Lol I’m not denying any sort of privelege. I grew up on the borderline between lower and middle class as my mother’s fortunes changed. But trying to analyze my personal life experiences is just a terrible, meager excuse to dismiss the historical value of asceticism. It’s the equivalent of dismissing socialism because “capitalism made your iphone!”. I’ve had to scrape by with an empty bank account and max’d out credit cards, relying on whatever was left in the pantry and whatever gas was left in the tank to make it until pay day. But it doesn’t matter if I’ve had those experiences or not- the message from this author is not dependent upon just how poor some random member of the audience happened to be at various points in his life. Yiu can’t make any sort of actual argument here and are trying to “win” by personally attacking me, as if that’s going to accomplish anything for anyone.
And yes- not having money can be incredibly stressful. But…once again look at the comic. First of all, the author acknowledges that this is not a perfect lifestyle, but makes it clear that the characters are not as stressed out about financial difficulties as you might expect. And if you stop to think about it…
What bills do they need to pay exactly? What is it you feel they should be so stressed about that you’re judging them for being satisfied? In rural areas like this they likely have well water and a septic tank. We already know they don’t have heat. They probably don’t have a natural gas hookup. The comic says the pay for electricity, but heck there are plenty of ways around that if you want. If you ever go out to rural places like these you’ll see cheap solar panels all over the place where it doesn’t make sense to run main voltage electricity, and in the hills you’ll find people running micro hydro. I am imagining they inherited the trailer and land or somehow managed to buy it in the past- trailers are cheap and land in rural areas is cheap. Property taxes… Maybe, but what no permanent construction on the property that’s going to be miniscule. Maybe cell phone bills? But with all the alternate forms of income I mentioned it’s not that much of a stretch to think that they could scrape together the money for that, if they wanted.
I’ve acknowledged elsewhere here that I was lucky, and college degrees have become more expensive and less valuable since I graduated. So I’m not sure why you seem to be accusing me of accusing poor people of being lazy. In fact that kind of goes against everything else that I’m saying here- the people in this comic appear to be living a virtuous and satisfying lifestyle without all the trappings of wealth and capitalism. I know people who live similar lifestyles and are quite happy.
You’re the one judging poor people here. Suggesting that wanting to live like this is immature or a sign of mental illness. The truth is that tons of people live like this and are happy. And while it’s not a lifestyle I personally want to embrace, there are lessons to be learned from studying other lifestyles. It’s important to ask what it is that we are spending money on, what we are working for, and what the opportunity cost of labor is.
No, what I am saying is that you are denying that the vast majority of people would not choose to live like that if they had a choice. It is simply what they fell into and all they know.
You said that poor people can go and do two degrees and what not. Sure, in fantasy land anyone can become anything. In real life, it’s not that simple and no, they cannot. Or they can, but with 10 times the effort of someone in a more privileged position. That is not to be expected of anyone just to live a self-fulfilled life.
I did not attack you personally and you don’t have to justify your life to me. I was pointing out that you are fortunate enough to be able to make that choice in life. Not everyone has the capacity to think and read about philosophies of any kind, and you do. Your conclusions come from a place of luxury and freedom that you are denying in your statements.
Lol I’m not denying any sort of privelege. I grew up on the borderline between lower and middle class as my mother’s fortunes changed. But trying to analyze my personal life experiences is just a terrible, meager excuse to dismiss the historical value of asceticism. It’s the equivalent of dismissing socialism because “capitalism made your iphone!”. I’ve had to scrape by with an empty bank account and max’d out credit cards, relying on whatever was left in the pantry and whatever gas was left in the tank to make it until pay day. But it doesn’t matter if I’ve had those experiences or not- the message from this author is not dependent upon just how poor some random member of the audience happened to be at various points in his life. Yiu can’t make any sort of actual argument here and are trying to “win” by personally attacking me, as if that’s going to accomplish anything for anyone.
And yes- not having money can be incredibly stressful. But…once again look at the comic. First of all, the author acknowledges that this is not a perfect lifestyle, but makes it clear that the characters are not as stressed out about financial difficulties as you might expect. And if you stop to think about it…
What bills do they need to pay exactly? What is it you feel they should be so stressed about that you’re judging them for being satisfied? In rural areas like this they likely have well water and a septic tank. We already know they don’t have heat. They probably don’t have a natural gas hookup. The comic says the pay for electricity, but heck there are plenty of ways around that if you want. If you ever go out to rural places like these you’ll see cheap solar panels all over the place where it doesn’t make sense to run main voltage electricity, and in the hills you’ll find people running micro hydro. I am imagining they inherited the trailer and land or somehow managed to buy it in the past- trailers are cheap and land in rural areas is cheap. Property taxes… Maybe, but what no permanent construction on the property that’s going to be miniscule. Maybe cell phone bills? But with all the alternate forms of income I mentioned it’s not that much of a stretch to think that they could scrape together the money for that, if they wanted.
I’ve acknowledged elsewhere here that I was lucky, and college degrees have become more expensive and less valuable since I graduated. So I’m not sure why you seem to be accusing me of accusing poor people of being lazy. In fact that kind of goes against everything else that I’m saying here- the people in this comic appear to be living a virtuous and satisfying lifestyle without all the trappings of wealth and capitalism. I know people who live similar lifestyles and are quite happy.
You’re the one judging poor people here. Suggesting that wanting to live like this is immature or a sign of mental illness. The truth is that tons of people live like this and are happy. And while it’s not a lifestyle I personally want to embrace, there are lessons to be learned from studying other lifestyles. It’s important to ask what it is that we are spending money on, what we are working for, and what the opportunity cost of labor is.
No, what I am saying is that you are denying that the vast majority of people would not choose to live like that if they had a choice. It is simply what they fell into and all they know.
You said that poor people can go and do two degrees and what not. Sure, in fantasy land anyone can become anything. In real life, it’s not that simple and no, they cannot. Or they can, but with 10 times the effort of someone in a more privileged position. That is not to be expected of anyone just to live a self-fulfilled life.
I did not attack you personally and you don’t have to justify your life to me. I was pointing out that you are fortunate enough to be able to make that choice in life. Not everyone has the capacity to think and read about philosophies of any kind, and you do. Your conclusions come from a place of luxury and freedom that you are denying in your statements.