There have been many wealthy individuals throughout human history. None yet have had their wealth save them from death.
Is it worth giving up several decades of the prime of your life as a wage slave in order to eek out a couple extra years in the Twilight of your life?
Are the desires we chase in the industrialized world really worth chasing?
This lifestyle is what has worked for mkar of human history. The lifestyle they are escaping is the source of violence the source of climate change, the source of suffering in the world.
You’re so right that it’s much better to piss away the time you have to build for the future.
I can tell you’re a teenager or in your early twenties because you skipped from 20’s to twilight years without a single thought for what’s going to happen between the two.
Stay in school, this comic is a cautionary tale not a romance.
I’m in my 30’s, have 2 degrees, have had a soul- rushing corporate job for more than a decade. I’m quite happily married. We bought a house when we were 23- younger than Carly here in this comic.
Part of that success was that we were willing to buy a cheap house. An old house in a rough neighborhood, a bad school district. A fine trade-off because we didn’t want children. We didn’t need a gigantic house, or a brand-new construction, or to live in a trendy growing neighborhood.
I make 6 figures, which for where I live is more than twice the average HOUSEHOLD income. As I’ve grown older I have seen how all of these expensive things, all these desires, are unhealthy. There is very little left that I want to buy. What I really lack is time. I spend ~10-11 hours 5 days a week either actively working or getting in/out of “work” mode. I have molded my sleep schedule around work. It consumes my life, dealing with inane corporate nonsense in exchange for that paycheck.
I stopped desiring new and expensive things a long, long time ago. I have had a bad knee for more than a decade. My retina somehow detached itself several years ago, and while it was re-attached that eye is only half as good now as it was before. The fancy 70" 4k TV hanging in my living room became difficult to focus on and I don’t use it much anymore, preferring smaller and closer screens. And I have been incredibly lucky- I have not been in a car accident, I don’t have any chronic diseases, and aside from my knee and eye I am in good health. Most people my age have several conditions that require medication and regular appointments to manage. I know full well that my own flesh will continue to fail me. It is quite easy to “piss away” your entire life by trying to “build for the future” that never comes.
I’ve traveled. I’ve gone to tons of festivals and concerts and movies and comedians. I’ve eaten at fancy restaurants and sampled expensive wine (my mother-in-law is a licensed sommelier). And yet, when I look back on my life my favorite memories are the simpler ones. Snippets of conversations with people I care about. Moments playing with our cats. Afternoons I spent completely alone, laying in the sun on my back porch, listening to the birds vying for mates or the squirrels fighting over food. Playing guitar and writing music.
“Stay in school” only worked when that paid off. I would still recommend finishing high school, but profit motives have made secondary education in the US a much more nuanced and individual decision in the past couple decades. I will say that it’s a good idea to avoid weed, alcohol, or any other recreational drugs until you have become as established as you want to be. There is a balance to be found between avarice and sloth.
I’m bourgeoisie now? What means of production do you seem to think I own? Privelege? Well sure, everyone has some level of privelege - we could talk more about how the subjects of the comic are white, cis, heterosexual, and one of them is even male! But none of that is relevant to the message.
When I was a teenager I wanted things. The latest videogame, the new movie, the new novelty item from the fast food place, the new technological gadget that promised to make my life better. I wanted to go to college and get a job, work hard, get rich, get a big house with a pool and a huge yard and have 3 kids.
Are philosophers like Lao Tzu, Socrates, Diogenes, Aquinas, and most schools of Buddhism all a “teenaged mindset”, or are you just trying to infantilizs and undermine anti-consumer sentiments? Are you saying what you truly believe, or just parroting what the advertisers have told you?
“I’m in my 30’s, have 2 degrees, have had a soul- rushing corporate job for more than a decade. I’m quite happily married. We bought a house when we were 23- younger than Carly here in this comic.”
Yes you are because all of this starting privilege doesn’t go to poor people. You’re extremely privileged roleplaying as some communist keyboard warrior when in reality you know nothing of the struggles of the people this comic represents.
I won’t glaze you. You’re incredibly privileged and have found success because of this privlage. Any argument otherwise is delusional.
