"We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty." (Mother Theresa)
i hate my facebook feed lately and i'm pretty sure it's a sentiment a lot of folks feel.
i've seen friend after friend threaten to drop people who insist on spouting their politics. gay, anti-gay, abortion, anti-abortion, gun, anti-gun. obamacare, anti-obamacare.it's all over the place and mostly i just zip past it and pay people's opinions no mind. i don't care what you support and what you don't. honestly. it takes all sorts of folks to make the world go round and i believe that with all my heart.
but lately there's a trend that flames poor people. accuses them of all sorts of things. drug abuse. fraud. laziness. theft. being a scourge on society.
because, you know...
social welfare recipients couldn't possibly hold down jobs. they don't give of themselves. they don't help others. they don't contribute to their neighborhoods. they're pariahs. scum. absolutely deserving of our social network scorn.
they take and they take and they take while the rest of US work hard and get our pockets pilfered by "big brother" so they can pay society's useless to remain idle.i'm here to say that it's absolute bullshit and just another dirty form of discrimination and ignorance.
one of my favorite bloggers (who focuses on paying off debt and frugality) posted an article about how absurd our american poverty level is because people who qualify have things like air conditioners in their apartments and a color television in their home. commenters were quick to jump in an rail about how these fake poor probably had the gall to have kids and own an xbox. they probably bought their kids new shoes a few times a year. they dared have a cell phone.
i commented about how lovely
the view must look way up on those high horses and it all snowballed from there. virtriol. name calling (how i became a commie-liberal scum sucker in the span of 15 minutes is still a bit of a blur, but i'm piecing it together.) i'm not interested in ever reading her thoughts ever again.
these piece of shit memes keep showing up over and over and it breaks my heart. i'm not sure whatever happened to the "therefore by the grace of god go i..." but it seems like a trendy thing to do to cast shame on others from the safety behind a keyboard.
people post these and add their own "lol" or "so true" and laugh. because they've spent a lot of time with the poor, haven't they? they know that every person who gets assistance smokes weed and buys alcohol with the money they do earn.
they themselves have never ever had to take a pell grant or an education grant to get back into the work force or used unemployment, have they?
i don't care what your politics are. i swear. i think we all have a brain in our head and it's our job to use it to form our own, independent opinions.
i believe that if you don't like somthing about policy, then you get off your ass and you vote and you change it.
please, do this and i will give you my undying support (even if we don't agree) because you are working toward something positive and forward.
but if your idea of change is throwing up a poorly-illustrated bit of shame toward a person you've never met, well...
shame on you.
I agree compeletly. It is easy to judge and jump to conclusions. I am about to register for unemployment since after this next week I will no longer have a job. No fault of my own. Just downsizing...
ReplyDeleteI hope you will hear my heart here, I am NOT arguing with you at all. I think people are acting out in complete opinionated ignorance and, like you, I scroll past it. That being said, what I do know (personally) are people who DO use drugs and get a ton of assistance, and people who should get assistance and don't. The system is broken. Ranting about it on facebook, with cartoons, won't change a thing. Drug testing is an AWESOME Idea. There are really practical, cost effective ways that the programs could be restructured to force those who need it to step up and take responsibility for their own lives, AND provide needs to the many families who truly need it. Just as there are people who genuinely have a need- there are a lot of people who genuinely abuse the program and have ruined the reputation of it for a lot of people. I've met the mom when the Fendi bag, in the designer heals and the name brand clothes, with the hair extensions who was dragging her 4 dirty kids behind her (and yelling at them). With her food stamp card she bought fruit loops. Then with a cash back she bought cigarettes and two 24 packs of Beer. My (then) 12 year old had no idea about welfare or anything but did finally ask her (as we were in line for a long time) to not call her kids little "shits" because it offended her.
ReplyDeleteI'm not stupid enough to think these type of people make up everyone on the programs available, but they are out there and they give the programs a bad name. It IS frustrating to think of working hard so she can have her luxuries and her kids can continue being treated like garbage. (and I use her as a broad example.) My sister is someone who manipulates the system. We don't talk much but she gets almost $700 in EBT money and $500 in assistance. She divorced her husband so she would qualify for this. She also receives $680 in disability monthly. (she is not disabled) Her husband makes just over $4000 a month. Their kids are neglected and they take lavish trips to casinos 3-4 times a year where they blow ridiculous amounts of money. Their thought process is "If it's there and the government is giving money away, why not take it?" Sadly, lots of people feel that way.