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I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

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Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#31

Post by carschno »

inigyou wrote: post #14
Ozzie_osman wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how it has always been throughout history (and still is in most parts of the world). Individual is part of nuclear family, nuclear family is part of extended family, extended family is part of tribe, etc. When one part is in need, the others jump in to help.

Wasn't "nuclear family" something marketers invented in post-war USA to sell more houses?

Nuclear family is indeed a recent development and started with industrialization and modern capitalism. While we use the same term, 'family', to refer to (pre-)historic forms of family, too, those family types had little or nothing in common with the modern definition, when it comes to power, inheritance, law, sex, love.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Origin_of_the_Family%2C_Pr...

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#32

Post by CalRobert »

beanjuiceII wrote: post #10
avalys wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who produces the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the house you live in, the energy you use, the medicine you consume, etc. while you airily define ‘productivity’ as reading the classics and spending time with friends?

[flagged]

Sometimes they are forbidden from making the things they’d like for themselves. You used to be able to get your own food, build your own home, etc. But enclosure put a stop to that. And besides, who made the land you live on?

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#33

Post by stonyrubbish »

meta_gunslinger wrote: post #4

[flagged]

I am 23 years old. I studied hard, went to college, got good grades, etc-- "did everything right," as far as older people in my life told me. At 19 I became disabled from a sudden rare condition such that I am now very ill and mostly housebound. I thought exactly as you did before becoming disabled. Everyone thinks sudden, rare, lightning-strike style things just happen to others until one day they happen to you.

I don't agree with railing against capitalism either-- it's not clear to me that there's any other system I would do better in, given my disability-- but the idea of, "if you do everything right, nothing bad will happen to you" is basically a comforting lie people tell themselves to feel safe. I believe in the value of hard work, and I am trying my best to better my situation-- switching my entire career from humanities to IT-- but I still am not fully sure how I am going to be able to support myself, and I don't think that's my fault.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#34

Post by esseph »

meta_gunslinger wrote: post #4

[flagged]

> Moreover, actions have consequences. Instead of traveling and having fun when you are able bodied, you can work more, save and invest your money for the future and safe-guarding against situations like these. Other people have chosen to do that. In the end of the day, all that outcry about capitalism is the classic "I made the wrong decisions and I want society to bail me out of them".

People don't choose to be born blind, or with a deformed limb, or with a genetic blood disease.

What fucking choice were they ever given?

It's always somebody that got lucky that wasn't born with a disability that makes these statements.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#35

Post by thaumiel »

meta_gunslinger wrote: post #4

[flagged]

I disagree.

People are born with disabilities, which doesn't always show it's face until it is too late.

There are people who are completely incapable of saving and investing, because for them the "future" does not have any meaning in it self.

What is the point of investing if money by it self does not have any value?

There are also people who are born who will never be able to work a "normal" 9-5 job.

To put everything on their shoulders is what is wrong with the system.

Capitalism bears a heavy burden for causing a lot of angst.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#36

Post by pharrington »

pj_mukh wrote: post #21
Telaneo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have enough excess in society that we can spare enough of those things to those who are unable to take care of themselves.

“We have enough excess in society” How are you measuring this? Hopefully something better than stock prices.

In the US, it can be measured by the overstocked food that gets discarded everyday, and by the houses that are vacant nine months a year.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#38

Post by meta_gunslinger »

inigyou wrote: post #19
meta_gunslinger wrote: post #4

[flagged]

Interesting how this is always post-hoc justified. It's always "you made bad decisions in the past so now you deserve cruelty". It's rarely "you are making a bad decision right now so you should stop that before you deserve cruelty in the future".

> "you made bad decisions in the past so now you deserve cruelty"

Somebody will have to endure cruelty when someone makes bad decisions. The question is whether the cruelty will be received by the person making the bad decision or somebody else.

> It's rarely "you are making a bad decision right now so you should stop that before you deserve cruelty in the future".

So it's the economic system's fault that you weren't stopped before making a bad decision? It's the economic system's fault that schools teach gender theory instead of personal finance, economics and rational decision making?

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#39

Post by b3lvedere »

sajithdilshan wrote: post #2

I was raised as a Buddhist and in Buddhism it says that the biggest wealth you can have in your life is good health. Most of us take it for granted, that how lucky we are to born without a disability and can function doing daily tasks like taking a shower, going to the toilet without the help of someone else. I cannot imagine how difficult life would be with a disability and even thinking about it makes me anxious

I always try and remember that the majority of the creatures of this planet do not have the luxury to live in an environment where they can freely choose to shield themselves from bad weather and regulate temperature of their surroundings to their convenience.

Re: I'm 38 and I Can't Support Myself Anymore

#40

Post by paulryanrogers »

meta_gunslinger wrote: post #18
b3lvedere wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me how someone born disabled made the wrong decision? After that, tell me how someone who became disabled after an accident which they themselves did not cause, made the wrong decision? Thirdly, tell me how someone who lived perfectly healthy just happend to have some blood clot shot into their brain suddenly, made the wrong decision?

The wrong decision is not being insured for disaster and not saving enough when you were able to work, electing to spend the money instead. Not being unlucky with your health or having an accident. That's clearly stated in my original response if you care to read and not knee-jekingly respond. For someone who has been born disabled, the conversation should be moved to the people who brought them to life and are respo…

Individuals cannot afford to insure themselves in a vacuum. That's why social safety nets were created as a sort of forced and collective insurance. It's cheaper for all of us to ensure no one starves or becomes permanently homeless regardless of their choices.
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