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How poverty changes your mindset

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Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#401

Post by NutriSugar »

Hextinium wrote: post #268
mrep wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When half your country frame it as: makers VS takers. I have never heard of that term before. What does that mean? > Then "simply need help" would be a significant policy change. Again, governments are based on policies and rules. "simply need help" is way to abstract. > Lots of other developed countries have made inroads on poverty. Just look. Which policies and rules used by other governments do you recommend?

Conservatives in the deep south I find have belief in this, they think that giving money to people that have none is fundamentally stealing from them through taxation and then giving it to someone that doesn't work as hard as them.

When people who are receiving help are those I remember in grade school ignoring school work to focus on bullying others (myself included), I definitely feel this way. There is no reallocation of social resources that I lack due to previously mentioned experiences, so I feel there shouldn't be reallocation of fiscal resources to help those that participated. (And I use 'feel' because I know this isn't a rational line of thought.)

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#402

Post by justaguyhere »

ianai wrote: post #365
justaguyhere wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After reading through (most of) the comments here, I am genuinely curious what we can do as individuals to help. It is pretty clear that the gov isn't too keen on helping (don't want to get into politics - just one look at the budget cuts is enough to prove this point). So is there anything we can do? Protesting, running for public office etc makes the most sense but I am not built for it. What is the second best thi…

Contribute or set up non profits to genuinely help people find self sustaining careers. I’ve for long pondered how I could set up a 100 studio apartment complex with some counselors, training materials, and a supportive non profit. It seems doable.

"100 studio apartment complex"

okay, how would that work? Unless one is really rich, where do we find the money to run such a place?

If such a place exists, I can see myself going there to teach, help organize etc. But I don't know what more I can do, given my own limited resources.

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#403

Post by emodendroket »

tudelo wrote: post #353
woliveirajr wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

:) and, to some extent, this is kind of funny, because where I live having a Civic is a sign that you do have a expensive car, and people treat it like "just more 10k bucks and you could be in an Audi".

Do you live somewhere where a car is not necessary/totally unaffordable? I think the OP is probably living in the US, and navigating most areas is almost impossible without a car. Wonder what the alternative to a cheap civic is other than no car :)

Maybe like a Chevy Spark or something? I actually just got one of those for my wife and it was only $7k with 50k miles on it.

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#404

Post by pjonesdotca »

redm wrote: post #15

I'm sure how people deal with stress and difficult situations varies from person to person. My personal story and 2-cents: When I was 17 I went through a period of near destitute. I was living on my own, my father had passed away, and I had dropped out of school. Yet, I found myself with some very good jobs, such as GE Capital, a big Oil and Gas companies IT department, etc. Regardless of the opportunity, my arroganc…

You also need to take into consideration how incredibly lucky you were. "Pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps" is a myth and always has been.

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#405

Post by emodendroket »

skookumchuck wrote: post #229
tjr225 wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which, in the case of most of the people who currently hold our wealth, turns out to be not very much at all. Are you surprised?

Given that about a third of the country would identify themselves as progressives, it's hard to see if they gave of their own free will, there wouldn't be plenty of help to the disadvantaged. But I rarely (never?) see any rhetoric in DNC politics about party members donating of their own free will to anything other than the Democratic party.

Resources are unevenly distributed. Like, why don't the homeless all just pool their resources and buy a house?

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#406

Post by aaron-lebo »

lighttower wrote: post #390
movedx wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I find the entire thing annoying in the extreme because I have a Patreon account to help fund my blogging and I completely suck at promoting that. > I sincerely appreciate it anytime anyone actually kicks a few bucks my way when I am in crisis. But I would much prefer that people take me seriously, fund my Patreon and/or hire me for paid writing so that bitching about my shit life on the internet can stop being one…

You're angry already. Can you explain what's fueling your indignation?

How about offering to help someone and then people acting like you are a bad person? How about that?

I've got nothing for or against either poster, but so many assumptions were made about someone who may have been just trying to help. Why is that fair? Why try to help anyone if you're gonna get treated like that?

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#407

Post by [deleted] »

kome wrote: post #358
movedx wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I find the entire thing annoying in the extreme because I have a Patreon account to help fund my blogging and I completely suck at promoting that. > I sincerely appreciate it anytime anyone actually kicks a few bucks my way when I am in crisis. But I would much prefer that people take me seriously, fund my Patreon and/or hire me for paid writing so that bitching about my shit life on the internet can stop being one…

that's so American in so many ways...

[deleted]

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#408

Post by emodendroket »

Simon_says wrote: post #388
DoreenMichele wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe don't choose to have kids when you're making $9/hour or have a chaotic domestic life? Most children aren't actually planned. They occur because mother nature has spent millions of years perfecting the art of tricking people into liking sex. Or, as I sometimes say, our genes are like virii: They don't care how miserable they make you in their quest to reproduce themselves. Coincidentally, genes and viruses are b…

Oh, I'm totally with you on the root causes. I'm just resentful that I pay more in taxes to support kids when the parents don't care enough to ensure they have a stable life prior to bringing them into the world. And while I agree with you that evolution is powerful, reliable birth control is recent enough that we haven't adapted to it. It's quite possible to control when you have kids via abstinence, birth control,…

Our economic system is predicated on people having children.

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#409

Post by turc1656 »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #215
eanzenberg wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sending "thoughts and prayers" is a lot easier than actually doing anything.

I saw a great comment on twitter: Thoughts and prayers: the air guitar of helping.

I forgot who it was, but there was a good joke by a comedian on this topic. He was talking about people throwing out that common "we are praying for you" line and he was like "Oh, so you're telling me you're going to sit on the couch and do nothing? Thanks."

Re: How poverty changes your mindset

#410

Post by gaius »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #273
mcphage wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Libertarianism means you can help others as much as you want to. What’s the political philosophy that means you can help others as much as they need? Maybe we should talk about that one more.

Marxism. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" - Karl Marx.

He said it in that order for a reason, Comrade, one that I don’t think people really appreciate. It means “if you don’t work you don’t eat”. Doesn’t sound so benevolent now does it?
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