Sedentary Meanderings

thejasminedragon:

Everything you need to know under the Read more. YES, there will be more than 1 season of Legend of Korra!

Zuko and Aang founded Republic City! Possible Air date in the fall of 2012. 

Read More

rabbithugs:

spectralradiance:

lindentea:

ardhra:

a #firstworldproblem

Things that people in the third world have:

• clothing
• footwear
• computers
• mobile phones
• air conditioning
• medical care
• food

Granted, many of these things are in short supply occasionally. But permanent deprivation of all of these things isn’t a third world condition.

DESPITE WHAT WHITE FIRST-WORLD TWITTER USERS LIKE TO THINK

Particular local conditions, especially the fact that A LOT OF THESE THINGS ARE ACTUALLY PRODUCED IN THE THIRD WORLD make them cheaper and more abundant than they are in the first world. Not to mention, unfair terms of trade with the third world is often the reason why gluts and famines occur.

Many of the people I’ve seen use the hashtag are actually aware of this. But they suspend their awareness when it comes to twitter because:

• they demonstrably think that displaying their wit is more important than showing respect to actual people;
• misrepresenting the majority world makes them feel better about their own privilege in a “there but for the grace of god” kind of way;
• misrepresenting the majority world makes them feel better about their own privilege because if you can joke about it you must not take it that seriously and therefore you’re cleverer than your privilege, booyah! (i.e. they think they’re so special that their rhetoric trumps reality);
• misrepresenting the majority world makes them feel better because they can act compassionate, thereby justifying their conspicuous and gratuitous privilege;
• they assume that people in the majority world don’t use twitter and therefore it’s like making racist jokes with just white people around! Nobody will ever know!

All of which are spectacularly arseholish things to do.

So:

STOP BEING SO FUCKING PATRONISING AND IGNORANT ABOUT OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD YOU OVERPRIVILEGED DOUCHEBAG because the REAL ‘firstworldproblem’ is YOU.

To add to this and hopefully not derail too much, I really hate seeing #firstworldproblems used in dismissive & ableist ways against people with (invisible) disabilities, furthering the idea that people with anxiety disorders, any form of depression, etc., are just lazy and privileged. :/

this

is a good post

so um

people are probably going to unfollow me for this, and I probably deserve it

but when rich white kids talk about their #FIRSTWORLDPROBLEMS, I don’t believe that they’re consciously being malicious, and the phrasing in those bullet points implies that they are

I always thought it was self-deprecating - “I am going to complain about this, but I feel guilty for complaining at all because I am very privileged”

there definitely are a LOT of misunderstandings about the third world and the first world’s (unrelentingly exploitative) treatment of it, but I really don’t think most people who use the phrase “first world problems” have any intent to be patronizing. intent doesn’t erase harmful actions, but I think it’s better to tell people why things are harmful, if they genuinely don’t know, in a way that isn’t accusatory.

I honestly do not give a shit about peoples’ intentions.

at people who say to me “DO SOMETHING”

on the internet.

Yes, people say that to me. Hell, they’d probably say it to Mandela.

Hey teenagers with blogs full of reblogged photos of Glee or whatever stupid TV show you kids are into these days:

• you are not psychic
• you’re projecting your own ennui onto other people; not everyone leads as purposeless a life as yours
• stop watching so much TV and posting so much junk on the internet and go “do something” yourself

At times like these I wish I had Jaded’s talent for finding appropriate image macros.

jaded16india:

ianfuckmeharderr:

tigersmilk:

ardhra:

a #firstworldproblem

Things that people in the third world have:

• clothing
• footwear
• computers
• mobile phones
• air conditioning
• medical care
• food

Granted, many of these things are in short supply occasionally. But permanent deprivation of all of these things isn’t a third world condition.

DESPITE WHAT WHITE FIRST-WORLD TWITTER USERS LIKE TO THINK

Particular local conditions, especially the fact that A LOT OF THESE THINGS ARE ACTUALLY PRODUCED IN THE THIRD WORLD make them cheaper and more abundant than they are in the first world. Not to mention, unfair terms of trade with the third world is often the reason why gluts and famines occur.

