Originally posted by gottaknow
The "Well at least it's not as bad as.." responses I've seen/gotten from others regarding all kinds of topics and discussions has been a subject that drives me from disgust to the ever-increasing "lose-all-hope-and-withdraw-from-everyone/everything" attitude I've been developing over the years.

This kind of Comparative Rationalization is so rampant in everyone and I don't see how any forward accomplishments can occur when everybody has this attitude.

And I don't understand it. Is it Acceptance? Apathy? Pure Submission? Maybe it's just a way to cling to whatever we have now. Maybe it's an attempt to be content or even "happy with what we have".

It's everywhere. In almost every topic. For instance: Bring up wage disparity. Sooner or later, it will be noted how much we have compared to a 3rd world country. Any Loss of Rights discussion will get a comparison to how good we have it.

Is this just human nature? I'm not claiming exemption. I compare my existence to those with, say, conjoined heads to feel better. Maybe that's different, maybe not, but the kind of comparative reaction I'm talking about seems much more resigned. It's to the point I don't even want to bring things up to others anymore.

I also have to wonder if people in general are being manipulated to react this way. Is it innate or intended? Or maybe it's just the anti-depressants and other pharmas that everyone seems to be on.

And I truly feel that, if as people, we can't get beyond this "not as bad as it could be" disposition, we'll never get anywhere. And in fact, end up with something quite the opposite.

Yeah, I'm sure North Koreans are constantly told how bad the rest of the world is too! It's the same crap! It's just like in the Disney movie Tangled when the old lady keeps telling Rapunzel how evil the world outside her tower is. Really the powers that be just want people's magical hair so to speak.