[mschuster91]

> So everybody needs to be miserable as if you are not miserable the rest of miserable people will look at you and say: That's not fair!! I am miserable so you must be miserable too!

This argument gets used a lot in politics, whenever a situation is to be improved people claim "but we suffered, that's not fair!!!".

Personally, I know this from fellow second-generation migrants here in Germany that are opposed to how "easy" refugees have it - their claim is that they had to fight German bureaucracy for years until they were allowed to work and whatnot. Which is valid, yes, but they seem to be unaware that times have changed.

[autoexec]

Crab mentality is dangerous. It seems like a lot of people would rather pull others down to where they are than allow everyone to be lifted up to somewhere better.

[vladvasiliu]

Indeed. But it seems widespread.

The issue seems to be that many people don't consider their situation in absolute terms, but tend to look at how others have it.

An interesting book on the subject is Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior (original German title: Der Neid: Eine Theorie der Gesellschaft) by Helmut Schoeck.

[alchemist1e9]

That book is incredibly relevant to current trends. While envy in small societies spurred improvement, in today’s complex societies it breeds destructive tendencies, vast disparity in achievement makes envy less about motivation and more about resentment, fueling calls for collectivism and redistribution. The rise of Progressive politics might be less about fairness and more about an unaddressed, deep-seated envy. We know historically there are only destructive outcomes for policies rooted in such emotions, rather than constructive societal development.

[Whoppertime]

Envy is who has a problem with Inequality. Charity is who has a problem with poverty. Easiest way to reduce inequality is kneecap those at the top and share the lucre with your downtrodden political allies. Easiest way to help poverty is teaching a man to fish after giving him a couple fish so he doesn't need to worry about starvation during class.

[solardev]

Do crabs do that?

[autoexec]

That's the idea anyway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_mentality) but honestly I haven't observed nearly enough crabs in buckets to say with confidence that it's typical for the species. It's entirely possible that a few asshole crabs have given them all a bad reputation and that I'm just perpetuating an unfair stereotype.

If I get the chance to get to know more bucket crabs I'm perfectly willing to change my view of them if turns out that they're largely cooperative and helpful.

[solardev]

Huh, interesting. Thanks for the link! I'd never heard of this, but I can picture it. It's a good analogy.