why do people say "the world owes you nothing"

[suicidal flapper]

Prove me wrong.

Go out and get exactly what the world owes you and come back and show us all. So we can see how amazing it is and how happy we can be.

If you're genuinely owed it it will be simple for you to prove it.

You've already lost if this is what you resort to. You've completely missed the point

 

[murderatruemorgue]

The idea that no one 'owes you' anything is often the reasoning for people who want to take more than they need to the detriment of others, and absolve their own greed.

Because if no one 'owes' you anything, that means it's everyone for themselves and whatever you have, it's because you "bootstrapped" enough to take it. Which is an incredible oversimplification of how any society functions.

I try to remind myself that there are a great many people who do not believe this. There's always going to be people in the world who are unwilling to see beyond their own perspectives and wants. We can get into all the trivialities and well-worn arguments of whether the 'world' owes us 'happiness' and all the rot, but what it comes down to is whether you see the life you have as purely of your own making, or a result of a series of choices that were widely outside your purview.

The former may feel comforting for those at the top, and absolves their guilt for the choices they have made.

The latter is how we actually make substantial changes that benefit everyone—by understanding a society is built of multitudes of people, cultures, and beliefs. That every decision affects not just ourselves, or the people who look and think like us.

 

[sserafim]

It works the other way around though.

I agree. You don't owe the world anything

 

[Hunter2005]

Yeah it's true but fuck this world honestly. It doesn't make a lick of sense. Honestly if it doesn't owe you anything this kinda makes suicide easier if you think about it.

 

[du2497]

-snip-

It reminds me of those "just X" sentiments that drive me up the wall. just get a job lol, just buy a house lol, just get a girlfriend lol, just lift lol. I get that I'm responsible for my life and my negative thoughts, but it's really annoying. Why didn't I think of those things? Oh wait...

 

[RemainingDubious]

The author's circumstances are relevant because most people in his class who claim statements like this don't understand the daily struggles of the world to even make such a claim. Why would they?

Do you not see your hypocrisy? Do you not see how you're dismissing a whole group of people who didn't choose their circumstances either?

I guess all the transgender people who's rights are being stripped away from them aren't owed said rights despite being forced to stay in society.

If the world owes people doesn't it owe them the right genitalia? What about those thousands of years ago?

Funny how you value some groups more than others. Discrimination is discrimination is it not? clearly you don't believe in equality.

Doesn't the world owe disabled people a better body? What about paraplegic people thousands of years ago?

If the world owes us like you're so desperate to believe, we clearly must all have exactly what we deserve.

Also I am envious of anyone who can afford to live so yeah I guess I am jealous but I'm primarily annoyed at anyone born into privilege making claims about the world to which they barely understand.

So the views of people who are born into certain circumstances beyond their control are worth less that others? interesting

Even a liars mouth can be full of truth.

 

[Lexapro]

The world doesnt even owe you a peaceful death, people arent even legally allowed to go on their own terms, how can anyone think this world isnt a giant cesspit that consumes people until they are 75 and kick the bucket after a few years of retirement.

you will be chewed up and spat out like an old piece of gum thats lost all its flavor.

 

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

I've always found it ironic that the common maxim is that world owes us nothing, yet on the contrary we are taught that we owe the world everything since day one. That we are human capital.

Our lives, our time, our health, all tends to be sacrificed for the sake of productivity and keeping the world turning, and one doesn't typically have a choice to opt out of this system. How many people out there are stuck doing things they hate everyday, for the mere privledge of surviving another day, having shelter, and putting food on their table? How many people are shackled to self sacrifice due to filial piety or other obligations imposed on them by a sense of duty to others? How many people are trapped in regimes they loathe or forced to undergo military service for their country, simply because they were unlucky enough to be born on a specific piece of land?

The world owes us nothing, and yet we are forever slinging our resources at a debt that can never be repaid.

 

[sserafim]

I've always found it ironic that the common maxim is that world owes us nothing, yet on the contrary we are taught that we owe the world everything since day one. That we are human capital.

Our lives, our time, our health, all tends to be sacrificed for the sake of productivity and keeping the world turning, and one doesn't typically have a choice to opt out of this system. How many people out there are stuck doing things they hate everyday, for the mere privledge of surviving another day, having shelter, and putting food on their table? How many people are shackled to self sacrifice due to filial piety or other obligations imposed on them by a sense of duty to others? How many people are trapped in regimes they loathe or forced to undergo military service for their country, simply because they were unlucky enough to be born on a specific piece of land?

The world owes us nothing, and yet we are forever slinging our resources at a debt that can never be repaid.

This always seemed so weird to me, this dichotomy. Personally, I don't believe that I owe the world or anyone anything.

 

[TransientEternal]

Because we live in an individualistic society. Some people work hard and get barely anything while others just have everything fall on their lap.

 

[Apathy79]

I've found it's because they're tired of hearing me complaining.

