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It's just standard internal vs external Locus of Control.
It doesn't matter what your politics or background is. An external locus of control is poisonous and will result in worse outcomes over your lifetime.
This concept gets obfuscated with people trolling 'just pull yourself up by your bootstraps' when there are clearly external factors preventing success. Even in those cases when the deck is stacked against you, you are better off doing what you can with what you have rather than just giving up and succumbing to Learned Helplessness.
An internal locus of control, when the reality is that "external forces (beyond their influence), have control over the outcome of events in their lives", is literally insane. As @Belisarius points out, "There is no reason to treat the same all complaints as some might be valid, and others invalid."
An internal locus of control gives you better outcomes, regardless of how valid a particular complaint is. Even if it is insanity, it's a useful insanity.
I have no idea if the particular woman in the example above actually faced unfairness or not (she probably has; at some point we all have). But I do know she'd be in a better position, financially and psychologically, if she spent less time introspecting about how mean and terrible and unjust the world is to her and more time embracing her agency.
I can't speak for others. But in my experience, blaming myself for my problems makes me very depressed.
-> And that’s your fault and you need to overcome it because no one else can do that for you.
Just gotta take it one level deeper.
Of course, there’s depression and then there’s depression, and seeking necessary external help is part of taking responsibly.
(I have not fully embraced radical self-ownership, but I think there’s a lot of merit to it.)
Seeking external help is not having an internal locus of control. And I agree that my depression is my own fault, and evidence that I am a bad person.
What no.
Blaming external forces or only relying on external assistance is a lack of an internal locus of control. That can lead to learned helplessness.
Accurately perceiving one needs external support for something and seeking it is being agentic. Not seeking external help when it is needed is an unhelpful avoidance pattern and rarely leads to good outcomes.
Well, we've come around from 'seeking external help is always bad' to 'sometimes seeking external help is good and sometimes it's not'. I guess I can't argue with that.
I think you don’t understand what the posters above meant by “internal locus of control” and you are not distinguishing blaming external factors vs. seeking external assistance.
“The whole world is against me.”
Vs.
“I need help to overcome a challenge.”
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