This isn't just a one-off HN comment. This sentiment is fairly prevalent.
There are now over 7.5 billion people on the planet. To dismiss first world problems is to dismiss the concerns of N millions of people. How large does N need to be before these concerns are worth considering?
To phrase that more sharply, under what ethical and moral framework is it ok to dismiss the concerns of N millions of people? If it's a reasonable framework, and it's logically consistent, I'd like to educate myself on it.
From another angle, almost none of us are in a position to solve non-first world problems. Our voices are all we have. If we admit (at least to ourselves) that all we're doing here is killing time in hopefully-productive ways -- ways that often fall short of that goal -- then why do we admonish people for spending it talking about problems we face in our own lives? Especially when we also spend so much time talking about non-first world problems?
I don't mean to pick on your comment, but this is an attitude I've seen countless times, yet it's never accompanied by a coherent justification.
I'm willing to humor this and assume it's not virtue signaling. There must be a reason. And if it's a good reason, then I should join your ranks.
If there's no justification, then I'm hoping this subthread can serve as a canonical rebuttal to this attitude when it pops up in the future. But my main motivation is to learn something.
EDIT: Unfortunately, this article was flagged, so it's unlikely this subthread will go anywhere. I'll leave this as an open question and ask it again some other time.