[EQYV]

Honest question, why is this your reaction? Why are people on this forum so unwilling to be happy for others? I have noticed that this attitude is extremely prominent in tech. Everything is either perfect (according to the person making the judgement) or it’s utterly worthy of ridicule. I am growing very, very tired of seeing this throughout tech.

[saaaaaam]

I suspect that the comment was provoked by the term “solarpunk”.

For many people in non first world countries this sort of existence is standard - not something to be blogged about with artfully composed photos carefully edited and posted to the internet.

So I guess the comment was provoked by something like that. It was certainly one of my reactions reading the piece. I also thought “oh that’s cool, I wonder how they did it” but it was very short on detail, made up for by self-congratulatory back patting.

Maybe the person making the comment lives in a developing country and finds it a little jarring to see “solarpunk” cosplay.

[unethical_ban]

/dismissive handwave

I think you and the other person are reading far too deep into one person's contentment with a humble living space. It's clear they are safe and comfortable; that doesn't translate in any way to suggesting other places where this living style (sans electricity or safety) should just pick themselves up by their bootstraps.

[ramesh31]

>Why are people on this forum so unwilling to be happy for others?

It's a particularly offensive part of white culture that fetishizes a "return to the land" while billions around the world are trapped miserably eeking out that existence with literally zero opportunity to ever have anything else.

The only reason you feel "happy" for them is because you know its a cosplay charade they could walk away from at any time. Otherwise we would call this what it is; destitute poverty.

[dgacmu]

It would be a mistake to think their experience is anything close to that of people in poverty, regardless of their ability to walk away from it. Poverty doesn't involve affording the capital outlay for $16k of solar/battery/hardware to give you 24x7 heat, heated water, electricity, and _an electric car_.

They're trying to have a developed world quality of life in a low-resource/low-cost way. In some ways, beyond average developed world quality of life: the place they're living is stinkin' gorgeous.

I don't know if it's generally practical for most people or even as energy efficient as living in a modest apartment in a large city (the transportation issues around food, medicine, and necessities factor in), but it's not an uninteresting thing to explore.

[racked]

So what are these 'whites' supposed to do in your opinion, quit denying their wealth and just go live in a nice suburb, big house, big car? You propose no solution, it's only bitterness.

[alamortsubite]

It sounds like you may be conflating wealth with consumption. What these people have, and what billions around the world do not, is financial freedom.

[saaaaaam]

We posted the same time. You said it better than I did!

But - cosplay - 100%