Chess, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

This is primarily postured at my fellows from the US of A, but if you feel like you apply to the categorization I am about to present, you are more than welcome to feel included.

As one of my favorite comedians Louis C.K. once said, "We have it so good that we have to make shitty problems up. We have money and a less disease than other countries so we make stuff up to complain about. Africa has famine, we have white people problems."

Everything is soooo good. You have time to play chess on the internet. Your life is infinitely better than millions of others. You are able to participate in a leisure activity, which means that you (likely) have enough food to survive and you have a roof over your head. What more can you ask for? How can you possibly complain about people not resigning or vacation time or whether knights taste better than bishops?

But sadly Chess.com is a perfect cross section of the current human condition. Most of us (like me) are stupid, and then there is a smaller population with some degree of self awareness that is also capable of actually viewing things momentarily from a perspective outside of their own that makes me think that maybe I don't always have to muck around in the dirge of society listlessly for eternity.

So my suggestion to those of us (including me) who have access to medicine and have jobs, just play chess and be nice to everyone . You can play chess against anyone in the entire world in an instant on a highly convenient interface!!! HOW CAN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT SOMETHING SO GOOD!? If you don't like it, then please feel free to leave, because you can't even begin to fathom how good your life is.

(I'm sure you noticed that I am complaining about complainers.... But instead of letting it detract from my postulations, just pretend that it is merely artistic irony that somehow supports my position. Or dont.)

Good reasoning but it lacks the acknowledgement of one factor which is always present in the human being. No matter how good things are you always want more. Only a very very small minority are content with thier lives and this will apply across the whole spectrum of mankind.

Our whole society and the world system is built on struggle and has been since we left the caves. On this very site I constantly read about how players are going to improve. You are preaching a well known Gospel called, be thankful for what you've got, but it is not one that is practised, except by the very few.

We quickly become used to a particular life style and soon we are insisting that it is essential. If we were thrown back into the middle of the 19th century the withdrawl symptoms would be horrendous.

Good thinking, I love this type of positive attitude because with one life to live why waste it worrying, complaining, and living in fear. Its should be spent loving and experiencing the world. The good things in life are free and that includes chess and.. chess.com! (for most people) So ya we shouldn't be complaining about a service which most of us use with absolutely no cost. Now if you do pay thats another story and your money should be put towards features which you believe need improvement. But don't complain, just simply submit your feedback to the site and changes will most likely be made.

Have a great day everyone!

@GlennBk You are indeed correct to point out that omission from my initial post when you said:

"Good reasoning but it lacks the acknowledgement of one factor which is always present in the human being. No matter how good things are you always want more. Only a very very small minority are content with thier lives and this will apply across the whole spectrum of mankind."

Ala Plato's Republic where Socrates swiftly constructs a picture of the simple city, the city of pigs, and Glaucon says, "But Socrates why are there no relishes?".

@kylemeador who said "because with one life to live why waste it worrying, complaining, and living in fear. Its should be spent loving and experiencing the world. The good things in life are free and that includes chess and.. chess.com!"

+1

you know the title reminded me of the awesome Declaration of Independance.  Interesting trivia, the last paragraph in the Declaration is two sentaces, one of which is over 150 words long, longer than 90% of all chess games.

 The good things in life are not free and most people do not have them for they are extremely poor and struggling to exsist. The battle-ground for prosperity has been won in the west where standards are high, but now the battle is being fought in the east with countries like China heading the onslought. The animal kingdom has been largely crushed underfoot, but the insect world is still in the fight and the mircoscopic world of bacteria is making a comeback.

Well even the poverty stricken can laugh, love, and smile. These are the best things in life and the free things im refering too. They could even play chess with a dirt board and colored rocks for pieces, still free, everyone can obtain those items from nature. 

How many words is a chess game? Though I will surely agree that the Declaration of Independence is awesome. Jefferson really shows off how well read he is with that bad boy.

Even more to Jefferson's credit, his original draft of the Declaration had a lot in it against slavery, but was changed by other guys in charge.

You are correct that Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration was Anti-Slavery, but he nonethless held slaves for the remainder of his life. (Several believed to be his own children.)

The guy begging for change has a $ 3,000/00 T.V.

 Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.  You didn't slip that one by me.

What happened to being nice to all and sundry?

chess is  agame activity of the mind,liberty is limited as we are always governed by rules in a civilized society also in relation to the pursuit of happiness, we have to conform with good moral conducts and abide in our constitution,there are always restricions like not contrary to law, there are exceptional cases of which we are not also qualified so i say we are not at liberty in the pursuit of some personal happiness for the good of  civilized society and any government that exist. please dont let me be understood by what i commented., iam a law abiding citizen and a  roman catholic by baptism.

 Yes many do make the most of appalling conditions, children laugh and play, for hope springs eternal in the human breast but we who have must be aware of the have nots. As the original post says we have much to be thankful for without fighting one another. To enjoy life we need some wealth, nature is not enough, we need some standard of living, some steady income to supply basic needs.

What happened to being nice and sundry? Sadly sarcasm tends overcome all my rational faculties when the opportunity presents itself. And while I was being a little bit snide, by coincidence I had actually read the Declaration of Independence two days before jetfighter made that comment and in my class I got to parse through some selections of Plato, Aristotle, Locke, etc, and I was blown away by how not only had Jefferson read all that good stuff but that he was interpreting it really carefully. So my comment is actually a tad more sincere than it appeared.

Sarcasm rules!

I much prefer "life, liberty, and property, myself.

My favorite part is "We hold these truths to be self-evident"...

Makes me chuckle everytime I think about it. Evidence?  Logic?  

Pfft! It's self evident!

It would be fun to work that into everyday conversation.

|When I read about Evidence and Logic it makes me smile how far have these wonders of modern thought brought the planet so far?

I can recommend this book for anyone wanting to become less "more"-dependent...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Enough-Breaking-Free-World-Excess/dp/0340935928/

(Oddly enough, it doesn't show up on amazon.com!)

The intended thesis of the OP has a point, which tells the prosperous to count their blessings.

Millions of people around the world die prematurely. You should be glad that you are not one of them!