[Australia Sucks]

After taking a 6 week vacation to Colombia earlier this year I wondered if the local guys really had that bad of a life compared to your average Joe living in an "Anglosphere" country.

Especially for guys that lived in smaller cities in Colombia, they did not have to deal with too much traffic or pollution and were eating better food (e.g. fresh unprocessed fruit and vegetables from the local market stalls, etc) than your average Anglosphere Joe. Add to this the fact that a lot of them seemed to be walking around with hot feminine girlfriends despite being ugly broke losers. They probably had a way bigger social circle with more friends and probably spend more time with family also.

Now compare this to some average guy in his 20s in the U.S.A. or Australia or England. He might have a $50,000 junior accounting or IT helpdesk, etc job which if you are in a big city does not give you much lifestyle. They probably feel socially isolated and are also either jerking off every night or have a chubby bitchy girlfriend who treats them like garbage. Not to mention the food they eat is probably mostly garbage.

I don't want to glorify the poor countries too much because obviously guys living there for the most part they do not have money and cannot afford things like out of country vacations, or nice restaurants, etc and have to deal with rampant corruption, theft, bureaucracy, etc. But when you weigh up the positives and negatives I am not necessarily convinced they have a worse life than the average westerner.

The grass is always greener on the other side right?

[Dan Woolf]

[Sonoma]

Most people find an equilibrium level of happiness and discontentment in whatever time or society they're in. So in short, yes, they easily could be happier than a westerner. They also could be less happy.

There is reasonable evidence that regions with high rates of constant turmoil have generally lower rates of happiness

[RatInTheWoods]

I agree OP, life in a first world ratrace is not all it's cracked up to be.

Thailand, Phillipines seem to be poor places where life is hard.... But the people there are happy, hard working and full of life.

Life in the "Land of smiles" has taught me a lot about what happiness is, and how it is achieved.

Travel is great for giving you a different perspective of how many ways to live there are.

[Sidney Crosby]

Look at these guys livin' the dream, doing crossfit outside instead of working a cushy IT job.

[RatInTheWoods]

VS

[Heart Break Kid]

They work even more menial tasks, what type of jobs do you think people in developing countries work? Usually jobs that do not take much skill and zero upward mobility.

As for the whole traffic thing, developing countries have worse traffic than developed countries due to poor infrastructure. Smaller cities might less traffic problems in developing countries, but that goes true for developed countries also.

As for whether their lives are "worse", unless the individual is literally fighting to put food on the table every day then no, it's not really worse - their standards for happiness are different so it can't really be worse or better. I would say living in a place like America or Canada is pretty good, even if you're not an office drone you can have enough money to buy cool stuff and you have the option of a minimalist life if you really want.

[GlobalMan]

Here we go again.

Yes AS, the men living in poverty in Colombia really have it made, and "Anglo" men are miserable drones trapped in their terrible efficient world...

This type of ingratitude really annoys me. Reminds me of the "Jandai" thread

[Veloce]

If your only plausible option in the west is to be a "drone" then you deserve that fate.

I've got friends doing all kinds of shit:

2 friends sell whiskey and get an expense account that lets them eat and drink $5000 a month as a business expense for entertaining clients.

1 friend works on military aircraft and spends his free time making homemade barbecue and banging his hot ass big titted wife

1 friend lives in a hippie community in northern california more or less off the grid, enjoying most of his time outdoors in fresh air and swimming in rivers

1 friend teaches high school at a private religious school and helps coach girls volleyball and stares at their asses all day long

1 friend is a research oceanographer that spends his life out at sea, sailing, scuba diving, and surfing

All these guys are in the anglosphere, you're telling me they're "drones"?

[GlobalMan]

(08-08-2017 07:19 PM)RatInTheWoods Wrote:  

I suspect you yourself aren't subsisting on the income of a Thai fisherman.

[teddy bear]

Thing is people always strive to get what they don't have. You don't have many beautiful back there in Australia, but you have loads of job opportunities and possibilities of improvement compared to developing countries that locals would love to flee from to richer countries. There are pluses and minuses to every lifestyle. One thing I gotta agree on is that they seem happier, mostly because they live simpler lifestyles. Not many of them have money for college or decide to pursue this way, they pick up a job in age of 16, they do their thing for shitty pay and they are okay with this, because this is how 90% of their friends life. They finish their job, they go party, hang out with their girlfriends and are leading more simple life compared to people from developed countries that are being pressured since primary school to get pursue career in certain field, get a decent degree and join the rat race. I know many people in my environment or have worked at construction jobs for example, that are working their asses off, finishing their work, getting drunk and party hard at the weekend, then go back to the routine. I kind of envy their simplicity because I'm loading myself with bunch of crap, finishing college, looking for some job prospects in some field to get a decent salary, which will be hard as fuck and one get depressed just about thinking about it, building a great body, traveling to many countries, getting many flags etc.

