Venting I can't participate in the global economy without hurting people

[Pomegranate]

It doesn't matter what it is. If I eat meat, that means I'm making animals suffer. If I want to shop for affordable clothing, I'm forcing a Chinese sweatshop worker endure 75 hours of work every week to make $1 an hour. There is no way I can buy a laptop or phone without sustaining the dismal conditions of children mining cobalt in artisanal mines in the DRC. That chocolate bar was only made possible by young children in Ghana, who need to crack open 400 cocoa beans just to make 80 cents on the pound. If I drive to work, I'm pumping tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. By paying taxes, some of my money goes into horrible things I never asked for, such as war. If I voted for a candidate who went on to do terrible acts, I feel complicit in having sent that person into power.

I feel like my mere existence is making others suffer. I know I didn't wake up one day to design a system that maximizes profits at the expense of ethics, but I like many others chip into this system. I can become a recluse and isolate myself from all others, but that simply ignores that others need my help, as small as it is, to change the status quo.

I'm tired. I have enough trouble motivating myself to remain alive on a daily basis. Feeling the burden of the whole world weighing down on my shoulders is crushing.

 

[LaVieEnRose]

Ethics is about striving towards, not achieving some mythical ideal.

 

[Linda]

It doesn't matter what it is. If I eat meat, that means I'm making animals suffer. If I want to shop for affordable clothing, I'm forcing a Chinese sweatshop worker endure 75 hours of work every week to make $1 an hour. There is no way I can buy a laptop or phone without sustaining the dismal conditions of children mining cobalt in artisanal mines in the DRC. That chocolate bar was only made possible by young children in Ghana, who need to crack open 400 cocoa beans just to make 80 cents on the pound. If I drive to work, I'm pumping tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. By paying taxes, some of my money goes into horrible things I never asked for, such as war. If I voted for a candidate who went on to do terrible acts, I feel complicit in having sent that person into power.

I feel like my mere existence is making others suffer. I know I didn't wake up one day to design a system that maximizes profits at the expense of ethics, but I like many others chip into this system. I can become a recluse and isolate myself from all others, but that simply ignores that others need my help, as small as it is, to change the status quo.

I'm tired. I have enough trouble motivating myself to remain alive on a daily basis. Feeling the burden of the whole world weighing down on my shoulders is crushing.

I am reminded of a quote from The Lord of The Rings: For the fate of Lothlorien you are not answerable, but only for the doing of your own task. That was said by Galadriel, to Frodo. She was well aware that if Frodo succeeded in destroying the One Ring it would also mean the end of Lothlorien.
In more day to day terms, we can say that nobody is in control of everything. You can not fix all the problems of the world. You can - and, I think, should - tackle those problems and injustices that cross your path, but you can not do more than that. The reality is that you can not help those Chinese sweatshop workers, etc. It will be for someone else to fight those battles. Your job is to help the people you encounter in the ordinary course of your life.

 

[tankapi]

This is pretty much the premise of the show, The Good Place.

 

[not_applicable]

This is one of the reasons I despair. Knowing I can't eat most of my favorite foods without feeling like I'm contributing to forced labor. Knowing I can't travel to foreign countries, because my entire system to avoid forced labor would vanish. Not being able to be spontaneous. No movie theater snacks. No celebrations at restaurants. Feeling guilty when I wish I could forget about what I've learned or develop some reason why I can ethically eat these things.

 

[everythingoes]

We really live in such an ugly world.

 

[Sunset Limited]

The energy spent to cover living costs cannot be less than the income earned. Just like physics. If the energy spent and the pain suffered do not pay for the prosperity achieved, others must be paying for it on your behalf. People living in Asia and Africa pay for the prosperity of other countries. It seems almost impossible to live in this world without exploiting others or other living beings. Those who think that life is worth living are those who are unaware of this fact. They never woke up at five in the morning to work construction in a 10-person container with bunk beds. Life is diseased, just like the entropic universe. It's best to never have existed.

 

[statue]

The energy spent to cover living costs cannot be less than the income earned. Just like physics. If the energy spent and the pain suffered do not pay for the prosperity achieved, others must be paying for it on your behalf. People living in Asia and Africa pay for the prosperity of other countries. It seems almost impossible to live in this world without exploiting others or other living beings. Those who think that life is worth living are those who are unaware of this fact. They never woke up at five in the morning to work construction in a 10-person container with bunk beds. Life is diseased, just like the entropic universe. It's best to never have existed.

The world is digesting. The way I personally see it is that you either learn to detach and use what I call selective compassion or you crumble under it all. There is no right or wrong solution. I personally find life worth living but that is through turning a blind eye emotionally. I'm no revolutionary but I respect people that are. I fill my days with the little pleasures of life and a good set of friends and a support system. If you pretend to go back to the way it was before you found out about all the dirt and grime, you'll forget to think about it soon enough. I'll say I'm putting myself first since it sounds nicer than I'm complicit and I frankly don't care enough about the blood on my hands because there are people who are way worse. I'll pick my battles, specifically the relatively easy ones.

At the end of the day, it's the world we live in. My suffering won't make a dent in 30 years after I die and I won't in 200. Or maybe it will but the point is, time will wash everything all away. So I'm gonna be selfish and relatively apathetic since I've learned to have it make no difference to me. This is why makes me feel good, that's the kind of person I am. If you need to fight to feel good then do that. Do what you need to do.