Discussion Competitiveness.

[Seiko]

Does anyone feel that life has become way too competitive?

GPA requirements, SAT/ACT scores, college degrees, work experience, acceptance rates, job titles, looks, height, money.

 

[GenesAndEnvironment]

It was always this way and it will be like this for the coming centuries. We filter out the unwanted as a species. I just wish the bastards would do it in a faster and more humane way than death by ostracization/embargo. Again, it's not something people think about, it happens by a natural aversion to certain traits demonstrated by the weak (aggression, neuroticism, depression, laziness, etc).

 

[WhirlingMind]

Some people care about competition, some don't.
Maybe you're competitive because you won't settle for a life that's less than you expect for your efforts,
if that's the case, is it a bad thing?

 

[OpheliasFlowers]

People as a species and aspects of life have always been competitive, generally speaking (of course, some people are VERY extremely competitive whereas others are barely at all...or at least, they don't care enough to engage) but I do personally believe that we've become more aggressively and overtly competitive these days vs decades or centuries ago, particularly in certain superficial and materialistic areas. As far as jobs/employment, I think that's also become more competitive in a different way - for example, nowadays it seems often the person with the highest degree automatically 'wins', vs years ago while a degree was valued people still seemed to get credit for on the basis of hands-on experience, not just that piece of paper. And then as I mentioned, looks these days seem to be overvalued and people are soooo into being 'the most sexy' or the best-looking, etc. And looks have always been a competition of sorts but now it's gotten out of hand, imo.

Of course, I'm one of the least competitive people on the planet so maybe I don't really know what I'm blathering on about. :-/

 

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

The world has always been a competitive rat race due to scarcity of resources.

However, that competitiveness is slightly more pernicious in the present era, simply because most people truly believe that our world is always striving towards operating in an egalitarian fashion.

At least in the middle ages, one would acknowledge that a peasant lived a sordid life of serfdom through no fault of his own, he could not control his birthright and what circumstances sky daddy had bestowed upon him.

Nowadays everyone thinks that we are living in the best times in human history and most inequality has been remedied, so if you're struggling, it must be a personal flaw rather than a consequence of our flawed biological programming and a fucked up, competitive world.

 

[Pluto]

I feel that it has gotten worse. Children focus on their looks from an earlier age. People content with a simple life are rarer. Society places more and more demands. So it goes on.

Social media could be one factor, as we have the successes of others in our faces constantly and are made to feel we must keep up with the Joneses.

Then there's the 'survivor bias' of the media's worship of fame and fortune. It's not even socially acceptable to tell stories of failure, or for people to admit that they are human and have made mistakes. It's more about hyped-up pep talk rather than real life experience.

And yes, then there's the right-wing propaganda claiming that anyone can be a millionaire with a bit of elbow grease, and anyone struggling must be lazy.

 

[WhirlingMind]

Competition sells, it sells almost everything you can sell.
And the things you can sell that are not related to competition come from china.