A completely random rant…

Here’s another thing that pisses me off. You complain about something- maybe it was a poor mannered UPS delivery person, a bad eBay experience (like say it randomly changes languages) or how your car won’t start, or your coffee maker is broken, etc.

Time, and TIME AGAIN I hear people classify these as “First world problems”. It’s not even really a proper response. It’s not even something that falls in that category. a “First world problem” might be something like a hangnail or some shit, or some teenage girl complaining about their like “OMG my nail is like, lopsided” but when you have legitimate issues that the peers in your immediate vicinity aren’t facing, trying to broaden the scope and basically say “well, sorry buddy, I know that your car won’t start so you have to walk 3 hours t owork, but that doesn’t matter because some poor sod in Africa lost his leg to a land mine” or some other shit. Yes, it sucks in third world countries. But here’s the thing- that is why they are called [i]fucking third world countries[/i]. And the thing is, that there are a number of rich folks- the government bureaucrats- in those countries that have plenty of what could be called “first-world” problems, so the statement isn’t even legitimate. Imagine if companies decided this. Your phone service, after three weeks, still hasn’t been hooked up, so you call them. They tell you that is a first-world problem. Great. That still doesn’t address the fucking issue. eBay, or another site, randomly changes it’s language on you in the middle of a purchase. You complain on facebook, or whatever. Some other dick says “first world problems?”. yeah, that’s for that, asshole. How about instead of making unhelpful changes to scope you actually say something constructive. I mean- you could say that for damn near anything in the First world. That is why it’s called a “First world problem” but the thing is that people say it in a derogatory manner- as if to say “your problem is insigificant because a lot of people in the world are suffering more” but that isn’t the case. And the fact is that the very same people making these “accusations” are in fact doing so through first-world communication methods- such as comments on a social networking site, or blog, or what-have-you. So I wonder who is more objective- the person who is basing their opinions and complaints on first-hand experience, or the person who is colouring all their responses and thoughts with some ridiculous overtone to “worry about the third world” because they saw some touching second-hand documentary on National Geographic. I haven’t been in the third world, all I know about it is that it sucks terribly.

Thing is, that we cannot really solve the “problem” of the third world; it is a huge conglomeration that has appeared over the years due to varying socio-economic pressures in the region as well as problems of unstable governments, and most importantly the fact that they don’t really have anything there. It’s a fucking desert, pretty much. Suddenly, the fact that they have problems getting fresh water and food makes more sense. It’s because they are in the fucking desert. Of course most of them would have trouble leaving that desert, but that doesn’t change that simple fact. And more importantly any relief aid would be temporary, because the realy solution is to get the fuck out of the desert. Anyway, I’ve rambled somewhat. Not all developing countries are in a desert- some just have corrupt governments. But I think a more relevant question to ask is- can a single person fix all the corrupted governments, turn a desert into a rainforest, and solve all those problems?

No. Of course not. That makes the scope change of suggesting otherwise pretty damned petty, doesn’t it. It’s like saying “I have nothing constructive to add to your complain about eBay, so I will instead make an idiotic gesture and extend the scope of your problem to make it seem insignificant”. Well no flipping duh it would seem insignificant. hell in the context of the galaxy Earth is pretty damned insigificant, but you don’t see everybody pulling that reasoning out of their ass. “Hello, I notice that even though I paid the bill, you’ve charged me a late fee” “Well you know what Mister, in the grand scheme of things Earth isn’t relevant”. It’s a cop out no matter who says it.

It’s like that bullshit thing that parents always say when their kids say they are full “well there are kids starving in Africa” or something similar. Well guess what- that kid is not the one you are talking to. If you care so god-damned much about the kids starving in Africa, why the hell aren’t you donating time or money to help them? Instead you bring it up when your own kid won’t finish their food, which raises the other issue that we all wonder why kids (in the first-world) are becoming fatter on average, I wonder if maybe it’s related to parents forcing their kids to eat more when they are full?