Contempt for the Poor

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pat-lamarche/poor-people-treated-with-_b_862147.html?utm_source=web&utm_medium=twitter

If you work with the poor in the United States it's very easy to believe that this country doesn't like "those people." According to the National Poverty Center nearly fifteen percent of the U.S. lived in poverty in 2009. It's counterproductive to detest 1/6 of the population especially when that translates into loathing fifteen and a half million children.

I work in a homeless shelter and daily learn stories that prove few folks in power think about the poor when they are making the rules which effect them. One of my residents is a sixty-four year old woman who works at a fast food joint. She makes minimum wage and seldom gets more than twenty hours. She's been poor her whole life and always earned minimum wage. Consequently over the years she's allowed "little things" like her dental health to decline and now has no teeth. Because of this she is not selected for counter work at her job and cleans the lobby three to four hours a day.

The budget issues which have made federal and state lawmakers use as justification for cutting basic necessities to the needy resulted the elimination of her state subsidized health insurance because her income exceeded $415 last month.

She stood in my office -- still dressed in her uniform with the famous cheeseburger logo on the left breast side -- and asked me what she was going to do. I muttered, "Join the other 45 million American working poor that have no access to healthcare and then sign up at the poverty clinic in town." I could have told her to quit her job and qualify again, but she's already living in a homeless shelter, she'd never get a home if she did that.

More at the link --

[LiberalLoner]

1. This is heartbreaking. We have to do more to help one another. Okay

we give the max at work and give to the local food pantry but it never seems like enough. It feels like trying to sweep back the ocean.

How can we make this nation of ours better? How can we feed the poor, give them shelter, medical care, the basic things they need? It just doesn't seem right to me that people are working and still going without even dentures and basic health care.

[socialist_n_TN]

10. Well, I hate to be a broken record, but.......

In answer to your last paragraph, the only way to really help the poor is to overthrow the system that keeps them that way and institute and economic democracy.

[hifiguy]

28. You, sir, are entirely correct.

The system as it exists and is evolving is purposely designed to impoverish as many people as possible. Nothing can be accomplished without a fundamental restructuring of the system.

This country's attitude to the poor - and I was one of them for several years, though no longer - sickens me on a molecular level.

[bobbolink]

11. No, giving to charity will never be enough. That is what the RW wants... charity.

Only when we begin to put aside charity and fight for JUSTICE will it begin to be enough.

That is the difference between the RW and "progressives" -- or what progressives used to be.

[ecstatic]

2. And when a poor immigrant worker is raped on the job...?

She is called a liar and told her case is just a media distraction? :eyes:

[xchrom]

3. recommend

[dkf]

4. It is odd she thinks a higher minimum wage would help when she isn't even working 40 hours.

Wouldn't working a 40 hour work week be more significant?

In addition our problems with putting a person without teeth out front goes beyond their economic status. Even if the woman hit the lottery and wanted to work as a cashier things would be the same.

Lastly I would not say people have contempt for the poor. Rather they are apathetic. The fact that anyone is in a shelter and it isn't the norm to invite a homeless person to live with you is in the same spectrum of apathy.

In Japan when a person applies for welfare, the Government first tries to contact family members to take the person in need in. The fact that even family don't take care of their relatives is the first sign of an apathetic nation.

How do we expect strangers to take care of people when their own flesh and blood apparently won't?

We have a culture here where people take care of themselves and not others. Then we wonder why people are apathetic to the poor.

[MadHound]

5. Spoken like one who has never been poor, never been homeless

Sorry, but many, many people, especially in the upper income brackets, do have contempt for the poor. If you are working at a McJob, you see that contempt every single day. In the way people act, in the way people talk to you, even in the way people look at you.

Our actions as a country also demonstrate that contempt. The poor are supposed to somehow pull themselves up by their bootstraps, with little or no resources, and while our government is continuing its ongoing destruction of the social safety net. The poor are, somehow, supposed to pay for food, clothing, and housing, and then try to better themselves through education, which is ever more expensive. It simply doesn't work that way.

As far as families taking care of their own, the fact of the matter is that families simply won't, can't, or shouldn't. I moved out of my parents' house when I was eighteen, in large part due to the fact that my father was a dangerous, mentally unstable, untreated bipolar man. Within a year, I was homeless. If the government had tried to force me back into my parents house, somebody would have died, either him or me. This story is repeated, with variations due to sexuality, gender, etc, millions of times around the country. Not to mention some people simply don't have a family to move in with. What are they supposed to do?

