Why do you hate the poor?

a reply to: Logarock

And I'll bet that you're like me, if the quadriplegic who works at Home Depot tends to need some services to help make his ends meet, then OK because he's still doing what he can do on his own to meet it halfway. Even better if you discover he's taking some classes on the side as he can (if he can) to enable him to eventually work a better spot than Home Depot, maybe an office.

Study in contrasts:

My did worked the last years of his professional life with a guy who was missing a toe and that guy still worked in the elevator, tough physical labor, for eight hours plus every day, sometimes more than five days a week during harvest seasons.

My brother-in-laws brother lost a toe to diabetes and he milks it for disability and sits around waiting for his government paycheck every month.


If one of those two needed some services to make ends meet, which one do you think I'd rather the assistance go to?

originally posted by: olaru12
We all have anecdotes about people that abuse the system. But what I see is a cultural and political meme of a large percentage of people looking for something to hate, ridicule, and denigrate. Even on this very thread....

Do I detect racial overtones?

Its as if people forget we can read their post history on other threads.

So you think that there is a racial overtones on this thread about hating the poor?

Well how about this thread that mocked rural white people that many on ATS were happy to defend.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Oh and look, there you were too!

Remember you said

Personally, I thank God for the mid American, Religious Right and their naivete. I make an obscene amount of money selling them "dreams".... They know it but are powerless to say "NO"

...

Stories that allow them to escape for a short time from a soul sucking existence of mediocrity.

It's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it....

Hahaha! We get it! You are so much smarter than those rural white Christians, they are just dumb bigots!

But please, don't let me stop you from calling other people racists.

a reply to: Grambler

So you think that there is a racial overtones on this thread about hating the poor?

You think there's not?

originally posted by: Spiramirabilis
a reply to: Grambler

So you think that there is a racial overtones on this thread about hating the poor?

You think there's not?

Perhaps people defending an article discussing the stupidity of rural white people aren't the best to be pointing out racial overtones on this thread.

a reply to: Grambler

A friend of mine from RI shared that on FB when it first came out. She mentioned how much it spoke to her life as a transplant into West Texas. I pointed out that she just insulted everyone she lives around, and she couldn't understand how I said that.

But that article is very insulting. And uses poor logic to support it (i.e., that we are moving, or progressing, towards something somehow better, and that change is good while resistance to chance is backwards).

I remember how much my Oklahoma born/raised grandmother hated Steinbeck for Grapes of Wrath. "We let him into our homes while he researched that book just so he could make us look like morose hillbillys". Hating on countryfolk has been en vogue since the civil war.

Yes, class division tends to flow along racial lines. But don't forget, having an accent from the south is a point of discrimination, too. I've seen it first hand running a call center for Time Warner of NYC here in West Texas.

originally posted by: Kettu
A lot of:

"I don't hate the poor BUT..."

Which means, yes -- you do hate the poor.

You have somehow simply found ways to justify it.

Um, you do realise that the above argument makes zero logical sense in the way you presented it?

"I don't hate A, but...[insert any text here]..." = you do hate A.

That does not make sense.

If you are saying some people make a statement dismissing they are [insert relevant characteristic] and then actually contradict that statement by demonstrating the quality they just dismissed, then yes, I would agree.

However, you cannot assume because somebody makes a statement followed by the word "but" that they are trying to justify their hypocrisy.

"I respect Islam, but I would not want to live under Sharia."

Am I justifying my "actual" disrespect for Islam by making that statement?

No reasonable individual hates the poor. We do hate the fake poor that use and abuse the systems in place to help the actual poor people. The problem is...there are a whole lot of system abusers. If I stood at Walmart for an hour watching one register, I'm estimating I could identify ten people abusing the system. Examples would include:

1. They buy food with their EBT (local welfare card) but by a large screen TV with cash.
2. They use an EBT card by have a $500 cell phone.
3. They steal.
4. They attempt to use their EBT card to purchase non-legitimate items (eg. Lobster)

It is these criminals that make the poor look bad and cause the anger some may have. In my area...the abusers are about 50% black in an area that is about 10% black populous. You can do the math and when you do, you will see additional reasons for anger. It is well known in law enforcement that certain individuals abuse the system with (my personal guess) about 25% of all welfare monies being abused and/or used in a manner against the rules.

These systems need to be policed and not by others that will look the other way. Far too much waste.

I don't hate the poor.

I don't like those who make a career out of it though.

The person who just lost their job (through no fault of their own) and finds themselves unable to survive, I have the deepest sympathy for. We should ALWAYS help those people get back on their feet.