There’s a huge different between being privileged and being bourgeoisie. Or else the proletariat would be virtually non-existent.
And poor people, including people in trailer parks, can get 2 degrees and a corporate job, and buy a house. It’s difficult, and especially the part about secondary education has gotten worse over time.
You’re just a slave to desire, to avarice, to greed. Convinced you can work yourself to death and that one day the benevolent overlorda will reward you with happiness.
Look dude, I almost completely agree with you and am in a very similar position to you, including the philosophy part.
However, you’re utterly denying the privileges and ease of life that comes with money. Money removes the existential dread of “how will I survive AND pay the bills next month.” In your position, you have almost certainly either experienced at least a middle class childhood, or were fortunate enough that you had the cognitive capacity and necessary support to overcome the cards stacked against you.
You’re completely ignoring the effects of poverty and resulting helplesness, either through low education, untreated (mental) health issues, abusive families, or all of those. All these issues compound and make your statement just laughable, even with the token remark about education.
And poor people, including people in trailer parks, can get 2 degrees and a corporate job, and buy a house. It’s difficult, and especially the part about secondary education has gotten worse over time.
With this, you’re not just showing a complete and utter lack of empathy and understanding, you’re actively supporting the conservative “lazy poors” rhetoric and the system leading to systemic oppression of the less fortunate. You’re pulling up the ladder behind you.
That person’s a NIMBY, or performative liberal if you prefer. I was a bit too much of a dick about it but I could tell immediately and refuse to glaze.
Anyone who spouts that level of naive shit and isn’t a teenager is willfully ignorant and most likely a conservative at heart.
"You’re just a slave to desire, to avarice, to greed. Convinced you can work yourself to death and that one day the benevolent overlorda will reward you with happiness. "
Says the guy who opened with how much shit he owns and how young he was when it was given to him.
You’re not impressing me with your bourgeoisie denialism. It’s genuinely sad that you think you’re the opposite of what you actually are. You’re lying to yourself and it’s incredibly obvious.
There have been many wealthy individuals throughout human history. None yet have had their wealth save them from death.
Is it worth giving up several decades of the prime of your life as a wage slave in order to eek out a couple extra years in the Twilight of your life?
Are the desires we chase in the industrialized world really worth chasing?
This lifestyle is what has worked for mkar of human history. The lifestyle they are escaping is the source of violence the source of climate change, the source of suffering in the world.
You’re so right that it’s much better to piss away the time you have to build for the future.
I can tell you’re a teenager or in your early twenties because you skipped from 20’s to twilight years without a single thought for what’s going to happen between the two.
Stay in school, this comic is a cautionary tale not a romance.
I’m in my 30’s, have 2 degrees, have had a soul- rushing corporate job for more than a decade. I’m quite happily married. We bought a house when we were 23- younger than Carly here in this comic.
Part of that success was that we were willing to buy a cheap house. An old house in a rough neighborhood, a bad school district. A fine trade-off because we didn’t want children. We didn’t need a gigantic house, or a brand-new construction, or to live in a trendy growing neighborhood.
I make 6 figures, which for where I live is more than twice the average HOUSEHOLD income. As I’ve grown older I have seen how all of these expensive things, all these desires, are unhealthy. There is very little left that I want to buy. What I really lack is time. I spend ~10-11 hours 5 days a week either actively working or getting in/out of “work” mode. I have molded my sleep schedule around work. It consumes my life, dealing with inane corporate nonsense in exchange for that paycheck.
I stopped desiring new and expensive things a long, long time ago. I have had a bad knee for more than a decade. My retina somehow detached itself several years ago, and while it was re-attached that eye is only half as good now as it was before. The fancy 70" 4k TV hanging in my living room became difficult to focus on and I don’t use it much anymore, preferring smaller and closer screens. And I have been incredibly lucky- I have not been in a car accident, I don’t have any chronic diseases, and aside from my knee and eye I am in good health. Most people my age have several conditions that require medication and regular appointments to manage. I know full well that my own flesh will continue to fail me. It is quite easy to “piss away” your entire life by trying to “build for the future” that never comes.
