this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2025

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-27

Why do people from Western societies always seem to complain? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by open_mind@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Hi, I'm 21/male from Germany and to me it seems like people here are constantly negative and complaining compared to people from other/non-Western countries who seem way more chill.

I assume this is probably the worst here in Germany since this is also a stereotype about Germans that they constantly complain about things and in my opinion this is very true from experiencing real life here every day. But I would say I've also noticed this from other western countries, maybe not as extreme but for example in America people also seem to be pretty hateful and seem to make a drama out of everything (at least from what I can tell on the internet).

I just wonder why these people unnecessarily spread this negativity because in my opinion here in these western 1st world countries we have so much luxury compared to other places. For example other countries have wars, people live in terror and extreme injustice/corruption, people starve to death, get abused, raped and tortured and need to seek refuge in other countries. But we complain that eggs are too expensive and that we have too many migrants, which goes so far that America is deporting all illegal migrants including those who might've fled from the things mentioned earlier such as violence and rape.

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? To me this seems like people are destroying their own life and make it unnecessarily harder/unhappy with that behavior. I think I'm noticing this particularly in older people including my parents. It almost feels like they're unable to be positive and only know how to complain.

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[–] d00phy@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

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!