(1.) When someone tries to hold a contest on whose had it worse, as if suffering was a cereal box with a prize at the bottom.. And not in fact, a depressing reality with no winners.
(2.) Employing mental
gymnastics to try and cement the message that your suffering is the only suffering that counts.
A suffering olympics can be held in either a one on one scenario (where the person directly compares their own suffering)...Or it could be a context where the person compares
first world to third world problems, and
individual vs. Systemic, (always as if one cancels out the other. )
People who try to turn other people's pain into the suffering olympics, usually have one of two goals:
(1.) They're purely seeking personal
vindication, because they're too dumb to realize this isn't a contest anyone should want to win.
(2.) They're trying to police someone else's feelings, boundaries or
expectations, after being called out for bad behavior. (I.E. I'm
not that bad because I had it so much worse growing up. (Or) How dare you even suggest I modify my behavior in any way! Aren't you aware there are children in Africa dying of AIDS?!)