personal responsibility is a subject of fascinating discussion. I especially think it's interesting on a societal level, versus singular individuals. I would've majored in sociology if I believed there were jobs in it after graduation.
Now when it comes to western culture I've come to understand that with opulence comes a lowered threshold for suffering. To the spoiled first world citizen having their star bucks spill on their lap on the way to work warrants a "ruined day", whereas there are those in second and third world countries who rejoice in merely having a roof over their head and food in their belly. Now a slight preamble, I did grow up with a rather hard knock childhood. Homelessness, orphaned, victim of violence and apathy, etc. And the point of that sentence isn't to complain about "how hard I had it", but rather to give a bit of insight into my typical knee jerk reaction of "SUCK IT UP" to people who complain about their dog's organic dog food taking too long to arrive by fed ex from Brazil (that was a real complaint I heard as a guard).
So it took some time as I grew into an adult to unlearn that knee jerk response. To the person freaking out over their coffee having three creams instead of two, that is genuinely the worst thing that will happen in their day, and they simply don't understand any worse suffering. To them, that is suffering, and so I learned to stop judging the response of first world peoples. That is...until yesterday... When I came across what I could charitably consider the most spoiled rant about not having a movie like perfect life I could possibly see.
To those who like to read Cracked, you may have already read this article:
I thought it was going to be "Death of your parents" or "True love gone wrong" or "First brush with mortality". But no...it's just....let me quote you some lines from it:
Quote:
Let me tell you a story from kindergarten. We were at recess, and I was running around the way speedy little 5-year-olds do...I was running around, head down, and I ran right into a boy I'll call John...Mrs. Steir, wanted to see me. I was pretty surprised, but also pretty confident I could explain myself. So Mrs. Steir asked me if I punched John, and I told her the whole story. Do you know what she did? She looked down at me and said, "Have you ever heard the story of the boy who cried wolf?" I have never recovered from that incident. To this day, I get disproportionately angry if I'm falsely accused of lying.
Kindergarten?? This guy is in his mid-thirties and he's still traumatized by something that happened in kindergarten? Next we see:
Quote:
I'm not sure if this makes sense, but something about growing up in a loving home with relatively fair parents ... breaks you. It gets you used to the idea of authority being tethered to reason. It gives you an expectation of communication following commands. And it gives you absolutely no tolerance for the failure of the rest of the world to extend the same courtesy.
Now I know a lot of you will think that this is an isolated incident, or even defend what I perceive as the logical extreme of western hyper sensitivity, but if you look at the comments section of the article you will find droves of people responding in kind with their own "emotional traumas" which include: Going to the hospital for a fever when they were six, being called "stinky" in kindergarten, their parents not buying them the right clothing brand.
And I really have to ask, am I insane in thinking that this is the worst example of western entitlement?