I do NOT like those who refuse to work, and pump out kid after kid, and never stop taking government money (my money, YOUR money) and never even attempt to better themselves.

There is a BIG difference.

originally posted by: Edumakated
No one hates the poor. What people despise though are those who make a series of bad personal decisions and then expect everyone else to pay for it.

In addition, America really does not have a true poverty problem. Except in some extreme circumstances, the poor in America live better than the middle/upper classes in most countries. Being poor in America means you can't buy a new pair of Jordans every few months or drive a late model car. It doesn't mean you live in Favela with no running water or electricity.

The reality is that when people do three things, the odds of being "poor" are practically zero. First, graduate high school Two, don't have children out of wedlock. Three, work any full time job. The chance of falling into poverty is less than 2%.

These rules apply to all races and ethnic groups. Breaking these rules is becoming more commonplace, unfortunately, for all racial groups.

From a study:

"By contrast, young adults who violated all three norms — dropped out, got married before 21 and had children out of wedlock and didn’t have a full-time job — had a 76 percent chance of winding up in poverty and a 7 percent chance of winding up in the middle class."

Being poor is not some sort of badge of honor. Nor is it something that needs to be celebrated. If you cannot make it in America, I don't know what to tell you. People float on inner tubes across shark infested waters and cross deserts to get the opportunities we have in this country even if it is just dropping fries at McDonalds.

You are very mistaken in paragraph 3. I know people that Have 1. Graduated hs. 2. Had kids after they were married. 3. Had stable awesome jobs and all that jazz for years. Boom life happens beyond thier control and they lose everything. Natural disasters, murder, abuse, accidents ect... Can make you poor. So being poor is surely higher then zero percent even if you are on the right track in life lol.. But you didn't think too hard before you posted.

Well hold on a second........

I have worked hard my entire life and had to relinquish a significant portion of every single paycheck ever.

If I was able to keep all of that money I feel like I would have avoided a good amount of pain in the a$$ financial struggle and the stressful hardship it brings.

On top of that, nearly everything I purchase is taxed.

Now get this, I was fired from one of my recent jobs because I was pulled from my shift just to have my rightful privacy breached with a urine analysis which revealed the atrociously heinous fact that I prefer to unwind after work with cannabis rather than beer or cigarettes.

I really enjoyed the job so I was always reliable and always had a good attitude.

So, to make sure that I would be able to continue to provide for my family and not totally freak my wife out, I went straight to public assistance and started collecting food stamps and some cash assistance for rent.

If some self righteous individual wants to look down on me and proclaim their superiority, so be it. I think it would say a whole lot more about them, than me.

Now, a few months later I am back in the workforce, at a job I like even more. The other guys wanted me back, all I had to do was go through drug treatment, then take a drug test every month at my own expense, for a year..............yeah, they can take that job and shove it....lol.

I'll go on assistance and unemployment again if I ever have to. If anyone has problem with that, they should focus inward and find out why they're so miserable.

a reply to: GoShredAK

as an employer, i find drug testing to be an invasion of privacy and a violation of civil rights. My employer should have no legal right to collect my bodily fluids. I can't believe anyone even has to say this.

a reply to: DonVoigt

How would you feel through if the situation were reversed, and you were in the potion of some of these illegal aliens?

Not talking about the drug dealing murdering rapist marauding bad hombres that orange buffoon Trump keeps bumping his gums about, just the average person who came to America to seek out a better existence.

Technically you are all in the country illegally unless you are of American Indian descent.

Just a thought.

I don't hate the poor, but......



Everyone who's post was structured like that in some way. News flash, you hate the poor.



What ratio would people feel happy about social wellfare? Is it only worthwhile when 100% of it is used for its true purposes? If 20% of recipients are defrauding the system, does that invalidate the other 80% who need help and are getting it?

The common argument that you just don't want 'feeders and other malcontents' to take advantage of the system is thinly veiled attempt to hide your hatred.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: DonVoigt

How would you feel through if the situation were reversed, and you were in the potion of some of these illegal aliens?

Not talking about the drug dealing murdering rapist marauding bad hombres that orange buffoon Trump keeps bumping his gums about, just the average person who came to America to seek out a better existence.

Technically you are all in the country illegally unless you are of American Indian descent.

Just a thought.

Im sorry....but that is just ridiculous.

Technically I'd suppose the picts would think rather poorly of you living in their land, afterall.

