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  1. #1
    Formerly Blackdragon6 Emperor-of-Dragons's Avatar
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    Default Why the demonization of the poor and homless?

    It's strange, you have people giving the third degree to poor people claiming they aren't' poor enough if they have things like cellphones, decent food, cars, REFRIGERATORS (Especially so if they're PoC). Then there's the assumption that they're all lazy despite most actually having jobs. Even then, the people that have the arbitrary skepticism of poor people tend to be other poor people who don't have a pot to piss in nor a window to throw it out of themselves, which is terribly ironic. Why is poverty, and homelessness so divisive?

  2. #2
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    Pay attention to what's happening in Congress. Simultaneous with "tax reform," which is a code term for cutting taxes for the super-wealthy, we're getting "welfare reform," which will viciously hose the poorest Americans.

    Class warfare is real, folks. The problem is that only the wealthy are fighting it.

  3. #3
    Amazing Member Adam Allen's Avatar
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    Because if poor people are not to blame for being poor, then all of our talk about the freedom of opportunity and equality in America is bs. If the poor are not at fault, and thus deserving of being poor, then maybe the rich don't really deserve to be rich?

    If you start in that direction though, then you can't ever want to be rich, yourself ... and, being rich would be awesome, right? Who really wants to remove the possibility of ever becoming ridiculously rich? That's just ... you know, unAmerican.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Adam Allen View Post
    Because if poor people are not to blame for being poor, then all of our talk about the freedom of opportunity and equality in America is bs. If the poor are not at fault, and thus deserving of being poor, then maybe the rich don't really deserve to be rich?

    If you start in that direction though, then you can't ever want to be rich, yourself ... and, being rich would be awesome, right? Who really wants to remove the possibility of ever becoming ridiculously rich? That's just ... you know, unAmerican.
    That's why most people support class warfare on the side of the super-rich. They think they're going to join the super-rich sooner or later. As someone once put it, Americans think they're "temporarily embarrassed billionaires."

  5. #5
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    The area I come from had its poor get together and created a society that will get you killed if you look at them wrong. The police don't go into that region not because they are afraid, they don't want to admit they created a monster. People from that area also get looked down upon because one's origins are enough of an eye sore to them. I literally can't talk about what I consider my second home in public because people familiar with the area have the wrong impression of the local poor.

    Society has a habit of trying to throw away what it considers weak and in my case made a town that got people killed and destroyed families through vice, because what else are they going to do when they have no other options? Here they demonize them because they created a monster and realized they screwed up. They tried to deter people from that but have yet to bring people back from it. If they feel they are better off than you are they will try to flaunt it and be "better".
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  6. #6
    Ultimate Member Mister Mets's Avatar
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    There are a series of reasons, with various degrees of legitimacy.

    The needy will never be popular. In general, people would rather not give time and money to someone else.

    There's enough class and racial segregation that people can be unaware of the difficulties of those in a different situation. There's also ignorance of various aspects of their lives (IE- how much does a cell phone cost? How necessary is it?) which can lead to some misunderstandings.

    The poor are disproportionately likely to have certain behavioral problems, and to have made some poor decisions. Some will blame them for this, and there will be others concerned about incentives.

    There will always be a preference of people who have their **** together.
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  7. #7
    Formerly Blackdragon6 Emperor-of-Dragons's Avatar
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    People also tend to have the habit of downplaying homelessness, by framing them as the stereotypical wino vet, with mental illness. I was homeless and there's TONS of actual families out there, with little kids no less. They parents even have jobs. They're called the working poor.
    Last edited by Emperor-of-Dragons; 11-24-2017 at 02:51 PM.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Emperor-of-Dragons View Post
    It's strange, you have people giving the third degree to poor people claiming they aren't' poor enough if they have things like cellphones, decent food, cars, REFRIGERATORS (Especially so if they're PoC). Then there's the assumption that they're all lazy despite most actually having jobs. Even then, the people that have the arbitrary skepticism of poor people tend to be other poor people who don't have a pot to piss in nor a window to throw it out of themselves, which is terribly ironic. Why is poverty, and homelessness so divisive?
    Because it's the lazy factor most see way more of and they tend to be the most VOCAL. Especially POC.

