Today Rush asked, "Can somebody explain the difference to me?" I will of course be happy to oblige. Rush is talking about this Slate article, which he seems not to have properly read. The article is titled, "Should You Feel Guilty About Having A Job?" which Rush interprets as Slate (nay, the entire liberal media establishment) telling people that they should feel guilty about having a job. When in fact the article's conclusion is "No, you should not." The article touches upon two main points: 1. Survivor guilt among the people who survive layoffs at their company. As with any random traumatic event, the survivors (in this case the employed) feel guilty that they were left unscathed, while their cohorts (who may have been better or more competent than they were) were cut. Survivor's guilt is a common psychological quirk which happens when circumstances beyond your control turn you into the winner. Layoffs are so unpredictable and random that it's understandable people would feel this way. Rush believes that those who are not laid off should feel the opposite - Survivor's Pride, if you will. While I can see his point, it overlooks the fact that that's not how the human mind operates. It's natural to feel guilty, but try to put it behind you. 2. People who have jobs don't feel that they have a right to complain about their jobs to people who have been laid off. COMPLAIN. Note that every example given in the source article is regarding someone who wants to COMPLAIN about their job. It is true that if you're talking to someone who's lost their job, complaining about your own job will just make you look like a selfish whiner. And you shouldn't do it. In fact, I would almost go so far as to say you should never complain about your job. Because no one cares, and no one wants to hear you whining. This is very different from what Rush takes away from the article, which is that "you shouldn't TALK about your job." Oh no, feel free to talk about it. Just don't whine. Rush draws the parallel between fit and unfit people. If you have worked really hard to become physically fit, and you find yourself in a room full of overweight people, he contends that it is acceptable for you to talk about being fit. About how far you ran this morning, and what you had for breakfast, that sort of thing. That doing so sets a positive example, by normalizing fitness. I agree that this is fine. Where it breaks down (in the context of our discussion) is that it behooves the fit person in this situation to not COMPLAIN about being fit. "Oh, my muscles are so strong, I'm so physically attractive, it's really hard" is not going to be received well by the unfit. The unfit would be likely to retort with, "You have zero body fat - quit complaining about how expensive your running shoes are, because it's pissing me off." I wouldn't expect Rush to understand the subtleties of this discussion, but I'm happy to help where I can.