We are still a bountiful country, but we spend the vast majority of those resources on our military. It is time to stop making war, and time to start taking care of our own. Otherwise, we're simply going to continue our slide into oblivion.

[dkf]

6. Do you/did you take care of your father?

[MadHound]

7. No, I didn't

In fact for many years I didn't even see my father, due to the abuse I received as a child. We reconciled when we were older, and he was getting treated for his disorder, and that was a good thing. But he had set himself up well to take care of himself in old age.

[Maru Kitteh]

17. Poor people usually come from poor families whose resources are already stretched and broken

DUH.

Why does the peasant not simply work twice as hard and sleep in her sister's guest home? She should be Japanese. :crazy:

[AuntPatsy]

19. Wow just wow

[jtuck004]

25. $15 instead of $8 for a the few crappy hours a week she gets wouldn't help as much?

Talked with a lady who just scored a $3 pair of shoes at Goodwill, was very, very happy. So just a few bucks more per hour might help. A lot.

Working 40 hours for less money would likely help her owner employer more than it would her.

Frankly, if she won the lottery, I would bet one of the first things she would do is get her teeth fixed. Dental care is often considered low-priority for people with low incomes, and they know (perhaps better than others) how much that costs them in their dealings with others. It bothers them.

People do have contempt for the poor, far beyond mere apathy.

[mntleo2]

30. Hatred = Indifference

...this is a definition of hatred. It is the ability to ignore the ones who are suffering. It is not the vitrolic overt spewing of angry rhetoric. Our society (including a lot of Progressives) overtly makes the ones suffering invisible ~ thus indifference. Most often whenever there is an article on poverty here on DU, it gets ...crickets. This is because at this time the rampant indifference to poverty is not only the Right who are denigrating and ignoring this class of people.

Martin Neimuller wrote about this indifference while languishing in the Death Camps. He is the one who penned on a piece of toilet paper the famous, "... First they came for the Trade Unionist and I said nothing because I was not one of those. Then they came for ..."

The point he and Bobbie are making as far as Progressive hatred of the poor is true. I have been on this forum almost since its inception and while it has improved a little (I used to get pummeled with mean comments, now it is more covert), Even though as with wingnuts I posted lots of links to facts and studies, it was denigraded and called lots of names.

But the silence and indiffernce while bretheren are suffering can be the most painful of all. When someone can pass their sister in pain without so much as a glance and not do a thing by helping her get up, this is indifference and thus a form of hatred.

Just sayin' ...Progressives have a long way to go.

Cat in Seattle

[jwirr]

8. As someone who is poor and has been homeless two times I feel for

her. Too bad she cannot get into Section 8 housing because they go by a percentage of your income and some utilities are usually included in that. Also when they consider her eligibility for social programs they would have to deduct the rent/utilities that she does not pay when she is living in the shelter. That is how I ended up getting back in a home. This last time I have been moving from one family members home to another as needed. The problem with section 8 is that you have to have the rent deposit and the damage deposit and then there are the waiting lists to get in.

[999998th word]

9. Dental care IS healthcare but

administrators of medicaid-medicare programs don't see it as a priority.You may have dental coverage under medicare-medicaid,but try to find a dentist who accepts it.We have he ADA lobby to thank.

Most private dental insurance plans -if one is available through your employer are worthless and good for shit. Dental health IS an important medical issue.

Too many RW's and policymakers hold the misconception lower income groups see the dentist for cosmetic reasons instead of legitimate health issues.

That is the same group of people who would begrudge dental care for the working class and the poor, "White teeth

and an attractive smile' are the only reasons' those people' could possibly have for seeking out the services of a dentist .

Its similar to the myth- people on 'food stamps' buying steaks and lobster etc...,Thats how RW's,and others can justify not providing necessary dental care.

Dental care is also prohibitively expensive for most people,and is usually an out of pocket hit few people can handle.Dentists expect payment at time of service;VERY few will

do a payment plan.Dentists want patients with money.

People should not be so quick to judge others because of the appearance of their teeth.

