Comparing myself to the ultra rich doesn’t affect me any more than comparing myself to super athletes. It’s the people around me that matters and they’re not significantly more wealthy than me. You’ll never be content in your life if this is the bar to reach.
Except pro athletes don’t earn more than the rest of the world combined. Pro athletes don’t control the prices of everything you’ve ever bought or rented. Pro athletes don’t supply the politicians with enough legal bribes in a corrupt system that they’re effectively in charge of the country.
If you don’t think billionaires sucking up all the resources and political power matters to your daily life, you’re either delusional or wilfully blind.
I wasn’t talking about the wealth of pro athletes but their athletic capabilities. Your workouts will be miserable for the rest of your life if those are the people you’re comparing yourself to.
The point is that the astronomical levels of income and wealth of centimillionaires and billionaires aren’t possible without ruining society in thousands of ways that DO affect YOU directly and profoundly whether or not you’re actively comparing yourself to anyone.
I think that the comparison is a bit flawed in the way that comparing pretty much any of us to one of the super-rich is more akin to comparing a patient in a state of clinical death to the Warhammer 40k™ top-tier warriors, not just pro athletes
If I were to dedicate all my life to sports I would maybe make it into the pro level during the lifespan, even if that would mean that I’d have to choose some sport that allows old people 🌚
I I were to continue working the way I work today and get a hundred times raise in payment, it would take me about 60 thousands of years to get what Jeff has and that is if I don’t eat or rent a flat anymore.
That’s quite a bit of difference, don’t you think?
Other people’s health is not a zero-sum game. There is an increasing wealth gap wherein the resources and value of humanities labour are being increasingly concentrated in the hands of a tiny minority to the detriment of everyone else.
It’s like being at a party where just before the food is served some unhinged lunatic runs in and manages to somehow fit all the food for the entire party into their underwear and run off with it.
People saying “hey, maybe we shouldn’t invite that person to parties anymore” and you reacting like “well, I don’t compare how much food I have with people who have stolen all the food. All that matters is that you’re all just as hungry as I am. You’ll never feel full if you compare yourself to someone who stole all of the food!” is very difficult to respond to in a way that is compatible with the way the Beehaw community works…
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