LOL

i mean, we could get down to "we are all migrant species on this planet" and dissolve borders.

BTW, the subjugation of the native population stems from our british roots. The french and dutch were happier to just have trade ties. Our British ancestors were the ones who believed we needed to save the savages from their savage lifestyle.

a reply to: Grambler

Perhaps people defending an article discussing the stupidity of rural white people aren't the best to be pointing out racial overtones on this thread.

It's kinda funny - like you've been saving that bit up for just the right occasion :-)

Did you not read anything about where he grew up, how he grew up - who he knows, and how well he knows them (which, to be honest - would be kind of hard to miss - he's been here a while and has discussed this on more than one occasion)? Or did you not need that part to make the point you so desperately needed to make? White rural Christian America is perfect and there is no bigotry or racism anywhere...you live in a fantasy land if this is what you believe

You're lacking some cojones if you're never willing to admit as much - and instead get your hackles up every time someone points out that there is. Because - there is

I am sick of the dishonesty - and fed up with this pretentious holier than though rot. This country is riddled through with bigotry and racism - and I will call it out whenever I see it - as do others. If this bothers you you might start to really ponder why

Seems petty of you - and lacking in some integrity. Especially since he's not wrong

I'll tell you what - if more people spent some time speaking out against racism instead of running around trying to prove that deplorable people don't exist - we might actually get somewhere

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

"Im sorry....but that is just ridiculous."

I can see that statement coming out many a persons mouth should the indigenous population all band together and star demanding your deportation.

I suppose they would, my linage being Viking(Scandinavian) my ancestors pretty much raped and pillaged there way all up and down mainland Britain.

Your right it is ridiculous but so is attempting to deport millions of people from your nation and building big nonsensical walls in an attempt to stave of migration illegal or otherwise.

Your British ancestors were not very nice people, who only had there own interests at heart.

Have to say through i think the Spanish were killing and subjugation the indigenous population of the Americas a while before Britain turned up.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Hating on countryfolk has been en vogue since the civil war.

As has been hating on city folk, liberals, atheists - the list is long

In an age when we are constantly reminded to not be such snowflakes I don't actually think it helps to create a separate class of people that are somehow exempt. Rural folk are a mix - just like everywhere. But some of us come from rural areas (like me) and I remember well how it was

It's as if people would rather protect bigotry so long as they feel offended - in a time when we're constantly reminded that feeling offended is a waste of time

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

"Im sorry....but that is just ridiculous."

I can see that statement coming out many a persons mouth should the indigenous population all band together and star demanding your deportation.

The reason what you said is ridiculous is displayed here. You have no understanding of our country.

If they wanted to "round us all up and deport us"....who would be left? We are all indigenous to one degree or another. Myself? I have some cherokee heritage. My great--great grandmother did the Trail.

I don't register with a tribe or anything, because its not my culture. But it is my heritage, right alongside the Hungarian Gypsy that makes up 50% of me. Yet I have never known Roma culture, so its not my culture. Just my heritage.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

"Im sorry....but that is just ridiculous."

I can see that statement coming out many a persons mouth should the indigenous population all band together and star demanding your deportation.

I suppose they would, my linage being Viking(Scandinavian) my ancestors pretty much raped and pillaged there way all up and down mainland Britain.

Your right it is ridiculous but so is attempting to deport millions of people from your nation and building big nonsensical walls in an attempt to stave of migration illegal or otherwise.

Your British ancestors were not very nice people, who only had there own interests at heart.

Have to say through i think the Spanish were killing and subjugation the indigenous population of the Americas a while before Britain turned up.

Humans with too much power, and influence, eventually corrupt themselves, and or others. It will always be like this unless we are wiped out. Humanity is a failing species, unfortunatley. The only hope we have is that higher powers allow us to live and die by our choices that we make. Easiest try trued theory is ants compared to humans. We let most live, and ony kill a few every now, and then. Life dictates life, and death.

Sorry I came to this thread so late.....True poor person here. Poor/homeless in my late childhood, middle/upper middle class in my working years and now back to poor since I had to care for family members.

Poor people are blame for all the economic troubles because the focus needs to be taken off the true problems. The true cause of economic issues is the use of massive tax dollars for wars and the transfer of wealth from the middle class to the 1%.

The welfare mother may have "taken" 25 cents from your paycheck but sourcing jobs oversees so corporate profits could rise has probably caused you at least $10,000 in lost wage increases.

The poor don't have a big lobby to be able to dispute the facts, the 1% have plenty of money to influence elections and start silly little groups.