I think this is the guts of it. They say it to paint complaints, especially consistent and wide ranging ones, as victim mentality to be overcome. In many cases, it is the right advice - action steps usually trump complaining as a method to deal with things. But it's accepted as such by virtually no-one.

 

[Throwawayacc3]

Being depressed and hearing the words "the world owes you nothing" just makes everything worse. Or this quote I recently read was just disgusting:

Like wtf? I didn't ask to be here in the first place, and now you're telling me I have no right to expect anything in this life? If that saying were true, it would be fine to just neglect babies and beat people up because the world owes you nothing, no protection, no justice, no compassion. If that quote is true, then why do people want free healthcare? Why does 911 exist? Why do basic human rights exist? No one deserves love? Like what?? Why don't you try telling that quote to someone who was r*ped as a child, or who watched their parents die right in front of them?
So if you don't owe me anything, why should I owe you anything? Like my own life? If this world "owes you nothing", this world is awful and I just don't want to be a part of it anymore.

It's hardcore cope/delusion. Ask any autistic people to logically explain it and it's pretty evident. Similar to the whole "I can't take this depressed mindset" that people say to you. "Be happy and positive" - if you switched that person with the depressed one, medically screwed, etc they wouldn't be singing the same tune.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

We live in a shitty world that likes to victim blame and believe that if things don't work out than that's your own fault. The same people who say things like that are the same people who victim blame abuse and SA victims, who tell the homeless and poor that it's their fault for being in the situation that they are in and that they want to be poor/homeless, who act as though it's your fault for mentally ill and act as though mental illness is an easy thing to fix, etc. It's easier to blame others for the situations that they are in and pretend as though you have it all sorted out than it is to actually try and criticize the systems and normalized behaviours and views within our society that force people into these situations and provide them little to no help or support.

Despite the fact that working towards creating a world where we are more understanding of each other and where we work to support each other, especially those in very vulnerable positions, would benefit all of us, a lot of people are against that. This type of "the world owes you nothing mentality" is used by people to rationalize their own selfishness and prejudices. It's used by people who don't want to be challenged and are instead compliant with the flawed way our world is structured.

 

[ChiefSeattle]

Being depressed and hearing the words "the world owes you nothing" just makes everything worse. Or this quote I recently read was just disgusting:

Like wtf? I didn't ask to be here in the first place, and now you're telling me I have no right to expect anything in this life? If that saying were true, it would be fine to just neglect babies and beat people up because the world owes you nothing, no protection, no justice, no compassion. If that quote is true, then why do people want free healthcare? Why does 911 exist? Why do basic human rights exist? No one deserves love? Like what?? Why don't you try telling that quote to someone who was r*ped as a child, or who watched their parents die right in front of them?
So if you don't owe me anything, why should I owe you anything? Like my own life? If this world "owes you nothing", this world is awful and I just don't want to be a part of it anymore.

I doubt this applies to depressed people. It is not an attack on people with a serious illness like depression.
"Stop whining and being bitter" is targeting a different group of people.

Some people are just unpleasant and whine and are cynical of most aspects of life and do not appreciate anything positive and will not put in the work to make a happy life for themselves. I know people like this. Everything and everyone is a problem and they seriously lack self awareness.

It is not an attack on people that were abused, raped, did not receive love, the traumatised, the damaged.
It is a message to the ungrateful.
Nihilism is a condition. Depression is an illness.

 

[Sprite_Geist]

It depends on the many contexts that it can be used in, and sometimes I think that it can be beneficial. For example: if somebody argues that the world or the universe does not owe us anything they might intend this to mean that this existence which we live in is random and indifferent, so there is no entity pulling any strings; if a storm destroys your house it happened completely by chance and was not deliberate or targeted. This can be used to help a person deal with the awful issues that we sometimes experience in our lives, and cannot always control.

Though unfortunately the phrase: "The world owes you nothing" is oftentimes used by certain people to justify their mistreatment of others, because in this context the phrase means that other people have no obligations toward us - even to help or care about us - and therefore we are in no position to expect kindness from others, or for people to treat each other fairly. It is very similar to arguments that start with: "You're not entitled to..."

Despite the phrase being used in a way described above I enjoy it when other people use it in this context, because it can be reversed and used to counteract their inevitable criticism, if and when suicide happens. Since we are owed nothing from others - absolutely nothing at all - then we do not owe them anything either including our lives; if they call us "selfish" for wanting to die we can point out that they ignored our cries for help, and used the phrase: "the world owes you nothing", as a justification which could be viewed as equally selfish on their part; if we are not "entitled" to love from others then why are we obligated to stay alive for those who love us - is this not implying an entitlement? Even the most hyper-individualistic people will usually turn into moral collectivists when somebody they care about ends their own lives, so it is good to have a defense and point out their hypocrisy.

Also: I am not trying to argue that we should not care about others. The arguments in this post are hypothetical.

 

[unabletocope]

Reinforcement, keeps people in line and docile, obedient to their routines