Even here on this forum most people are from Western countries. Why? Language barrier? Maybe a bit considering poor education in third world countries, but imo mostly because people from richer countries have had a lot of education and they see those possibilities to change their life for better, while those from poorer countries don't have them and they end up living this simpler, happier lifestyle as all their friends and family around them.

Personally as I'm from Poland that is a pretty much good country overall would love to pursue a career in my field in US, Australia though due to taking red pill not for so long, but to stack big chunks of money that I can either use at my base country in Poland or for traveling cause for example visiting NYC for a month on Polish salary would cost me easily 6 months of my savings, even Bangkok would rip averagely earning Polish guy pretty well.
Oh and also obviously the reason for less people from poorer countries on this forum is that they can't simply afford to travel and bang chicks of different nationalities and also due to them having better girls on average than Anglosphere they don't feel such an urge to do so, not that they have many possibilities anyway.

[sonoran_]

I wouldn't say live better, as nothing can beat modern Western quality of life. They are more content overall tho, which aids in a sense of happiness. It's a very stoic way of life, where what they can't control they let go and what can be controlled they put effort into.

Whenever I go to the 3rd world I sense my batteries getting recharged as I am less stressed out about keeping up with the Joneses( even tho I don't do that at all) .

I also feel grateful for what I do have.

[ProGambler]

Obvious troll post. Op hails from country where you can earn $150,000AUD with full board for digging a few holes in the ground, has metropolitan cities full of foreign beauties and a spending power to travel constantly for even the most modestly paid.

There might be a Costa Rican jungle guide that earns $8k a year and is happier, but not too many in this world that wouldn't kill for a kangaroo passport.

[Easy_C]

(08-08-2017 09:01 PM)ProGambler Wrote:  

Obvious troll post. Op hails from country where you can earn $150,000AUD with full board for digging a few holes in the ground, has metropolitan cities full of foreign beauties and a spending power to travel constantly for even the most modestly paid.

There might be a Costa Rican jungle guide that earns $8k a year and is happier, but not too many in this world that wouldn't kill for a kangaroo passport.

Honestly, I think there isn't a perfect answer. The people who seem the happiest in life are those who grew up in terrible conditions and then were able to get somewhere that they have a lot of blessings to count.

That's the problem: life in the West definitely has its issues but there is also an enormous amount to be grateful for. People who grew up hustling and poor in a developing country and hold on to those traits here in the West do very well as a general rule.

[Australia Sucks]

Veloce that is a straw man argument I was talking about the average person. Most people are the proverbial 9-5 drones and the types of people you are talking about are an exception. Yes some people are happier in the west but I was trying to do an average "drone" to average "drone" (i.e. apples to apples) comparison.

Pro Gambler you are the troll here.

Mining employs less than 2% of the population in Australia and its competitive as fuck to get a job in the mining industry. The mining boom ended years ago and you must bring substantial qualifications and experience to get a job in mining these days.

The median full time wage in Australia is somewhere around $83,000 AUD per year and that is before tax. The after tax would be around $63,000 AUD. Also the median is skewed up by older workers. The majority of people in there 20s earn well under the median wage. Constant travel? Due to the high cost of living, most Australians who are "modestly paid" will be lucky to afford one nice vacation a year.

As for Metropolitan cities full of foreign beauties the amount of beauties we have pales in comparison to countries like Colombia and the dating market favours women so for the average guy its hard to get access to a beautiful woman so they most likely will date down. Also most beautiful women will have serious attitude in a country like Australia.

In Australia I am just working on increasing my net worth and if all goes according to plan sometime in the next 5 years I can get the fuck out of Australia and semi-retire to a cheap country/countries living mostly from my passive/investment income. I will be in my early thirties and still young enough to really enjoy life.

[Veloce]

(08-08-2017 10:05 PM)Australia Sucks Wrote:  

Veloce that is a straw man argument I was talking about the average person. Most people are the proverbial 9-5 drones and the types of people you are talking about are an exception. Yes some people are happier in the west but I was trying to do an average "drone" to average "drone" (i.e. apples to apples) comparison.

How is it a straw man argument? I'm talking about average people too. I would take my argument further and say that you really can do whatever the hell you set your mind to in the anglosphere. Just because there's a shitload of office workers and people with dead-end jobs doesn't make my argument false or a strawman.

People in 3rd world shitholes don't have a lot of choices when it comes to making a living. I understand your argument perfectly well; I've got Cuban dishwashers that can spend an 8 hour shift whistling and singing away, seemingly the happiest souls alive and much happier than the people sitting in the dining room or the servers making $500 a night. Those same Cuban dishwashers are usually uneducated, pretty dumb, and more than happy to spend the rest of their days drinking, smoking, dancing, and watching soccer. If that's your idea of "living better" then you need your head checked.

