To Remind People of Status Hierarchies, Especially Opt-Outable Ones, Is Immoral

It's a shame that humans are so sensitive to status hierarchies (a zero sum game of relative value) as opposed to the "absolute value" of one's life experience. If I'm living in a shack in the woods getting by doing odd jobs and my family is fed and healthy, why should I ever be resentful? My life is fine!

Even if I'm going to compare myself to others, compared to the vast majority of people who ever lived, I'm doing great. But it's very hard not to let that status awareness among your here-and-now peers sneak in and start making us less content with our actually just-fine lives. This is the great irony and tragedy of living in the West in the twenty-first century. Avoid zero-sum games if you can, and remember, status is positional and therefore always zero sum.

There are many non-opt-outable status hierarchies (house, job, money, family, looks), and these are the most frustrating ones. One way that people in wealthy societies cope with status hierarchies is by voluntarily inhabiting multiple overlapping status hierarchies, but even then, you still live somewhere, look a certain way, and have a certain amount of money.

It is for this reason that people who go out of their way to make others MORE aware of status hierarchies and their position in them, whether non-opt-outable ones or consumption-based ones, are destroying contentment and are profoundly immoral. I'm sure you've already heard it a million times, but it's worth thinking about how your brain considers those rich good-looking leisurely people you see on TV to be your here-and-now peers, not to mention those enhanced pictures and narratives of your friends' and colleagues selfies and vacations. Robin Hanson goes into more detail on this here. Meanwhile - yes, I have quit Facebook, and maybe you should think more about it.