Many of the people I’ve seen use the hashtag are actually aware of this. But they suspend their awareness when it comes to twitter because:

• they demonstrably think that displaying their wit is more important than showing respect to actual people;
• misrepresenting the majority world makes them feel better about their own privilege in a “there but for the grace of god” kind of way;
• misrepresenting the majority world makes them feel better about their own privilege because if you can joke about it you must not take it that seriously and therefore you’re cleverer than your privilege, booyah! (i.e. they think they’re so special that their rhetoric trumps reality);
• misrepresenting the majority world makes them feel better because they can act compassionate, thereby justifying their conspicuous and gratuitous privilege;
• they assume that people in the majority world don’t use twitter and therefore it’s like making racist jokes with just white people around! Nobody will ever know!

All of which are spectacularly arseholish things to do.

So:

STOP BEING SO FUCKING PATRONISING AND IGNORANT ABOUT OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD YOU OVERPRIVILEGED DOUCHEBAG because the REAL ‘firstworldproblem’ is YOU.

i totally agree with this post, but i’d just like to point out that a whole lot of people in the global south (the term i prefer to “third world”) don’t have air conditioning… it exists there, yes, but that doesn’t mean everyone has it.

not everyone who uses the first world problem hash tag is a ~privileged white person~. the point of using the hash tag is not to make yourself feel better or be a pretentious douchebag. the point is to point out how trivial it is for us to complain about some of the problems in our lives when people are struggling to live in poverty stricken countries. i am african. i have used the tag before and i regret nothing. i have also been there several times. some people live in gated communities, but most people actually don’t have footwear, computers, phones, health care, electricity (even if you live in a gated community your electricity still gets turned off half of the day), etc so…i’m sorry but “first world problems” have absolutely nothing to do with race. people on tumblr need to stop taking every fucking little thing literally.

And it’s douchefuck bingo day again. 

1. Ever heard of povertyporn? Using someone else’s perceived misery — which this hash-tag incidentally does — to remind yourself of how “good” you have it is povertyporn. You basically gave us a definition.

2. NOWHERE does OP mention that *everybody* in ‘third world spaces’ has all resources. What they said was this 

Granted, many of these things are in short supply occasionally. But permanent deprivation of all of these things isn’t a third world condition.

so what was your point again? Considering OP clearly mentions how using the hash-tag is *yet another* way in which the third world is seen as a space of absolute and total poverty, without any resources.

3. Huh, “first world problems” don’t have anything to do with race? Oh okay. Not like the *creation* of the third world is directly related to slavery, colonisation and genocide. OH LET’S JUST IGNORE THAT BIT.

Speaking of white western people overwriting the priorities & histories of the rest of the world…

Real #firstworldproblems:

• centring your own agency when talking about your privilege - you may have a ‘first world problem’ but the problem is never *you* i.e. your existence; ‘third world peoples’ existence is constantly problematised;
• conspicuous and gratuitous consumption is normalised, so you can pretend like pointing it out takes effort;
• YOU’RE TAKING FOOD OUT OF POOR PEOPLES’ MOUTHS. Basically, this is what it comes down to. Making an ironic joke about it is just rubbing it in, which is mean.

Secondly, that “person from Africa” (their profile says they’re from New York) is a troll, pure & simple. ianfuckmeharderr, the block button was made for you.

jaded16india:

I knew this was just a matter of time after my post that someone sent me this

You fucking make me sick. YOU HAVE SERVANTS. YOU CAN’T TALK ABOUT OPPRESSION WHEN YOU’RE OPRESSING OTHERS. 

IP address says Boston. Going into Hulk mode now. 

1. Out here there are houses that can afford help, cooks, cleaners whathaveyou but will not have washing machines, dishwashers — laundromats are for the rich, not everyone can even afford employing a dhobhi. HOW MANY TIMES TO REPEAT THIS. “Servants” doesn’t take the same context as it does in other notIndian spaces. SHEESH.

2. When you don’t know the context of things SHUT THE FUCK UP. Everything doesn’t go by  the same rules as it does in Boston. 

I’m not going to have this conversation with anyone who isn’t aware of how South Asian class contexts operate. So if you have any words about this, spew them somewhere else. 

Cosigned.

What an absolute jerk.