General Chat / what are you politically?

america has a system were people can be anything they want if they try

I agree with this, for the most part...

and that poor people are just lazy and worthless

And I disagree with this.

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And I'm an Upbeat.

I agree with this, for the most part...
And I disagree with this. 
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Agreed. There are something called funds that they might not have to get a job.

Dan

Liberal. Although i'm not USAian so some of the questions were a bit dodgy.

Most of the rest of the world is liberal compared to the US. Especially Europe.

I'm a disadvantaged democrat, I guess.

You need funds to get a job?

I got disaffected.  I don't really fit the description though.  I think what happened was that I usually chose agree/disagree for if I felt about neutral on a subject, and strongly agree/disagree for if I had more of an opinion.  Since I usually don't have really strong opinions on politics.

Anyways, I took it again and changing my answers a bit and I got liberal.  I think the problem is that I really don't care about a lot of the answers.  The ones about people being able to succeed if they try hard enough?  How should I know?  Ehrenreich tells me they're screwed, but I honestly have no experience.  Any answer I come up with would just come from what the media tells me.

I'm in the same exact situation as you. And you read Eherereich too? We covered Nickel and Dimed in my Rhet class last semester, and I really didn't like it. I don't have much respect for her after what I read there.

Take it with a grain of salt, sure, but don't write it off completely.

Funds to get a job? hmmmm...

depends on what the job requires of you, personally.

Some jobs require that you travel. That's an expense they may not cover.

Most jobs where you interact with the public require some strict guidelines as to presentability. Shower, haircut, standard grooming, appliances for said grooming. May not come to much, but it's still an amount, which, if you are currently living out of a shelter or on the street, it might be an issue. There are many such obstacles, that's just a small example.

And, would you hire someone if they said they were homeless? Your mindset would be "if they are homeless, they must be lazy or incompetent" and not give them the job that could prove that they are not lazy nor incompetent.

Think about that one too.

It's just a very small part of why really poor usually stays really poor.

I know I got my job at knotts based solely on how I came in.

I was wearing a suit and tie. People that weren't... didn't.

It's not a fair minded market out there. People that have, possess a huge advantage. People that have not, don't.

It also has to do with upbringing. Not many people who are poor were raised in an encouraging environment. Most people who are poor also have poor parents.

One of the reasons wealthy people LIKE free market is that its a slippery slope, and they are already at the top of the pyramid. In their minds, SOMEONE has to wash cars, drive cabs, serve food, greet guests, and better someone else than them.

This is also a mindset much like NIMBY "not in my back yard". A few years ago, the rich fucks from newport beach tried to get the el toro marine base (which resides in that "rural" city called irvine) turned into an international airport. You know why? So the air traffic from john wayne airport would lessen over their 5 million dollar homes. Not that they had to deal with it all that often, and the noise levels were almost non-existent anyway, but they wanted it EXTRA quiet for their gluttunous estates.

How about that crock of shit? It's BS, and I, for one, could not have done a damn thing at the time. Thankfully, it never came to fruition (I LIVE in irvine, not like they care).

This is called "rich screwing over the poor". It happens quite a bit, and it's disturbing.

So think about that stuff before you spout "work hard = get results". It's like fitness. For some people, just getting out of bed every morning gives them a 6-pack. For others, they forget to run on thursday, and they are back to soft glutes. Sure, you CAN work on it, and get something out of it... but how much LESS some people have to work at it does not qualify the majority that have to work much HARDER to acheive LESSER results.

It also has to do with upbringing. Not many people who are poor were raised in an encouraging environment. Most people who are poor also have poor parents.

That's the biggest problem, and to no offense, it's being played out in public schools. Not all the time, mind you. It's really sad when schools throw out incentives to do well and or to be there, because, most of the time, it's unaffecting the people who don't want to try in the first place: too much money is being thrown away to people who already would try hard.

If I ever become a politician, this area would be my first to adress--I don't know what I would do exactly, but I would sure as hell adress it. Secondly would be foreign affairs, but that's a different story.

Liberal. Although i'm not USAian so some of the questions were a bit dodgy.

I am "USAian" and some of the questions were still dodgy.

There are charities that would be more than happy to give a homeless guy a shower and a shirt to go to an interview. All would take is to walk into a church.

You can walk to a job. Or take a bus or train.

Looking good is important. I don't mean a shirt and tie for every job as it isn't practical. Dress shows discipline. It drives me nuts that the uniform where I work was essentially disbanned. None of our guests can tell who works there. It's difficult to distinguish my crew from other people. And frankly sometimes they just look like punks or whine that they're clothes will get dirty/ruined/etc. There's really no excuse for any of it.

If the system is so unfair then maybe you should stop "exploiting" others. Don't wear a suit and tie. Or does the suit and tie actually show initiative on your part?

I didn't buy the suit, if that's a clue enough.

And while I use what I have available, I can't personally affect the politics that are responsible for this situation outside of the polls, which I use. So I'm working against the factors that keep people from having suits, as opposed to the idiocy of not wearing one.

Get it yet?

And maybe if you got to know your coworkers, you wouldn't have trouble establishing if they work with you, would you?

Oh yeah, btw... shelters fill up, volunteers run short, and as such provisions are not likely to be distributed in such a situation. It mostly has to do with the area, not everyone can just up and walk to the next shelter. Some people in this situation have KIDS, or ARE kids. As another point, foster homes aren't always the best places, and can be downright hellish. You think the "lower rungs" (as you would phrase it, I'm sure) are taken care of, but they aren't.

Edited by Blitz, 03 January 2006 - 04:12 AM.