There’s an essay by NLinStPaul that I just can’t stop thinking about.
It’s about how with the right resources, we can keep vulnerable children from a life of hopelessness and poverty.
I’ve been blogging about New Orleans and public housing lately. There was one photo posted by the Times-Picayune showing a black woman who had complained about her new home, the plumbing was bad, the door was broken, etc. The picture showed this woman in her apartment — it was very neat and clean. But what caused a big buzz was her 60-inch television set.
In a visceral reaction, many folks condemned both the woman and a system that would enable “freeloaders” to have giant TV’s that other hard working and deserving folks couldn’t afford. It just wasn’t fair. That’s what I heard every time I’d read these comments, the eternal cry of a child who feels they are missing out on someone else’s good fortune. “It isn’t fair!”
This reaction is nothing new. Ronald Reagan pandered to this feeling when he blasted a woman on welfare for having a Cadillac and successfully turned middle-class Americans against the poor, because “It isn’t fair!”
‘Course this isn’t rational, we know that. In our times, we are being robbed blind by our own federal government for wars of occupation, graft, patronage, you name it.
But we can’t fight the government, it seems, because the government is too big and powerful.
We can, however, find a scapegoat. And the poor have always been there for that role.
It’s a shell game, of course. And we all can be prey to it at one time or another, depending on which part of our psyche would make us cry out, “It isn’t fair!”
We’re headed for some tough economic times ahead. I think Americans are beginning to realize that, and it’s frightening. Folks want to make sure their families will do all right.
In that kind of insecure time, who hasn’t had the fantasy of getting a free ride? Wouldn’t it be nice, when you are struggling to make ends meet, to have a life where you weren’t harrassed by bills, where you didn’t have to work a job you might not like at all, just take it easy? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
And so if we look at a picture of someone on public assistance who has a big screen TV we might not be able to afford, perhaps that fantasy arises, and with it, resentment and fear. And maybe even a little bit of jealousy. And the projection finds a perfect screen for our frustration — and we think maybe ALL of those folks are just having a great old life and we have to work so hard — “It’s Not Fair!”
Of course, it’s not true. The folks who lived on public assistance — if you check over at Daily Kos, mbair has an excellent diary with videos of three women, Julie, Geneva and Gilda. They paint quite a different picture of American citizens from New Orleans who wish to go home, unlike the lady with the big old TeeVee who, by the way, made a lot of noise at that City Council meeting, to the dismay of a lot of folks. She didn’t come off sweet at all. Heh.
So I’m getting back to Pandora’s essay that I posted above, she talks about a kid who could have become a real pain in the ass to society — but because of folks who had expertise and experience, he instead is now clerking for a judge.
We can do this, you know. We can lift people up out of poverty. But it takes a commitment.
And we are entering hard economic times. Unless you’re a billionnaire, it’s a scary reality. And it is only human to want to gather your possessions around you and look very carefully at a person who is asking for help.
There are folks who understand this very well. They are what I call the “hyenas,” the disaster capitalists who make a big bunch of money off of people’s suffering.
They’re not all evil folks. Oscar Shindler was a war profiteer. Then again, he did change his mind about that, didn’t he. He ended up with very little monetary profit.
Anyway, sorry to digress.
The hyenas know that if they can turn the middle class against the poor, we’ll all be too busy fighting to see them picking our pockets.
Folks will be annoyed at those shiftless poor folks who seem to think housing is “a right”, while laughing hyenas will be fattening their wallets with juicy contracts and bribes. Because if no one holds people in power responsible, some questionable deals will end up being made. Well, that’s just my opinion, of course.
And if we’re all busy projecting our fears on everything but what is really causing this trouble, well the hyenas are happy happy campers. Because no one is guarding the henhouse, ya know. Oops.
We can uplift folks out of poverty and realize that all along they have been citizens we are proud to call neighbors. We can all feel good about helping each other through the hard times ahead. That is just a fact. We can do this, we have the means, the expertise and we have the money, that is, if we can make sure it goes where it’s supposed to go.
But the hyenas would not like that. They will do their best to throw up distractions so we can’t see whether or not we are acting in our own best interests. The hyenas have great expertise and experience in this.
Peace on earth. Good will towards men. I won’t even hate the hyenas for now. I will hope that they, like Oscar Schindler, will come to their senses and exchange greed for loving humanity. It’s the holiday season, so I am making this wish.
But after the holidays, well …. you know … Nightprowlkitty! SuperKitty of Justice! Battered and bashed, but still unbowed!
Happy holidays from me to everyone in the world without exception, the good, the bad, the lovers, the haters, the mean and the kind.
And especially to my great fellow bloggers here at Docudharma. This is the best fellowship I have ever joined, and I am increased by each and every one of you. Thank you all.
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… wonderful time of the year!
Happy Winter Solstice to all!
And may the followers of Friedman economics get the results that they – not we – deserve.
…was many worse things than a war profiteer. He would compel female workers to have sex with him; indeed, his anger at discovering that the Nazis were killing his sex workers was the original impulse that led to his saving Jews.
And, my reaction to this is to say that this:
is what I am fighting against in my writing. We can fight the government. We are legion, mightier and more powerful than they. We just need to start thinking more about how to be successful at it.
