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September 02, 2005
Being Poor
Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.
Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.
Being poor is not taking the job because you can't find someone you trust to watch your kids.
Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.
Being poor is not talking to that girl because she'll probably just laugh at your clothes.
There's more...
As it happens, I’ve never been poor. I’ve been am sans cash. But when my car breaks down, I know where I can turn to for an interest-free loan...
This last week, our nation has witnessed the effects of poverty. In New Orleans, the dead, dying and defenseless were those who simply didn’t have enough money to get the fuck out of the way of an oncoming hurricane. It stands as of a judgment against our nation that one would need money to do this, that it takes a US$3,700 limo ride to avoid a natural disaster, that even greyhound was closed. Why is our nation not doing more to prevent the sort of day-to-day squalor that condemned an entire city? What can I, and you, do to alleviate this? I refuse to believe the modern mantra "nothing"...
Posted by Andrew at September 2, 2005 10:20 PM
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Comments
It's the DEMOCRAT mantra that says "nothing." And YOU are part of the problem. Your whole post is "what can WE do to help THOSE people, who can't help themselves."
That's the attitude that keeps people poor. The question a conservative asks is, how can we motivate these people towards self-respect and self-reliance? How can they CONTRIBUTE? By considering them useless and hapless, you are spiritually destroying them.
If NO had actually used their evacuation plan, which included using buses to evacuate the poor, this would have been an OPPORTUNITY to give ordinary poor people respect and a chance to contribute. How? Perhaps by asking them to organize their evac, forming bus-sized groups and electing leaders and making sure children or the disabled were not left behind. They should have been asked to rise to the occasion. (NO's poor may be too far gone, it's the worst spot in the whole country. But think of this in a more general way)
The squalor of NO is part of a culture of weakness and welfare dependency that claims to help the poor but actually destroys them. You are part of that culture, and accept it without thought.
The grandparents of those poor blacks had things much tougher, but they had far less crime, drug addiction and broken families. They worked miserable jobs for low pay, but they were working and supporting themselves, and had the self-respect that comes with that.
Posted by: John Weidner at September 5, 2005 09:33 AM
Sadly, I have been the kind of poor that this article described. I've calculated exactly how many ramen packages we could buy with a dollar, and "seasoned" them with ketchup packets stolen from a burger king counter. It sucks. It's one of the reasons I get so worked up when helping out at food kitchens and toy drives...I remember BEING the kid that stuff went to.
Posted by: sarahm at September 6, 2005 12:15 PM