how do I write about misery and suffering if I've never experienced any? does being privileged disqualify one from portraying the struggles of others in a realistic and relatable way?
I asked this on my uni forum and a professor suggested I try the homeless life for 2 weeks to see how it feels, but it doesn't seem genuine, at the end of the day I know I'm just pretending and it wouldn't be an authentic experience of homelessness, what do you suggest IQfybros?
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I'm not your bro, dude.
the worst part about suffering is that it's completely meaningless experience.
It's like a shit job.
You don't "learn how the world works"
you learn that the job sucks and the people suck.
Then you might say, well, wouldn't these people in shit jobs and shit places make life easier for themselves and the answer is no. Then you get your ear or something cut off by a chav trying to be a working class hero.
This
That's why existentialism and absurdism exists. It's basically just a consolation for anyone who trudged thru enough shit to find out it was all meaningless anyway. Even if there are objective morals, there's no guarantees of justice or divine retribution. Not even in the puny material world will you see justice either, you'll get blamed all the time and told it's all your fault by those with privilege
I’m currently homeless but even i feel the larp since I could go to my parents place any time I want. And I collected welfare so I can afford to eat. It’s not really a struggle other than rainy days, sleeping sucks and it’s difficult to maintain hygiene. Not real homelessness imo
easy, get a drug addiction, the hard stuff like heroin or meth
>le heroin
Mu opioid receptor agonism does not produce euphoria. You need to be brain dead to find it pleasurable.
You cannot put down in words for yourself in totality (not even to others), what you have not yet come to understand and integrate.
Your intuition regarding the homelessness experiment is on point - any attempt at seeking out a sort of "suffering", and believing yourself to have suffered in that way in which you seek, will all be supreme acts of bad faith.
In the end, you cannot seek it out - profound suffering will catch you with your guard down, in your most authentic moments when you are not reflecting, but the moment you reflect on the profound suffering that you have just experienced in your non-reflective moment, there is a chance that you will come not only to know of your suffering, but come to understand it.
But remember - you won't even realize it, until it has already happened, so don't waste worry and time in looking out for it.
regardless of status, everyone suffers and experiences misery to some extent. but all suffering is not equal or balanced, there is a hierarchy whether people want to admit that or not. and I believe that it is fair to write about everything as long as you don’t position yourself as an authority on something you’ve never genuinely experienced. it all depends on what you’re writing about and how your honest life experience influences your work. the old adage of ‘writing what you know’ prevails here.
and to add to what said, playing poor and having the safety net of knowing there is an end to your experiment will never compare to the very real terror of not knowing if you will survive or how much longer you will suffer for.
>as long as you don’t position yourself as an authority on something you’ve never genuinely experienced.
how exactly do you avoid doing that when writing about things? just the act of portraying said thing is authoritative enough on its own, you don't need to explicitly start preaching for it to be seen as such.
e.g. you write about a character that happens to be poor, but their poverty isn’t the focal point of the story. you have experienced heartbreak irl, you write about this impoverished character’s heartbreak instead. as an author, you don’t make definitive statements on poverty and how to overcome it (or not) since you haven’t experienced it, but you can discuss how this character overcomes their circumstances and still, agreeing with your point, you can be criticised for ‘exploitation’ at the absolute worst. it’s all dependent on the writing/story and its purpose.
you can only empathise so far, then you sympathise, and where you can’t do either, your imagination takes over, but you must make that clear from the get go.
you absolutely can tell lel
Surprisingly good post for a chainsaw man homosexual
>if I've never experienced any
sheltered homosexual
This is exactly the cope
was talking about.
Growing up unsheltered doesn’t make you better, that is slave morality
and that guy was wrong and a moron, much like you
I prefer this dude's take
only subhumans do not reflect on their hardships
>how do I write about misery and suffering if I've never experienced any?
the same way virgins write about romance and sex, people can hardly tell
She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College
That's where I
Caught her eye
She told me that her dad was loaded
I said, in that case I'll have rum and Coca-Cola
She said fine
And then in thirty seconds time she said
I wanna live like common people
I wanna do whatever common people do
Wanna sleep with common people
I wanna sleep with common people
Like you
Oh what else could I do
I said I'll, I'll see what I can do
I took her to a supermarket
I don't know why
But I had to start it somewhere
So it started there
I said pretend you've got no money
She just laughed and said
Oh you're so funny
I said; yeah
I can't see anyone else smiling in here
Are you sure?
You wanna live like common people
You wanna see whatever common people see
Wanna sleep with common people
You wanna sleep with common people
Like me
But she didn't understand
She just smiled and held my hand
Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some gays and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right
'Cause when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your dad he could stop it all, yeah
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And you dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do
Sing along with the common people
Sing along and it might just get you through
Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along even though they're really laughing at you
And the stupid things that you do
Because you think that poor is cool
Like a dog lying in a corner
They will bite you and never warn you
Look out, they'll tear your insides out
'Cause everybody hates a tourist
Especially one who thinks it's all such a laugh
Yeah and the chip stains and grease
Will come out in the bath
You will never understand
How it feels to live your life
With no meaning or control
And with nowhere left to go
You are amazed that they exist
And they burn so bright
Whilst you can only wonder why
Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some gays and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right
'Cause when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your dad he could stop it all
Yeah
Never live like common people
Never do what common people do
Never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And then dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do
meds
what is this from?
moron
come on anon, I'm not very familiar with poetry
Pulp - Common People
thanks anon