“Kids in Africa have it worse”

[Brink]

"people in Africa wish to have what you have"

To which one could reply, "yeah, well name one of them?".

It's not only that it could be invalidating, but it's also at times offensive and inaccurate -- 1 in 3 Africans are middle-class, whilst the middle-class is shrinking in the West.

I don't know you or your friend OP, but from what you've said, it sounds like she does not mean to invalidate you callously. She spent hours listening to your woes after-all. It's often difficult for people to empathise with us because we are the ones who don't fit in with the mainstream. We can be exhausting to reason with from their perspective to be fair.

 

[Sprite_Geist]

The people who say "Kids in Africa have it worse" likely do not care about those that are suffering in Africa. This is anecdotal - but how many individuals do you know of, who parrot this phrase, that have actually went over to Africa or any other impoverished part of the world?

It seems like they are just using a group of people as a shield to hide behind while they attack another group that they do not like - such as those that are suicidal, and they do this while at the same time trying to come across as caring; hence why they use a vulnerable group as a weapon. It is like a virtue-signalling Trojan horse.

 

[VivaldiBR]

Sorry, but I think that if you live in Scandinavia, in some countries in Western Europe, among other countries with very high quality of life, I think this notion of "first world problems" is very real.

It is no wonder that immigration exists. Your list of "problems" decreases considerably if you have a good public system of essential services and manage to have a decent quality of life even if you receive a minimum wage. We can recognize that the neighbor's grass is always greener, but when it comes to quality of life, it is right to say that the life of an English worker is better than a Bolivian.

But we can all agree that mental illness is a planetary problem.

 

[AutoTap]

As you can imagine how infuriating it was to hear that from my "best friend" after a 2+ hrs of ranting and crying. All she could console me with was "people in Africa wish to have what you have" now I can't resonate with such a high level of ignorance. Of course I regret the decision to talk. NOBODY.GETS.IT!!!

Yeh it's like that doesn't make my issues any less?