Frankly, I don’t care if somebody chooses to steal a TV off the back of a truck or if somebody decides to eat exclusively mac ‘n’ cheese so they can pay Rent a Center for the big TV or if somebody inherits $$ from a long lost relative or wins the Lotto. You want a TV? Hell, this is the USA, you can get one. Especially if you want it enough and will sacrifice other things.
What bugs me is that this image is designed to manipulate us into hating “those people.” Those “shiftless”, “welfare cheat”, [fill in race of your choice] [fill in noun expletive of your choice]. How do I know that? Because there are no details to the story about this now famous TV. All there is is the image and the welfare cadillac comparison. And Willie Horton.
Put those involved with spreading this calumny on the list of mfers I do not wish Peace on Earth. When there’s no justice, there can be no peace.
Horrible of me to say that. But look at the carts coming to checkout, that pay with foodstamps. (They are the same with those who pay with cash please note.) I say cut them back 10% and eliminate potato chips, pretzels, anything with high fructose corn syrup in it, soft drinks, and all the other crap you can buy with foodstamps like chewing gum.
This would force those on foodstamps to buy groceries that are more nutritious that might require some prep and cooking however. Yes, people can choose what they want to eat whether they are on foodstamps or not. But the very same people feed tis crap to their kids because it is easy. And it is done whether cash is paid or foodstamps, but at least make it difficult for foodstamp recipients to buy this garbage and feed it to themselves and their children.
I find the 60 inch TV offensive myself. Didn’t she realize how it would be seen? At least it could have gone in the closet. No it was flaunted. Sorry I know both sides of this problem. I have seen clouds from both sides now.
make bad economic decisions, or ones that appear lacking in rationality, we feel sorry for them. After all every politician in America claims he/she is “for” the middle class and wants to alleviate their anxiety. When poor and working class people make similar economic decisions we instantly condemn and judge with little empathy. When rich people make economic decisions that turn out to be faulty we just bail them out.
In short, it ain’t about the tv. It is about who has the tv. We want the poor and working class to “know their place” which apparently means only being allowed “approved consumer goods.”
…I don’t even think it’s important to lift people out of poverty so much as out of misery; education and decent housing and food and medical care. And we do our best to convince ourselves that everyone is a hyena, anyway, and sometimes we are, regardless. But sometimes we do better…
so I’m sorry I wasn’t able to participate in this conversation sooner. But I appreciate the fact that we’re having it here. I think we’d all like to do something about poverty – not just here in the US, but around the world. And yet, as NPK is showing us here, not many of us know clearly what that means.
I’ve been hearing poor (usually black) people criticized my whole life for having tv’s. A few years ago I went to a training on “classism” where the facilitator broke down the values and challenges of middle class, working class and poverty class families. She pointed out how, for families living in generational poverty, the television becomes a form of escape from chronic depression. I’m not going to do a good job of explaining it here, but it made alot of sense to me. I do think television becomes more of a priority for people who live daily with oppression and poverty.
Which really brings up one of my major hyenas in all this – the folks who market all this “stuff” to all of us. I think that’s one of the things that makes poverty in this country all that much more difficult. All of our myths about “the american dream” being available to everyone combined with all the marketing about our “need” for these consumer products makes an even bigger mess out of it all. Folks living in poverty are no more immune to these messages of the marketers than are those who have the resources to indulge.
and see them piling their carts with disposable junk. I know that stuff will be in a yard sale by summer. And since they dump it every summer they must know it too. So they shop when they have the money or credit because it is the national pastime. I mean what else do you do with your time after you watch TV?
I am starting a bulk buying food coop here. Chomsky says start anything, anything at all, on a small local level He says it will inevitably lead to political discussion and a change of consciousness.
I mean remember all those neighbors who went to the bank foreclosures during the 30’s and when the owner bid 1$ for their farm, no one would bid higher. That’s how it is done!
They used to think and act in solidarity. The politicians helped them do this. Now our politicos mimic the system they are in dems or pugs. I remember how hard some people walked the pavement for Webb in Virginia. Can you imagine how disillusioned they are with him. They expected a rock star and they got a camelion. ( I’ve tried four spellings and still can’t get it.)It is so shitty to turn someone who gave up a lot to get you elected because they believed what you said. Is that person ever going to pound the pavement again for someone to get elected? Well they are definitely going to get cynical and make sure the next one is telling the truth.
Obama? Edwards?Clinton?
The only one I can see for sure is Clinton. I know she will say whatever gets her the vote. That I can count on. What she will do later is……….?
their kids have teeth rotting out of their mouths. Can you blame no health care? I don’t think so. Blame priorities, yes I do think so. But mama has false teeth at 30 so who needs their own teeth.
BTW my mother had rotten teeth. I went to the dentist regularly. She knew what it felt like to be ashamed to smile and let people see. These mothers today don’t give a shit. What was good enough for them is good enough.
Sorry I am on a rant today as I don’t see a political solution to the mess this disintegrating empire is facing. I really don’t. Read Toynbee and you probably won’t either.
I’m getting off and back to work on my beginning coop.