JCC ITT we complain about our 1st world problems...

I'm sorry, but to be frank, I find that a ridiculous of looking at this thread. Most problems of developing nations are simply first world problems absent "mitgating factors." Since diarrheal illness is a leading cause of mortality per the World Health Organization, should someone list that next time they get food poisoning? Or might we point out that all the elements that make it so deadly (ie sanitation, availability of rehydration techniques, etc) are absent from its first world iteration, and that having illnesses of these sort are just a common part of the human condition? Should we list a one day furlough at work as a time when we were earning $0 that day, and therefore for 24 hours, we were living in extreme global poverty?

The severity of a problem is defined by the lack or presence of "mitigating factors." I see no real justification for trying to separate the two.

 

I am really confused about whether or not you are disagreeing with me.

Yes, exactly. So none of them qualify as first world problems and therefore don't belong in this thread.

Absolutely not, since having diarrhea is not a first world problem and this thread should be limited to first world problems like "Jello never listens when I ask him to ban people for stupidity." That's what I've been saying for the past 5 posts.

 

A first world problem is anything, either in type or scale, that could only happen in a first world problem. Your restriction of posts to the former seems overly narrow. It's also contrary to the thread to date. For instance, a common theme in many of entries is how the poster is too lazy to do something that is otherwise readily available to them (prepare food, buy something they've ran out of, etc). This sort of laziness is certainly not a problem exclusive to the first world, nor is the fact that they temporarily ran out of their personal supply of the item in question. Instead, the implied reason for posting the complaint in this thread is the severity of the problem: Whereas they are hungry because they are too lazy to prepare something, people in the developing world are hungry because they don't have food available, and can't afford to buy any.

Do you really think that all these sort of posts should be stricken from the thread as inappropriate?

 

Yes.

I don't know what this was meant to say, but I suspect I disagree with it.

 

Gah. It should read as a follows.

As to the broader point. . .your perspective seems rather unique.

 

Crucially, though, I don't see why there's any justification behind the argument. Clearly, you are pointing out a distinction that exists, but why is it at all a significant one? And how do you account for the fact that so many more people are "not getting it" relative to the number that usually miss the point in threads?

Even the OP doesn't really pass muster. Is Kiki suggesting that only people in the first world have recurrent gatherings with one another? Couldn't Friday prayers at a mosque in Somalia or Afghanistan qualify as a "recurring one hour meeting every Friday?" Are you then saying that he didn't know what his own intentions were in starting the thread?

It's one thing to have a unique conception of the thread, and the types of jokes that work best in it. But to assert that those who think differently have misunderstood the purpose of the thread is a stronger claim, requiring correspondingly stronger evidence. Evidence that I don't think actually exists.

 

blah, blah, blah...



It's 4pm on Friday, and I'm still at work....

 

Reading the debate on this page, I have just wasted two precious minutes of my slack time at my cushy sedentary job.

 

You and me both, sister. You and me both.

 

I'm torn here. I see a first world problem as a problem that wouldn't even be an issue in the third would. In that sense "I don't have water" isn't a first world problem, as it's a very common problem in the third world. But "For 3-4 days I will have to walk an extra 30 feet for running hot and cold water because I won't have any in my urban apartment that otherwise has electricity, HVAC, cable, and internet" maybe is a first world problem. It's more in how you say it, and the recognition that you're still pretty privileged, even without the running water.

Kind of the same way that "I don't have electricity" isn't a first world problem, but "the electricity went out, which caused me to lose all the progress I've made in this video game I've been playing for the past 8 hours after having called in sick to work," probably is.

 

A fine example of a 1st world problem: "So the 1st world problems thread was hijacked by a clueless doofus..."

 

The thread was hijacked by the poster who keeps insisting that not having running water for 3-4 days is not a first world problem. So forget the water. There's no need to continue to post that it's not a first world problem and get others involved in the debate about what the difference is between first and third world problems.

And I fixed the fax machine by borrowing the toner cartridge from the office manager's fax machine, which is the same, old, archaic model as mine. She's on vacation, she'll never know.

 

How very subtle! I wonder who you are talking about!

 

fax machine???


so 1990's

thats practically third world these days

 

My sister doesn't know when someone is talking about her on a Star Wars message board

 

Someone did something stupid on the internet. Now my entire evening is tied up in convincing them that they are wrong.

 

Unless we get the ground rules for 1st world problems settled now, this thread may stop being fun.

 

the bathroom at work has zero cell phone reception, making it impossible to text and play scrabble while pooping.

 

I have to order from out because my fridge is filled only with ingredients and I'm too lazy to make something.

 

Bah, I didn't read all that, I just wanted to make fun of Wocky

 

My printer to an old, backup computer kept having problems minutes ago........took me too long to print out what I needed to print out.

Viva Los Angeles!