Fucking Hell. With all the smart people on HN, why can't we have things like a filter for "author has worked a real job once in their life" or "author possesses overinflated sense of own empathy while directly demonstrating contempt for no good reason"

You know, I'm trying really hard not to flame you, I really am. It comes off as extremely douchey to tell people whose problems are much harder than yours -- and if you have time to comment on HN, this is true -- that they can always say no.

It's extremely presumptuous, to say the least, to enumerate someone else's life options and then write off their current difficulties as a matter of choice. Why don't these old people just go to college so they can get a professional job? Completely incompatible with the idea of being empathetic, which implies understanding of someone's situation on an emotional level, not just a rational level.