Sparky is a shaggy dog, isn’t he?
“First World Problems” is really used more to mean “I dismiss you as less than me, and wish to be publicly applauded for it, plus, I’m not like those relatively first-world-wealth-y guys over there, I’m down with the third-world problems, 'cause I’ve lived it, man.”
But hey, dismiss me with meme-ish humor. First World Problems, amirite!
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Well yeah, he makes a lot of static with fur like that, that’s how he got the name.
It’s not about dismissing a person as lesser, but rather dismissing a problem as lesser.
“Oh no, how ever will I prepare for this prestigious award ceremony!” doesn’t have quite the impact of “Oh fuck, where the hell am I gonna get the money to pay rent AND eat this month?”. It is an absurd thing to worry about in the eyes of the vast majority of people who will never be invited anywhere.
Now, simply having the luxury to fret over your public engagement inconveniences doesn’t make you a bad person. In fact, oftentimes such people are wonderful folks who entirely deserve every bit of praise and recognition they receive. But to then wring your hands and fret over preparing for this luxury so badly as to say “Fuck it! If I wouldn’t do it tomorrow I won’t do it at all!” just seems bizarre. And to write an entire news article on the topic is absolutely absurd. It’s just darkly humorous to those of us who scrimp and save and scrape by.
Hence we joke about it. It’s cathartic to laugh at the absurdity of David Plotz’ terrible advice about what is essentially a non-issue, even to those who DO receive such invitations. If we weren’t able to be darkly humorous about the disconnect between that lifestyle and our own, we’d go mad. If the masses weren’t able to laugh at the wealthy elite and their frivolities, the world would be an even uglier place than it already is.
You never get invited anywhere? Not even to family reunions?
Types of invitations I have received:
wedding
birthday party
bachelor party
bridal shower
baby shower
baptism
rehearsal dinner
neighborhood picnic
neighborhood yard sale
church supper
local political group meeting
library plant sale
library book sale
library fundraiser
free community concert
free community movie
community fair
election participation
open house
retirement party
quit-the-company-party
friday-night beer-and-movie session
poker game
board-game night
code camp
civic hack day
programming-study-thon
college graduation
landlord’s race-day party
St. Ubaldo race
stock-car race attendance
hockey game (minor league) attendance
baseball game (minor league) attendance
softball game (whatever league my aunt was in) attendance
lotter-pool participation
join the family for dinner in the dining room
playing cars-and-trucks with my son
dance with my daughter
&c &c &c
For some of us non-wealthy, invitations abound. If you don’t find a system to prioritize, you will lose out on the important things.
NB: this list is not hierarchical, except for the last two items which are of equal rank.
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You do realise that anything up to and including having terminal cancer is a first world problem, because somewhere out there there is a young girl dying of breast cancer without any palliative care available to them.
The fact is that this whole #firstworldproblems crap is just a way for someone to dismiss any goddamn thing they happen to feel like is “not serious enough” and feel superior while doing so.
Now if you don’t want people looking at your postings and think “asshole”, you might want to reconsider using that particular “joke”. Then again, the fact that you get all huffy when someone answers your “joke” with another one does not say anything good about you, either.
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Poor Sparky.
Did you even read the article? Are you being purposefully obtuse, or is it just unavoidable?
Which article? The BoingBoing article, which says (in title, and body):
“Kevin Kelly told me about this trick a couple of years ago and it has helped me tremendously: ‘Anytime anyone invites you to do anything, ask yourself this question before you accept: Would I do it tomorrow?’ [emphasis added, but nested markup not applied]”
or the linked-to article, which says:
“Are they paying you enough to skip your daughter’s soccer game tomorrow? Is the panel interesting enough that you don’t mind asking your colleague to cover for you, tomorrow? Is the conference important enough to your career that you would blow off your college roommate’s visit, which is tomorrow. When you get the invitation, pay no attention at all to its far-flung date: Move it mentally to tomorrow.”
And I gotta tell ya – dancing with my daughter trumps the neighborhood yard sale (unless I’m trying to sell my old mower, or my daughter wants to sell some of her old dolls). If you don’t discriminate invitations based on levels of importance, you’re in deep doo-doo. Unless, like the vast majority of people, you don’t get invited anywhere
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