The problem isn’t you, it’s the system

“They can’t feed their kids, Dan. Don’t tell them to be more entrepreneurial.”

This simple, urgent sentence cuts through the noise. It’s not a rejection of ambition or effort—it’s a rejection of gaslighting. Because when people are struggling to meet their most basic needs, telling them to “just work harder,” “start a business,” or “change their mindset” is not empowering advice. It’s a distraction. A convenient narrative that shifts the blame away from broken systems and onto broken individuals. And that is exactly what those in power want.

Let’s be clear: telling struggling people that their hardship is the result of personal failure is not just wrong—it’s politically useful. Useful for the elites. Useful for those who benefit from the status quo. If everyone believes that their poverty, their unemployment, their hunger, and housing insecurity are all personal shortcomings, then nobody organises. Nobody marches. Nobody votes differently. Nobody questions the system. Because they’re too busy blaming themselves.

This is the psychological sleight of hand that props up an unjust economy. We are sold the myth of meritocracy—if you just hustle hard enough, if you just believe in yourself, if you just take personal accountability—you’ll succeed. And when you don’t, well, it must be your fault. Not the wage stagnation. Not the unaffordable housing. Not the rising healthcare costs. Not the student debt. Just you.

But here’s the truth: when millions of people are struggling to survive in one of the wealthiest, most technologically advanced societies in history, that is not a personal failure. That is a design flaw. Or rather, a design feature—because the system is doing exactly what it was built to do: extract wealth from the many and consolidate it in the hands of the few.

The response to this should not be to double down on individualism. And yet, every time someone dares to point out how rigged the economy is, how it consistently benefits the wealthy and makes life harder for everyone else, they’re met with criticism: Don’t be so negative, you’ll discourage people. Don’t crush their entrepreneurial spirit.

But what’s truly discouraging is the pre-tense that we can fix systemic exploitation with personal development. What’s truly bleak is pretending that working on yourself is the same as working for justice. Yes, self-improvement has value. But it is not a substitute for structural change.

It’s important to distinguish between personal advice and political narratives. If you’re mentoring someone one-on-one, sure—encourage them to find their path, to build something, to fight for their own better future. But when you’re speaking about society as a whole, about millions of people navigating systems designed to keep them struggling, then “just start a business” is not just tone-deaf—it’s insulting.

Telling people to bootstrap their way out of poverty might be useful advice for a few. But as an economic policy? It’s a joke. A cruel one. It ignores that most people aren’t failing to thrive because they lack drive—they’re failing because the economy has made basic necessities out of reach. Food, housing, medical care, education—these should not be luxury items. They should be the floor, not the ceiling.

We forget, too often, that we collectively make the rules of this game. The economy is not a force of nature. It is a human creation—malleable, changeable, accountable. But that only becomes true when people stop blaming themselves and start holding systems to account. When they come together and demand better. When they realise that the same story being fed to them—just work harder—is the very thing keeping them apart.

Because a population that believes it’s their own fault won’t unite. They’ll internalise their struggle, hide their pain, and compete instead of cooperate. And that is exactly what the system’s architects want. Because nothing scares the powerful more than the powerless realising they outnumber them.

So no, don’t stop working on yourself. But know that you are not the problem. And you’re not alone. And the most radical act in a system that tells you to focus on yourself is to turn toward others and say: Let’s fix this. Together.

Not because it’s easy. But because it’s necessary.

illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.