Cold Comfort (by Comparison)
by Zube (zube@stat.colostate.edu)
Created:  Oct 16, 2004
Updated:  Oct 22, 2005
http://www.stat.colostate.edu/~zube/coldcomfort.txt

Scenario:  the price of a product, such as oil or a postage stamp, goes up.

A crowd gathers consisting of:

* the people who benefit from the price going up
* the hopelessly optimistic and cheerful
* those trying to convince themselves that things are not so bad 

What do we hear from this crowd?

"Well, the cost of the product in country X is eight times what it is
here.  Eight times!  See how lucky we are!"

If there is a better definition of cold comfort, I don't know it.  

The crowd's chant is also conveniently malleable.  If the price doubles,
change eight to four and continue chanting.

To deal with this inanity, I offer the following suggestion.

When someone starts bleating in this manner, have your tar and feathers 
handy.  While walking away, say the following:

"In Singapore you probably would have been shot on sight, so think of
how lucky you are."