I’ve traveled. I’ve gone to tons of festivals and concerts and movies and comedians. I’ve eaten at fancy restaurants and sampled expensive wine (my mother-in-law is a licensed sommelier). And yet, when I look back on my life my favorite memories are the simpler ones. Snippets of conversations with people I care about. Moments playing with our cats. Afternoons I spent completely alone, laying in the sun on my back porch, listening to the birds vying for mates or the squirrels fighting over food. Playing guitar and writing music.
“Stay in school” only worked when that paid off. I would still recommend finishing high school, but profit motives have made secondary education in the US a much more nuanced and individual decision in the past couple decades. I will say that it’s a good idea to avoid weed, alcohol, or any other recreational drugs until you have become as established as you want to be. There is a balance to be found between avarice and sloth.
So you were in an incredible position of privilege, your advice is only good for the bourgeoisie not for the people this comic actually applies to.
Idk what flex you thought you had but being middle aged with a teenagers sense of the world is incredibly sad.
I’m bourgeoisie now? What means of production do you seem to think I own? Privelege? Well sure, everyone has some level of privelege - we could talk more about how the subjects of the comic are white, cis, heterosexual, and one of them is even male! But none of that is relevant to the message.
When I was a teenager I wanted things. The latest videogame, the new movie, the new novelty item from the fast food place, the new technological gadget that promised to make my life better. I wanted to go to college and get a job, work hard, get rich, get a big house with a pool and a huge yard and have 3 kids.
Are philosophers like Lao Tzu, Socrates, Diogenes, Aquinas, and most schools of Buddhism all a “teenaged mindset”, or are you just trying to infantilizs and undermine anti-consumer sentiments? Are you saying what you truly believe, or just parroting what the advertisers have told you?
“I’m in my 30’s, have 2 degrees, have had a soul- rushing corporate job for more than a decade. I’m quite happily married. We bought a house when we were 23- younger than Carly here in this comic.”
Yes you are because all of this starting privilege doesn’t go to poor people. You’re extremely privileged roleplaying as some communist keyboard warrior when in reality you know nothing of the struggles of the people this comic represents.
I won’t glaze you. You’re incredibly privileged and have found success because of this privlage. Any argument otherwise is delusional.
There’s a huge different between being privileged and being bourgeoisie. Or else the proletariat would be virtually non-existent.
And poor people, including people in trailer parks, can get 2 degrees and a corporate job, and buy a house. It’s difficult, and especially the part about secondary education has gotten worse over time.
You’re just a slave to desire, to avarice, to greed. Convinced you can work yourself to death and that one day the benevolent overlorda will reward you with happiness.
Look dude, I almost completely agree with you and am in a very similar position to you, including the philosophy part.
However, you’re utterly denying the privileges and ease of life that comes with money. Money removes the existential dread of “how will I survive AND pay the bills next month.” In your position, you have almost certainly either experienced at least a middle class childhood, or were fortunate enough that you had the cognitive capacity and necessary support to overcome the cards stacked against you.
You’re completely ignoring the effects of poverty and resulting helplesness, either through low education, untreated (mental) health issues, abusive families, or all of those. All these issues compound and make your statement just laughable, even with the token remark about education.
With this, you’re not just showing a complete and utter lack of empathy and understanding, you’re actively supporting the conservative “lazy poors” rhetoric and the system leading to systemic oppression of the less fortunate. You’re pulling up the ladder behind you.
That person’s a NIMBY, or performative liberal if you prefer. I was a bit too much of a dick about it but I could tell immediately and refuse to glaze.
Anyone who spouts that level of naive shit and isn’t a teenager is willfully ignorant and most likely a conservative at heart.
"You’re just a slave to desire, to avarice, to greed. Convinced you can work yourself to death and that one day the benevolent overlorda will reward you with happiness. "
Says the guy who opened with how much shit he owns and how young he was when it was given to him.
You’re not impressing me with your bourgeoisie denialism. It’s genuinely sad that you think you’re the opposite of what you actually are. You’re lying to yourself and it’s incredibly obvious.
Comrade, you may have had a point earlier, but now you’re out here just throwing punches at people. Put down the phone.
Nah you can suck up to bourgeoisie bootlickers but I won’t
Ok 👍🏻
Glad you’re on the same page now.