Ask Lemmy

Wow the propaganda you're consuming must be really, really effective. I can't imagine believing that looking for ways to improve society is a "western" thing. Perhaps you need to look more closely at the news and media you are consuming and start asking yourself where potential biases or gaps in perspective could be.

Do you not think the people if Gaza are complaining right now? Or the Hong Kongers fighting for their autonomy and what's left of their democracy? Or for that matter pretty much every country to the south east of China who is having their sovereignty infringed upon? Or within China, the Uyghurs and Tibetans and other ethnicities are being brutally repressed. Does Argentina count as western? Bcause they are talking about impeaching their recently elected Libertarian president already. What about the migrants to Qatar that are effectively indentured servants? For that matter, is Ukraine far enough east to count? Or the various other countries where Russia has been infringing upon borders, like Georgia and Kazakhstan and Moldova. I haven't even touched upon Africa yet, but there's another genocide happening in Sudan. India is still trying to modernize itself and get rid of the caste system.

I think this is a you problem.

people from other/non-Western countries who seem way more chill.

My parents who are from PRC do complain, but just behind closed doors because complaining in public is... not a good idea

But they seem more appeciative of the US's labor rights and the slightly less polited air than China, whereas natural born US Citizens don't realize there are countries far worse than USA.

TL;DR: Bad Shit that overshadows My Shit happens in the world. But My Shit happens to Me, and my not liking it doesn't in any way negate the others' Bad Shit (which they're also fully allowed, encouraged even, to complain about).

People complain. It's human nature. The happiest people in the world have complaints. If you feel like you're seeing it too much, it could very well be a symptom of where you spend your time. Taking some of your points one-by-one:

"... at least from what I can tell on the internet"

This is your biggest problem. The Internet is hardly an accurate reflection of society. Half the people on social media work hard to project what they think is a "perfect life" to others. The other half pretty much do the opposite: complain.

"... other countries have wars... we complain that eggs are too expensive..."

You ever heard the saying "all politics are local?" This, right here, is that, 100%. We can all agree that what's going on in war zones and third-world countries trumps any thing likely to happen to us in a "these western 1st world countries," but does that mean I'm not allowed to be upset about the things negatively affecting me, or just that I'm not allowed to voice my frustrations? "Oh, I just got fired and will probably be evicted in a couple months, but people on the other side of the world don't have food, so I should be happy." Me being mad at something that angers me doesn't lessen the tragedies of the world.

"Why do people waste all this time with complaining..."

If you've ever dated someone, or had a really close friend, you learn that sometimes when they complain to you, they don't expect you to fix their problem. They just need an avenue to vent. The Internet is also used pretty widely for this. They're not "destroying their own life," they're venting, or actually looking for help, which is actually pretty healthy!

Hi, I’m 21/male from Germany and to me it seems like people here are constantly negative

Depends where you look, imho. (50+ male, from France ;))

I mean, if you mostly read negative topics, well, you will read more negative content. I don't read those (no politics, no drama, no call to hate, no nothing like that) and I don't have to read that much negativity.

Why do people waste all this time with complaining and being negative if they could use this time to be grateful, enjoy life and make the world a better place?

Let me ask you this: weren't you just negative by asking that instead of, say, showing us by example how to share/read positive content and... make the world a better place? See, negativity is very easy to fall into ;)

I think I’m noticing this particularly in older people including my parents.

I think you may be noticing wrong but who knows? Once again, I'm well into my 50s and I try to see things in a positive way, no matter what's going on. I don't think it's age (or sex/gender, or politics, or culinary taste)-related. It's a personal thing.

Ironic that you're complaining about people complaining. For an answer to your question, people complain because they have things to complain about, particularly as the world moves more right wing, and just because others have it much worse doesn't mean you don't have it bad.

People here, at least for the last 50+ years, used to have a quite comfortable, safe lifestyle, with various state institutions taking care of shit. If anything (and may it only be a small thing) is taken away from them, or goes wrong, or cannot be sustained anymore, they start to complain that everything is breaking down.

In short: Entitlement and a tendency to nag and take everything for granted, plus inflexibility and unwillingness to change/think out of the box.

Personal humble opinion of a German.

Everyone can relate to complaining. Don't know what to talk about with a stranger or family member? Bitch about work. The train. That driver that cut you off. Everyone relates and can gripe about their own stuff and baby, you got a ~~stew~~ conversation going.

IMO

I'd say it's because we're ridiculously spoiled (Canadian here).

It's the Internet. Complaining is the second most popular Internet activity.

I'm wondering why my post gets such negative reception here in "Ask Lemmy" but has the exact opposite perception that's way more positive in other communities such as over at "No Stupid Question". I wonder if there's something about this community?