this post was submitted on 31 May 2026
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Work Reform

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[–] Sibshops@lemmy.myserv.one 53 points 2 days ago (5 children)

It's kind of sad that people are so motivated by jealousy. Like why would I care if other people have it better?

[–] toxicbubble@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

kids are indoctrinated from school to seek out "high skill" jobs and look down on anyone making less

[–] stickyprimer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I teach my kids to seek out high skill, high paying jobs and not look down on anyone. But even that is not a solution.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I think jealousy gets a bad rap. It tells you what you want, and what you personally or society could work toward.

[–] stickyprimer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Seeing what someone else has and taking that as information to then decide what you want is not jealousy. Jealousy is seeing what someone else has and hating them for it. It deserves a bad rap.

You’re talking about ambition, or something else.

[–] iglou@programming.dev 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Jealousy and envy are not the same thing, although the nuance is subtle. What you're talking about is closer to envy. You can be envious of something or someone without the hostility that turns it into jealousy.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I disagree. I believe that you choose for it to be envy or jealousy by your definition.

[–] iglou@programming.dev 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

It's not my definition. That is the subtle difference between the two words. But, most people use both words for the same thing, and most people only use the word jealousy for both things.

Merriam Webster has an interesting paragraph on the page for jealousy about it: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jealousy

You can also check the definitions of jealous and envious yourself, you'll see that one is defined through hostility of some sort.

The nuance is usually clear through context no matter which word you use, though. But I think that when you use it in a generic manner like you did, using the right word is best.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Again, both words are responses to the emotion and a choice.

[–] iglou@programming.dev 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No, they stem from different emotions.

[–] podian@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Don't blow their mind by pointing out how emotions take objects and how that scuttles their position.

[–] podian@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

What my friend was conveying is that envy is the want for something--usually that another has--and jealousy is the fear of losing something that one already has.

The interchangeable usage, e.g. by teenagers, based on a vague understanding is just that (for adults it crystalizes into something normative though they're probably unaware of it, ego defense mechanisms lol).

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

And what I'm saying is, that's a choice.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Everyone loves Nietche but no one is actually living Nietche. Sure it's a useful tool if you stop, analyze this emotion and built from it but how many people are actually capable of this in practice? Instead people just get captured by the emotion and never progress.

I don't think pop culture will ever view jealousy as a positive emotion until we collectively learn emotions.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

You gotta start somewhere.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] stickyprimer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The crab will legit only escape and live if it gets enough other crabs under it to reach the rim of the bucket. I guess you’re saying people act like that even when they don’t need to?

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_mentality

The metaphor is derived from anecdotal claims about the behavior of crabs contained in an open bucket: if a crab starts to climb out,[3] it will be pulled back in by the others, ensuring the group's collective demise.[4][5][6]

[–] Rothe@piefed.social 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The US was build on the "fuck you I got mine" mentality.

[–] stickyprimer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

If you consider the monarchies it came from, this was a big improvement. To even open up the possibility of someone “getting theirs” without any birthright to it was a revelation in its time. But now we’re ready for the next thing.

[–] deacon@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Capitalism pretends to be positive sum, but it trains us all to act as if society is a zero sum game.

[–] stickyprimer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Recently a big game developer announced the end of development on a long running game. They announced they’re doing one more major release and that’s it. When people saw what’s coming in the last release there was a lot of excitement because they were delivering a lot of things people had asked for.

Some said “awesome!”

Some said “you mean they could have done all this at any time and didn’t?!!”

It’s like when you share some information with someone and they immediately say “why disnt you tell me!!”

Some people’s glass will always be half empty no matter what.