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RANT:
I've noticed that there's a lot of discussion on these boards about who has it worse: fat people, short people, bald people, transsexuals, people with aspergers, et cetera. I have not seen, but we could also include, physically disabled people, minorities, poor people, the dim, and so on.
I really must stress that this discussion is pointless, counterproductive, and incorrect. Misery loves company, and so when one person says "it sucks to be bald" another will say "it sucks more to be bald and short". It is and that's irrelevant. You should put in the effort to change the things you can change if you can, and work around the rest.
There is also no genuine hierarchy of misery. Baldness is bad ... but how bad depends on the person. I don't think it has much of a detrimental effect on Tyson Fury's life at all. George St-Pierre seems to have adequate hair yet he buzzes it regardless. On the other hand, Marco Rubio's thinning hairline + combover accentuates what a milquetoast he is, and it doesn't help Ted Cruz that he looks like a F2M transsexual who underwent a low-quality surgical procedure. People are multidimensional and everybody is effected by specific conditions differently. None of you can know if the next poster you're reading has it worse or better, there are all sorts of secondary, compounding factors.
Myself, I have dealt and for some of these am dealing with with poverty, a lunatic mother who used to scream for several hours a day every single day, bullying when raised in a religious Jewish environment, brown skin, moderate obesity, poor hand-eye coordination, depression, myopia and astigmatism, other medical problems, hearing problems, autism, and now a receding and thinning hairline. All of the above traits are bad, I'm not going to rank them for you. I compensate as much as possible by being intelligent, which gives me a career and a generous income and thus the means to compensate more and get treatment where possible. If I was stupid or intellectually average as well, I would probably be in jail or dead due to being eternally poor and having no options. If I were short, I'd likely have committed suicide during my school years rather than simply contemplated it. On the other hand I see lots of stupid or average people or short people do very well, and lead happy and successful lives. Everybody's affected differently depending on the other things.
I can see on my Facebook newsfeed and in general a multitude of articles about how rich, white, able-bodied cis-hetero women have it so hard in the world. I nearly never see an article about how autistic people (for example) have it hard. I think I know why: there are no charismatic spokespersons for the autistic. People are largely attracted to movements, and support movements, based on whether or not they know charismatic members of that group, not based on genuine compassion and understanding. It kind of bothers to be honest. The vast majority of articles out there about discrimination are about the needs of rich, white, able-bodied, cis-hetero women. There are a lot of problems there, but it's not the majority of human injustice and suffering in the world. But there's nothing I can do about it. If I post about it on FB or Twitter, I will be massacred and lose friends, called ignorant, and dismissed. So it's better to move on and try to see the good with the bad.
For people who want to take a dump on other posters, you have real life to do so and the entire rest of the internet. There are many thousands of websites where you can get into flame wars and denigrate others for being gay or black or whatever. I really think in a place like this it's better to be supportive, understanding, and helpful.
I've noticed that there's a lot of discussion on these boards about who has it worse: fat people, short people, bald people, transsexuals, people with aspergers, et cetera. I have not seen, but we could also include, physically disabled people, minorities, poor people, the dim, and so on.
I really must stress that this discussion is pointless, counterproductive, and incorrect. Misery loves company, and so when one person says "it sucks to be bald" another will say "it sucks more to be bald and short". It is and that's irrelevant. You should put in the effort to change the things you can change if you can, and work around the rest.
There is also no genuine hierarchy of misery. Baldness is bad ... but how bad depends on the person. I don't think it has much of a detrimental effect on Tyson Fury's life at all. George St-Pierre seems to have adequate hair yet he buzzes it regardless. On the other hand, Marco Rubio's thinning hairline + combover accentuates what a milquetoast he is, and it doesn't help Ted Cruz that he looks like a F2M transsexual who underwent a low-quality surgical procedure. People are multidimensional and everybody is effected by specific conditions differently. None of you can know if the next poster you're reading has it worse or better, there are all sorts of secondary, compounding factors.
Myself, I have dealt and for some of these am dealing with with poverty, a lunatic mother who used to scream for several hours a day every single day, bullying when raised in a religious Jewish environment, brown skin, moderate obesity, poor hand-eye coordination, depression, myopia and astigmatism, other medical problems, hearing problems, autism, and now a receding and thinning hairline. All of the above traits are bad, I'm not going to rank them for you. I compensate as much as possible by being intelligent, which gives me a career and a generous income and thus the means to compensate more and get treatment where possible. If I was stupid or intellectually average as well, I would probably be in jail or dead due to being eternally poor and having no options. If I were short, I'd likely have committed suicide during my school years rather than simply contemplated it. On the other hand I see lots of stupid or average people or short people do very well, and lead happy and successful lives. Everybody's affected differently depending on the other things.
I can see on my Facebook newsfeed and in general a multitude of articles about how rich, white, able-bodied cis-hetero women have it so hard in the world. I nearly never see an article about how autistic people (for example) have it hard. I think I know why: there are no charismatic spokespersons for the autistic. People are largely attracted to movements, and support movements, based on whether or not they know charismatic members of that group, not based on genuine compassion and understanding. It kind of bothers to be honest. The vast majority of articles out there about discrimination are about the needs of rich, white, able-bodied, cis-hetero women. There are a lot of problems there, but it's not the majority of human injustice and suffering in the world. But there's nothing I can do about it. If I post about it on FB or Twitter, I will be massacred and lose friends, called ignorant, and dismissed. So it's better to move on and try to see the good with the bad.
For people who want to take a dump on other posters, you have real life to do so and the entire rest of the internet. There are many thousands of websites where you can get into flame wars and denigrate others for being gay or black or whatever. I really think in a place like this it's better to be supportive, understanding, and helpful.
