Does common sense blame the victim?
It's no doubt cruel and racist
An acquaintance posted this on his Facebook:
I commented (I try to stay out of it but sometimes my annoyance wins) that these are just plain taking responsibility for oneself.
He put the laughing emoji next to my comment and wrote:
It can both but the pay scale rarely advances but mostly everything mentioned on this list has ridiculously so I’m not typically down for blaming those who have less over those who have in ridiculous abundance! It’s called capitalism for a reason.
The comment is a little garbled but people write FB comments on their phones so no criticism of that.
I fail to see how pointing out obvious ways that people can save money is blaming those who have less over those who have… anything. Is it somehow a human right to order takeout, eat out, have a short commute to work or get out of debt without cutting spending?
And I don’t quite get how these make you poor more quietly. Seems more likely that doing these things would get you out of poverty.
Perhaps because I don’t feel particularly sorry for myself, I have trouble feeling sorry for people who exercise incredibly bad judgement and then feel like government should get them out of the situation. I’ve made some poor decisions in my life time, many of them tiny everyday decisions that add up rather than big one-time decisions (though attempting to get an unfunded PhD program was the A#1 stupidest choice ever.)
I understand that a tremendous amount of social capital and help from friends is what has saved me from seriously bad situations more than once. But what really has turned the tide is simple, old fashioned hard work. It is, in fact, hard to work very long days, have an arduous commute, find any time to exercise, and avoid eating tons of Swedish Fish,
but I don’t blame the government or the mythical rich for these problems. They are my problems, and no one else is going to solve them. In fact, I bet Mamdani’s next promise will be free gummy candies for all! So the socialists would be more likely to contribute to my profligacy than to assist me in living better.
People want stuff for free. A life of ease is now in fashion. Hard work is no longer culturally supported, at least not in West Philadelphia, home of the “poor” who buy a $5 coffee every morning.
I’m heading back to the place where hard work is expected, whining is not accepted, and people get on with it.
There are times that the social safety net is important. We, as a society, truly do need to help those that really need help. But that is not what the DSA and the Bernie Bros are thinking about.
But truth of the matter is those on the left screaming for us to pay for their $80,000 a year colleges, and to make life easier for them so they can buy what they think they are entitled too is nauseating. You are not entitled to what someone else builds and creates.
You are not entitled to live in the most expensive city in the world and not have roommates if you cannot afford rent. You are not entitled to go summer in the hamptons, go on vaca, eat steak every night (even though I presume many of them would tell you they are vegan), you are not entitled to $10 frappachinos, you are not entitled to buy new clothes every season at Saks rather than Walmart or buy new clothes at all, you are not entitled to free transportation, free grocery stores (even though they do have these things called food pantries and many municipalities do have transport programs for the poor and for school children). Life is a series of choices that need to be made.
Do you ever really notice that you dont hear this crap in red states? And its not because red states cost of living is so much cheaper. Food costs are food costs, and utilities, etc. But in other places people actually move there with the idea of getting a job and paying their own bills. They don't want to be forever infants.
Yup. A significant plurality of Americans now think that they are owed a certain lifestyle, that the "rich" have profited off their backs and taken from them, and that said "rich" need to give it to them so they can have the lifestyle they demand. Look at the comment section of most any article about the Marxists, I mean "Democratic Socialists" and this is what you will find. LOSERS who frittered away their money instead of saving it and now demand aid from those with better judgement. And yes, I get that not all are in this position. Some have experienced hard times, unexpected expenses, etc. And we should be generous to those willing to work their way out of the hole, but...
This will not end well.