    Because everything including cellphones are given to them. They have no trouble living off of our tax dollars.

    And the ones who get the insults and everything are the ones who don't brag about being poor and put effort into building themselves up.

  9. #9
    DARKSEID LAUGHS... Crazy Diamond's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by skyvolt2000 View Post
    Because it's the lazy factor most see way more of and they tend to be the most VOCAL. Especially POC.

    Because everything including cellphones are given to them. They have no trouble living off of our tax dollars.

    And the ones who get the insults and everything are the ones who don't brag about being poor and put effort into building themselves up.
    The cellphones that are given are the equivalent of basic burner phones. The same people who talk about 'lazy' also complain that you can't get work. How the **** are you supposed to work in this day and age if people can not communicate with you by phone? Most of the tax money (which is really the state taking its cut after your employer does) is spent on killing people here and over seas, bailing out failing companies, and empowering the state to further defend capital. This is shown every time the federal budget is released. The spending on social services is a drop in the bucket in comparision and it is done because the contradictions of capitalism require some level of mediation hence welfare programs.

    The ones who do the most complaining don't say anything about the tax credits they get for say being married or having solar panels or a home office. They don't complain when billions are given to bail out banks. But a single mom trying to get buy is what angers them? Come on.

  10. #10
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    A warped sort of fear that any poor person could be walking proof that one bad circumstance could render moot even the most tenacious of legitimate effort you put into achieving/maintaining prosperity, I suppose. Thus, the fear of a pointless and indifferent universe that you were thrown into with no rhyme or reason.

  11. #11
    For honor... Madam-Shogun-Assassin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ragged Maw View Post
    A warped sort of fear that any poor person could be walking proof that one bad circumstance could render moot even the most tenacious of legitimate effort you put into achieving/maintaining prosperity, I suppose.
    Basically; Also from my experience debating this issue people seem to think homeless people are dumb asses who made stupid life decisions and deserved everything they got. So "**** those guys" i guess, at least that's the impression i got.

  12. #12
    Ultimate Member Tendrin's Avatar
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    There is little more human than hating the poor for being poor and the weak for their weakness. It helps to tamp down the fear that we could be among them and alleviate ourselves of the need to care.

  13. #13
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    I think there's a lot of frustration born out of the seemingly hopeless nature of the situation because it seems like a never ending problem with no easy solution. It doesn't help that most people know at least one person who was 'gaming' the system. Like the girl in college who got married and wanted to have baby right away, even though her and her husband were still in school and completely broke. And Medicare takes care of all the doctors bills, but you really wanted wish you could say that's for 'real' poor people, not 'dumb, impatient' people.

  14. #14
    Ultimate Member Tendrin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by anyajenkins View Post
    I think there's a lot of frustration born out of the seemingly hopeless nature of the situation because it seems like a never ending problem with no easy solution. It doesn't help that most people know at least one person who was 'gaming' the system. Like the girl in college who got married and wanted to have baby right away, even though her and her husband were still in school and completely broke. And Medicare takes care of all the doctors bills, but you really wanted wish you could say that's for 'real' poor people, not 'dumb, impatient' people.
    Fortunately, we all know that it's not the child's fault and that they deserve to have a decent shot in life regardless of their parents decision.
    ]
    Really, most of these arguments boil down to an excuse to wash your hands of someone or something as an 'intractable problem' so one doesn't need to do anything about it. We want excuses to not dwell on the scope of the problem.

  15. #15
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    Been pretty much the case since there has been civilization. Mostly it's like many other things if people can't





    relate they demonize it. I worked on patrol as a cop for 14 years and I have to say I never treated them badly. But I honestly didn't get them either. I didn't come from their background nor have whatever mental health or addiction issues they had. I don't work on patrol anymore but it's still hard to understand.

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