[Australia Sucks]

I live in Sydney, Australia. I can tell you here, if you catch a train or bus to go to work in the mornings most people look so fucking miserable and soulless they look more unhappy than somebody dying of cancer.

I agree the anglosphere has more opportunity to live a good life but opportunity does not always translate into success or achievement. I would say in most cases people squander the opportunity.

I am grateful that Australia allows me the opportunity as an average Joe to hopefully get wealthy enough to fuck off to a poor country in my 30s. I realize that kind of wealth accumulation is almost impossible for an average Joe in most poorer countries. In the meantime am I loving life? Not especially, admittedly though I cannot say I have a bad life and acknowledge things could be much worse.

p.s. Veloce do servers really make $500 a night where you live? I am really in the wrong line of work, haha.

[DrugAdvisor]

They seem happier because they have less choices.

Limited opportunities - limited income - limited options -

Makes them want less in life as they aspire only to have food on the table the same night.

Not to mention whatever they have wont last more than 3 years post retirement so they have to work odd jobs to keep themselves alive.

Im sure the western anglosphere has better opportunities that they would grab in a heartbeat.

Developing countries needs providers. Job providers, income providers. If you can play the part, come enjoy your time and life here if it makes you happy.

[Suits]

The average man in a developed country absolutely has it better than the average man in a developing country. Hands down.

[GlobalMan]

No AS, your argument is the bullshit one here.

You say you are comparing average dude to average dude, yet you seem to have zero idea of the average "drone" in Colombia and what it's like for him.

A monotonous and unfulfilling career/life is monotonous and unfulfilling, everywhere. Having some fresh mango juice and salchipapa available doesn't change that. Try riding the transmilenio for two hours to your poverty and crime filled barrio everyday for a lifetime then tell us it's better than working in an office in Sydney.

Once again, you have strolled through a location for a few weeks as a tourist, saw some non-fat bitches and got excited, and decided you understand normal life there and it's amazing for locals.

This question is even more absurd given the fact that all you have to do is look at your own life for the answer- For example, you have said you have or could have 100k to invest in property. Something like this, which is more or less attainable for many Aussies, is basically an impossibility for the vast majority of Colombians. Hell, even travelling for weeks at a time like you have been is an impossibility for most Colombians.

[MongolianAbroad]

OP's right.

Comparing middle class to middle class, people in some poorer countries:

1. Have larger social circles.
2. Have a greater sense of belonging to a community.
3. Eat healthier food than your average American does.
4. Have less internet access, which is actually a good thing in many ways.
5. Place more of a focus on relationships and relaxing than on consumerism and work.
6. Walk everywhere, which makes them much healthier than folks that drive everywhere.

The list could keep going and be made pretty large, but yeah, if you're middle class in a lot of poor countries, there's an argument to be made that you're better off, in a way, than if you're middle class in America.

Comparing the lower class to the lower class, then no, the lower class in America is much better off.

Comparing the rich to the rich...here it gets tricky. The rich in poorer countries lord over those below them while the rich in America do so as well, but not with the impunity of the rich in poorer countries. However, the rich in America have first world amenities available 24/7, while the rich in poorer countries still don't have access to everything available in America.

If I was rich, but unable to move, I would prefer to be rich in the Philippines than rich in America. I just really like the extended families and tighter social circles in poorer countries like Mexico and the Philippines. Mexico's too dangerous right now, though, but if it was peaceful like it used to be, I'd prefer to be rich in Mexico over being rich in America (assuming I was stuck in one place). The Philippines and Mexico simply offer me a better overall quality of life than America would. There's just some things money can't buy. That, and I don't like winter.

[Veloce]

(08-08-2017 10:26 PM)Australia Sucks Wrote:  

p.s. Veloce do servers really make $500 a night where you live? I am really in the wrong line of work, haha.

Servers at the better steakhouses in Vegas commonly take home $500/night. Not bad for a high school education.

It's common to see these dumbfucks spend more on their car payment than their mortgage, or worse, rent. Dudes that rent a condo but drive an M6 or GTR

[Suits]

Found a photo of OP.

[MongolianAbroad]

(08-08-2017 10:05 PM)Australia Sucks Wrote:  

In Australia I am just working on increasing my net worth and if all goes according to plan sometime in the next 5 years I can get the fuck out of Australia and semi-retire to a cheap country/countries living mostly from my passive/investment income. I will be in my early thirties and still young enough to really enjoy life.

Same here, Australia.

[TooFineAPoint]

OP, if you think that you need poverty to be happy, or less choices/opportunities/potential distractions... maybe you just need to work on your mental strength?

My girlfriend sometimes makes statements like this. I call this the "authenticity fallacy". In our zeitgeist, we deem poor or low class or zero material possessions to be "authentic", and everything else is inauthentic (including, presumably, language and fitness and any kind of private property at all).

You will hear very dumb people saying very dumb things like "the people in Africa are so happy".

The better question, already stated here, is "why are Westerners so ungrateful?".