[bobbolink]

13. IF that truly is their reasoning, then they are willfully ignorant to the point where they should

be fired.

Anyone with even a spot of education knows just how important to general health dental health is.

There would be NO excuse for that kind of ignorance.

I think it is more hatefulness. Just ugly SPITE.

[999998th word]

16. You and I both know that it's a toxic combination of both

and it literally turns my stomach.

They are 'Educated fools'.

'I wish that for just one time you could walk inside < > shoes' pph 'Dylan'

and it should be a looong-ass -no end in sight- time,for those people who perpetuate this crap.

Than, maybe their arrogance and smug self satisfaction would disappear, I know-never happen.

You speak sense.





:think:

[bobbolink]

22. This is precisely why, when people talk about having "counseling" for homeless people, I am adamant

in speaking against it... it becomes Mandatory, AND carried out by people who, for the most part, are clueless.

The Mandatory Counseling needs to be with these people making Policy By Hate.

Guide them to get to the *root* (radix) of the problems they have, and get some healing.

How's that for "speaking sense"? :hi:

[Aerows]

31. That has nothing to do with the ADA Lobby

That has to do with the right wing who want everyone to suffer if they are no longer exploitable. It's fine to exploit 20 year olds, because they have value if they are good looking. Once it costs money to maintain that good-looking status, well that's unacceptable - you just find another good looking 20 year old.

Republicans are completely focused on short term for everyone else, and long term for themselves. It's just how they operate, and why they view everything but their selfish selves as disposable. Themselves they see as indispensable.

[Starry Messenger]

12. k&r

[Chris_Texas]

14. Even here at DU the poor are not that interesting to most

Other topics garner FAR more attention and excitement. As an example, for many many folks here the Japanese crisis is not about the tsunami that killed thirty thousand people; it's not about the thousands of newly minted orphans; it's not about the hundreds of thousands who are now homeless, jobless, no future or past, sitting in shelter waiting for something to change... none of that. That's not even on the RADAR. They watch the nuke plant like a NASCAR fan watches a race -- they are waiting and hoping fopr a big BIG crash.

Or here at home: mention the word TEACHER and holy hell people are all over it. Teachers, who on average earn almost TWICE as much as the combined family income of the botom 90% of US Households (American teachers average $51,000 per year plus benefits; the bottom 90% per UC Berkley earned a combined household income of less than $31,000 per year) are interesting, their issues are hot topics here. The poor? That 90% footing the bill for those nice paychecks and epic bennies? Not so much.

It's like fighting for improved congressional pensions and healthcare, it really is that ludicrous.

You can see it as well with this Obamacare garbage. It was nothing more or less than the biggest government giveaway to business in our nation's history. It was the most despicable. It is openly robbing our nations poorest, at the point of a government gun, and forcing them to give money they do not have to insurance companies. And in return they get nothing. They get to stay out of jail.

And THIS abortion of a law is defended by some here. It's 3D chess they say, and shut up.

[leftstreet]

15. +1

[Skittles]

18. worthy of its own thread

yes INDEED :thumbsup:

[bobbolink]

23. I totally agree with your subject line.

But then you go on yourself to leave out poor people right here in THIS country.

Teachers aren't treated well, but they aren't POOR.

When you conflate middleclass with poverty, you become part of the problem.

[Autumn]

20. Excellent article

Thank you for posting it. K/R

[akbacchus_BC]

21. I can relate to what you say. Year after fucking year Vancouver is the

best city to live in but no one addresses our homeless population. We have an Insite site to help people with drug addition and Harper is taking the site to court.

Need I tell you how much disgusted I am!

[bobbolink]

32. And, of course, everyone knows that ALL homeless people are drunks and druggies.

:nuke:

[kentuck]

24. John Edwards was right about two Americas..

And they are invisible to each other.

[Maru Kitteh]

27. Too bad he's a lying phony sleezebag.

Hedgefund Johnny. So meek. So modest.

[Stuart G]

26. Unbelieveable...nt.

[myrna minx]

29. I missed this yesterday. Thank you for posting. n/t

[Township75]

33. There is a lot of contempt here for the poor, unless they can help the Democratic Party.

Otherwise, they shoudl be the butt of jokes...especially if they own guns, are white, maybe smoke, watch Nascar, etc.