The World Beyond BetterMost > Anything Goes
Why are the poor, poor?
Clyde-B:
--- Quote from: injest on April 28, 2008, 10:32:22 pm ---I would agree with that.
I have relatives that have been on welfare all their lifes....I am thinking of one in particular....his father passed away when he was very little...his mother was on welfare all the time he was growing up. I think he just thinks that IS life..to sit around and wait for the monthly check to show up. That is what he has been taught.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, me too. One of my dearest friends was raised to believe that you got one shot at life. When he blew his big chance, he gave up. Never could get him to understand that you get as many chances as you're willing to take.
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: delalluvia on April 28, 2008, 09:08:29 pm ---I do.
Other people just cannot bring themselves to believe that all people aren't smart enough to become a programmer or surgeon or engineer or lawyer or MBA. THEY did, so they seem to imagine that everyone can do the same if they wanted to and if they haven't or won't it's because of sheer laziness and thus poverty is their own fault.
--- End quote ---
All people do not have the inclination or training to become a surgeon. It is silly to think that everyone does. And that isn't the point. The point is most people can have control of their own destinies, there are exceptions to this, but overall people can become a success according to their own or even society's definitions.
If people are sitting around waiting for a welfare check, or if they give up because their car breaks down, then that too is their choice. They are choosing the destiny with which they are comfortable. They may gripe about their limited opportunity, they may gripe that they are not making $100K per year while sitting in front of their TV sets stuffing their faces with Twinkies while watching Oprah cry, but ultimately, they made the choices in their lives to allow the system to control them and not the other way around.
What the present welfare system does is give these non productive people a easy landing into their sloth.
Social Worker to Welfare Victim:
"Its OK honey, why you are a just a VICTIM, you are not responsible for your life or the lives of the 4 children in your house who all have different fathers none of which you are married to. You need to just sit down fill your mind with crap off the TV and we welfare / social workers will just take care of everything. Oh and be sure to register to vote so that WE can keep those nasty old Republican racist / misogynist / meanies from harming you further!"
and the tragedy of the welfare cycle goes on and on and on.
Shakesthecoffecan:
Speaking only for myself, because two years ago I saw Brokeback Mountain and suddenly nothing else mattered.
Go to Wyoming, no problem, go to Alberta, no problem, Taxes, what taxes........
But its coming around. ;)
HerrKaiser:
--- Quote from: broketrash on April 29, 2008, 12:08:11 pm ---
If people are sitting around waiting for a welfare check, or if they give up because their car breaks down, then that too is their choice. They are choosing the destiny with which they are comfortable. They may gripe about their limited opportunity, they may gripe that they are not making $100K per year while sitting in front of their TV sets stuffing their faces with Twinkies while watching Oprah cry, but ultimately, they made the choices in their lives to allow the system to control them and not the other way around.
--- End quote ---
I think this is spot on.
The original thesis by the author was as sad commentary on the human condition. He suggests that six bee stings (many problems) just go unattended to by people because it is just too hard to deal with more than one bee sting. I wonder if the men fighting at D Day felt that way? Clearly not. Or the astronaust in apollo 13? Don't think so. Or any of the millions of poor kids who make it big. Probably not.
I find the thesis to be yet another attempt to excuse behavior that has led to unproductive lives. A previous poster indicated a suspicion about commentators on poverty if they have never been poor; excellent point. But, the other side to that coin is how many more of us HAVE been poor (as the poster indicated...unable to pay for college, not knowing where the next day's food or housing would come from, etc) and pulled up the boot straps and dealt with all six bee stings.
Some people are weak and incapable of dealing with one bee sting, much less six, agreed. But the safety net that was put in place to help the truly incapable has become a hammock for millions of folks who just find it easier to run to ER for the bee stings than apply some remedy on their own.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: broketrash on April 29, 2008, 12:08:11 pm ---You are not responsible for your life or the lives of the 4 children in your house who all have different fathers none of which you are married to.
--- End quote ---
And God forbid we should do anything to help keep you from getting pregnant, other than to tell you to not have sex, which you won't listen to anyway because people have been ignoring that advice since the beginning of time. ...
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