178
What we get upset about
(thelemmy.club)
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/44201627
by Tjeerd Royaards
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this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2026
178 points (98.9% liked)
United States | News & Politics
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I'm so tired of this take.
It's been bad news after bad news every day for years and a lot of it is happening locally. Most people don't have the mental capacity to think about every problem that doesn't affect them.
And as for gas prices in particular, people are barely scraping by and any drastic fluctuation in the cost of essentials threatened stability. Gas is up like 35% and it's going to continue to rise.
I think everyone should care but let's be real - stressing about dead people doesn't do anything. It doesn't stop them from dying, it doesn't bring the prices down, and it doesn't make you feel any better.
Americans probably should start caring when their government kills people. If it isn't your responsibility, then who's responsibility is it going to be???? The iranians school girls? Gazan babies?
And cry me a river, as if the iranians (among so many others that had/have to endure American sanctions) haven't been experiencing significantly worse economic conditions for the last 50 years. All of a sudden, we need to show compassion towards Americans because they may not be able to "make ends meet" or have to cancel their subscriptions; when Americans themselves can't be bothered to even pretend to care about the people their country bombs.
Get over yourselves and be more responsible, no one on the planet cares you people are "struggling". We all are, and we still do our diligence to make sure our countries at least aren't bombing elementary schools and funding genocides.
Great Point. Who cares if one’s army bombs a school? We’ve got sufficient problems. (That’s the point the cartoon addresses - a bit of empathy never harmed anyone).
The point of the cartoon is to make you feel bad for spending less time thinking about people in foreign countries than if you're gonna have enough to pay rent
The point of the cartoon is to hate Americans.
Absolutely. Also why I want to throat punch every person I hear make jokes about egg prices.
Gas is even worse because for most people that rely on it, there is no alternative. You're beholden to whatever price they decide.
Thank goodness we got schooled by the Dems when they got all foamed up over those "I did this!" Biden stickers.
The president doesn't control gas prices you idiots!
They do. The problem is that they don't even try.
Bullshit. There is only so much time in the day and when your immediate concerns are pressing (work, bills, kids), you hardly have time to take care of yourself let alone worry about people abroad.
You're talking to someone who cares, I'm just not arrogant enough to think everyone has as few problems to deal with as I do.
The implication here, of course, is that anyone who cares about children being murdered in Iran is coming from a position of privilege. I must just have such an easy fucking life that I have time to care about other people! I guess I don't have any problems, I'm not working hard manual labor every day or drowning in debt or living in constant terror that the wave of trans hate is going to get me killed. I guess my problems aren't real and I'm not forced to sell plasma to hang on by my fucking fingernails, my life must be great, and that's why I have time to care.
The reality, of course, is that the most privileged people care about Iran the least. They care about gas prices because they drive oversized vehicles, because they can afford to own huge trucks and SUVs.
I hope things get better for you
Not at all what I'm implying and that's a whole lot of assumptions.
You live in a bubble because you're clearly not nearly as in-touch with the average person as you think you are.
That's exactly what you're implying! You're saying those poor poor people who only care about gas and don't give a shit about slaughter being committed in our name with our public money just don't have time to care about anything. They're innocent smol beans who are trying their best.
Me? I must have such an easy life with tons of free time and no responsibilities, that's why I can waste my time caring about genocide and imperialism. If I had real responsibilities, then maybe I'd care less about bombing schools and hospitals.
You're using "care" to describe having compassion and I'm using it to describe being actively upset.
Let me put it this way: your coworker's grandpa died last month, you care because you have empathy but do you spend the rest of the day thinking about it?
Now let's say you live 30 minutes from work with no public transportation options and your car breaks down. Does it keeping you up at night?
It's not shitty to focus on your immediate needs when it's getting more dire
I probably don't spend all day thinking about my coworker's grandpa because I didn't kill him. However, since the US is using our public money, how could I not care? Those are bombs built in my country, by my government, being dropped in my name. I literally spend every day focused on what my Zionist government is doing. It keeps me up at night.
Maybe this is a limitation of my ability to care. I care more about dead Irianians than I care about people in the US being forced to pay higher gas prices. They're finally feeling a fraction of a fraction of the pain that we have inflicted on the world. Fuck em.
It's a good thing literally no one is asking you to care about people paying higher gas prices lol
You're asking me to care about people who have it too hard to care about the little girls we blew up.
You're going through this effort to explain how it isn't really their fault that they're myopic little treatlerites, they're just smol beans who don't have time or energy to care about anything or anyone but themselves. It's bullshit. They could find the time to care if they wanted to, but they don't because it's hard and yucky. They just want to focus on their own little lives to the exclusion of everything else, and I hate them for it. I'm glad they're suffering at the pump. It's the only way to make them care.
All right then
To be fair, pretty much all cable news and print media is intentionally lying to the people about everything that is happening. If you read the paper and watch cable news, trying to be an informed citizen, your world view is so far from reality it’s almost laughable. 😭
Keeping up with the truth takes a lot of effort and people who have been doing it for awhile often seem to forget that. It's practically a hobby.
I think I am either literate, or smart, or both, or neither. Thankfully at least one of these options is true for me. Just meaning I don’t have to keep worrying about it regardless.