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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   3358 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 12, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Last thought: I really hate the show Succession? It seems like fantasy porn.

I really like it but I definitely think there's a ressentiment/"revenge fantasy" element to this entire genre of shows that boil down to the idea that rich people are all particularly pathological.

It's basically the "happiness stops increasing after $70K a year" of TV.

The biggest source of universal copium is people refusing to acknowledge that those wealthier than you are also on average healthier, smarter, and better looking while also enjoying themselves more than you.

One might even say that the claim that things get meaningfully better is a cope in itself, since it distracts from the reality that the primary deficiencies in one's life very well might be mostly internal, especially if what one feels one might reasonably be able to accomplish is acquiring money...

Not when self-actualization includes advancing societal changes.

With $100K in liquid assets I could drop $1K every quarter on commissioning porn or buying a bunch of mosquito nets.

With $100M in liquid assets I could spend $1M every quarter on a court painter (or several) or on running a nice little think tank or, if I moved to a better country (which would probably be the best investment of my millions), on actually influencing politicians instead of donating to their campaign fund.

Yeah, I can quibble with 2rafa about the actualization bit (iirc life satisfaction kept rising well past the $70K mark) a significant part of the resentment here is not just that rich people are happier, it's that they have more power. Which then means people want just-so stories about how unhappy they are to compensate. We don't have heaven & hell anymore so we found an alternative.

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