Live data from Hacker News

The Logic of “Stupid” Poor People

tressiemc.com

11–20 of 214 posts

Re: The Logic of “Stupid” Poor People

#11

An equally good question is why to poor people vote republican? Because they want to belong. And through financial osmosis people who vote republican become rich, right? That is the thinking anyway.

Wait, where did you read that poor people vote republican? I would've guessed otherwise.

I don't know the statistics off hand but I remember reading that there were poor counties in the US in which Romney did not receive a single vote. So yea I'm not sure what context OP is referring to.

Re: The Logic of “Stupid” Poor People

#12
Anyone who wants to "belong" to a league of people who would waste 2500$ on a handbag IS stupid. Whether they are poor or not is immaterial. It is also a huge leap to say that being "presentable" is the same as wasting money you do not have on status symbols. They aren't the same thing.

Re: The Logic of “Stupid” Poor People

#13
Incredulity reflects how people really believe that other people may, in fact, operate in some sort of rational world. When we think of ourselves, for the most part, we tend to think we would make rational decisions in all circumstances we were faced in, especially those we are NOT in.

Irrationality of consumers is great for the retail economy, though, and while it defies years of economic logic, behavioral economics has been in the spotlight for many things these days, more so than simple rational-consumer theory.

(perhaps it's simply the logic of smart poor people in a stupid/deranged society?)

Re: The Logic of “Stupid” Poor People

#14

An equally good question is why to poor people vote republican? Because they want to belong. And through financial osmosis people who vote republican become rich, right? That is the thinking anyway.

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." -- John Steinbeck

And for at least 1.7 million people last year, they were?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101099732

Re: The Logic of “Stupid” Poor People

#15

An equally good question is why to poor people vote republican? Because they want to belong. And through financial osmosis people who vote republican become rich, right? That is the thinking anyway.

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." -- John Steinbeck

Is Steinbeck still right about that?

Re: The Logic of “Stupid” Poor People

#16

An equally good question is why to poor people vote republican? Because they want to belong. And through financial osmosis people who vote republican become rich, right? That is the thinking anyway.

Wait, where did you read that poor people vote republican? I would've guessed otherwise.

The gist of it is the "religious right" got in bed with all the big money/exploit-the-world old white men.

Then, messaging to voters becomes "I LOVE GOD!" instead of "All your money flows up to me." The "poor people vote republican" line of thought follows from people believing poorer/more-religious people vote only on religion above all else without regard for how much their representatives also want to exploit/maim/kill/cancer them.

Recent evidence doesn't entirely support that conclusion, but it makes for a convenient story.

What we end up with is the representatives not keeping up to date with reality. The reps stay "god god god religion god god jesus" while the world drifted more to "Uh, actually everything is pretty okay. Just stay out of our way." You can see that effect in southern "we hate all the gays" politicians while most real people don't want oppression/repression/persecution of them at all.

But—to get your way—all you have to do is scaretivate (scare+motivate) a small vocal base into voting for your overton candidate. (See: 2004 GWB election where "kill the gays" was set as a constitutional amendment in a dozen states along with "Vote for GWB!" — Drag the crazies out to vote for their delusional pet social bigot issue while also catapulting your candidate pet back to victory (well, victory against a droning sedated sloth, but victory nonetheless))

Re: The Logic of “Stupid” Poor People

#17

Anyone who wants to "belong" to a league of people who would waste 2500$ on a handbag IS stupid. Whether they are poor or not is immaterial. It is also a huge leap to say that being "presentable" is the same as wasting money you do not have on status symbols. They aren't the same thing.

[deleted]

Re: The Logic of “Stupid” Poor People

#18

Firstly, you are dismissisive to the point of bigotry if you ever refer to someone as stupid, I don't care if they are rich or poor. And while I'm all for personal responsibility and accountability...how many classes in public schools teach things like money and lifestyle management? Home Ec? Pretty sure all I learned there was how to cook and omlette. This country refuses to blame the parents yet we do nothing to as…

Exactly this. We don't teach what we want people to know as adults, unless you realize many politicians would rather have ignorant populous they can lie to with impunity. We should teach basic economics from early years until they graduate and can't be fooled any more.

Re: The Logic of “Stupid” Poor People

#19

I read the whole article and do not agree. Here in Silicon Valley the importance of appearances has become marginal. Yes, you have to be clean, presentable, but that's it. After that you need the skills, talent, knowledge and aptitude to perform your job. And you need that everyday, to keep your job, in this hyper-competitive environment. I was a poor starving immigrant student at one point. I did fine without even m…

I agree with you for the most part, but I think the point the author's trying to make is that "poor" people may not see it that way; instead, to them, lavish riches create a sense of belonging.

Re: The Logic of “Stupid” Poor People

#20
While I agree with the sentiment, I don't think her arguments are very strong.

I personally think people make bad decisions to buy things or do things not on the premise of it being an "investment", but because most of us are very weak.

We do the things we do because we are victims to advertising and peer pressure. You think they spend billions on advertising for nothing?

If you read this and you are thinking, "No I am not." You are 1) in denial 2) above average. If you are above average, then you should realize averages exist because half of the people are below it.

Post reply on HN