Putting Into Perspective

When people do not appreciate what they have, the correct solution is to bring to their attention the situation of people who have it worse than they do.

The Chinese people could only dream of having a government like the American. The Americans already have it and keep attacking it. The American government could only dream of having a population like the Chinese. The Chinese government already has it and treats it like dirt.

Muslim women could only dream of having men like the Americans. American feminists already have them and insist on being ugly to them. American liberal men could only dream of having women like the Muslim. Muslim men already have them and treat them in terrible ways.

I had a friend from Russia whose wife told him that there were no real men left in either Russia or America. I told him to tell her to check out the scene in Afghanistan. Ingratitude is a real problem. I used to be an ungrateful brat myself, but I’ve learned better. In all the cases above we see ingratitude; and the people who practice it need to have brought into perspective the situation of those who have it worse than do they.

Of course we see the guilty party using the behavior by the other side to make its case more convincing. Americans use misconduct by Chinese government to attack government, and Chinese government uses misconduct by private American citizens and corporations to push the case for greater government control. Feminists use behavior by Muslim men to claim that men are pigs, and Muslim men use behavior by American feminists to claim that women are evil and should be battered. In neither case is the guilty party in the position to confront the behavior by the other guilty party. Instead they take it out on the better party. And that teaches everyone the worst possible behavior, in which terrible people are being rewarded and better people are being abused.

A Muslim man who thinks that women are bad needs to deal with women who are actually bad before he has appreciation for what he has in his country. A feminist woman who thinks that men are pigs needs to deal with men who are actual pigs before she has appreciation for what she has in America. Same is the case with both governments and populations in America and China.