4chan

The reason people say that is to make people feel better in the long term. They are considering the effect on feelings on a longer time scale than the seconds after the message is received.

Like, here’s a scenario:

• There are zombies outside
• People inside don’t realize
• I warn them about the zombies
• They go from feeling content to feeling afraid
• The fear leads them to pick up weapons
• They fight off the zombies, and nobody gets bitten
• There is far less grief and fear the next day than there otherwise would have been

The pattern is simple:

• Provide information
• Receiving the information is painful now
• Receiving the information allows avoidance of bigger pain later

That’s the pattern at work when people say “The world doesn’t owe you anything”. They’re trying to help people drop the manner of a child or guest or person being taken care of, and adopt the manner of an adult, or host, or person doing the taking care of.

The words mean “There is no rescue boat coming”. It’s designed to get people off their ass and working on a solution, instead of waiting for one from someone else.