Poverty breeds unhappiness and dysfunction. I live in a very poor country. If I go outside on a normal budget, the people around me are ok, but service isn’t good and people are gruff and short. This isn’t just with, or even mainly with, myself. I see this kind of behavior all over the place where I live. The 2020s have become known as a time full of angry young men. I think this is largely as a result of the fact that we have created a society in which capitalism breeds disrespect, and that disrespect affects young men in the most obvious ways. But regardless of gender, if you’re an average person, swallowing disrespect has likely become a part of life for you. I wanted to use this article to discuss why that is, and what the future holds for us all.
When you’re broke, no one listens
People basically only respect money and power. And they don’t have long memories. If you don’t have money and power right this instant, people don’t want to listen to you. Forget fighting the good fight, forget doing good and impactful work. Money and status. Now. So when you’re broke nobody listens to you.
When you’re broke, others will oppress you
This will happen at your job. People who don’t have full control over their lives are often resentful about having to work 40 hours per week. So, they take it out on you, the powerless. Being in a postition where people can push you around is the worst. You don’t want to be in such a position by the time you are 40.
Your family will look for control if you’re broke
A lot of rich people expect that their money will bring them validation. So if your family is wealthy enough to help you in this world, you will deal with low level “disrespect”. This isn’t really disrespect. But it can be soul crushing if you have to avoid living out your vision in order to survive. So a lot of people do feel disrespected by their family members.
Money is not meritocratic, but seen as a status symbol
There are some born into immense wealth who will never lift a finger. Others will have to work their butts off for money even with the best decision making. You could be a really smart person, but still judged as “broke” or unworthy as a result of your lack of inheritence. You can climb the ladder, sure. But that still entails 5 to 10 years of disrespect. Simply due to the luck of the draw. Thankfully AI is making life easier for everyone and rewarding intelligence faster nowadays. But you still have to put in a lot of grind, even if you’re smart.
Those in power try to gatekeep money and agency
I’m not totally sure why this is, to be honest. But those in power almost certainly don’t want you to have money. They set up structures designed such that the young and able bodied don’t have anything to work with. If you’re young and try to do something real, you’ve likely dealt with disrespect and roadblocks from your friends, family, and countrymen.
The tide is turning
Life is getting really cheap, and humans have a greater ability to do stuff with each passing year. Getting your feet off the ground economically is tough, but it’s possible even in middle income and poor countries nowadays. Technology is making a “good life” more and more accessible to people across the globe without the help of a boss.
The system incentives swallowing your pride
If you want to get ahead in this world, you’ll learn to tolerate a certain level of disrespect. In the past people used to throw punched when they felt disrespected. Now that stuff leads to criminal charges in many instances. The world wants you to swallow your pride, and become a good, productive worker bee. Everyone needs to do this to certain extent. There are no government sanctioned outlaw raiders that I know of.
Everyone feels disrespected, few able to compromise
People are becoming more and more socially isolated. A lot of people are sinking into workaholism. Others are sinking into addiction and true despair. Either way, people are feeling less and less connected to their surroudings, and so they retreat away and avoid having to deal with others. I personally think this is happening more than any crisis of loneliness, and it’s why the problem is not being fixed. Most people who have something have worked extremely hard for what they have, and want to set up their lives to their liking. Compromise is becoming rarer and rarer as time goes on.
Just grind
Right now, one thing is clear. You don’t want to be the one left at the bottom, getting disrespected. The way you avoid this is by doing what it takes to succeed. Don’t have kids until you can afford to live on your savings for at least 5 years. Don’t bother with the casual sex scene. Save money and start a business so that you can minimize your total lifetime hours spent in a 9 to 5 job. The more you do this and the harder you work, the more likely you are to be able to avoid disrespect in the long run, and contribute to a world in which there is less disrespect.
The demand for community will eventually be solved
When we can all afford it. Capitalism is weird that way. It is causing us to satisfy all of our desires in order, and showing us what we truly value. Right now we value nice, comfortable housing more than we value friendship, and it shows. But soon we’ll get bored of expanding the average size of our homes. Across the world, humans are going to be looking for friendship, community, and fulfillment after a certain point. When that point will be reached is, the only question.
The best response to the disrespect the world throws at you isn’t anger. It’s to keep working your butt off, even when it feels a bit sysiphian. The beauty about living in a capitalist system is that deflation is bringing us closer to a utopic world. If you can avoid slipping through the cracks and falling out of the top 20%, you can live a good life. So right now there’s nothing to do besides observe the situation, and work really, really hard.
Thanks for paying attention.
