The POVERTY Mentality in the United States

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   gmwilliamsposted 4 years ago

   
   For ANALYTICAL & INTELLIGENT thinkers only. What makes some people see socioeconomic poverty is a badge of strength?  Why do these same people believe that socioeconomic poverty makes one somehow superior?  Why do people glorify socioeconomic poverty as an acceptable lifestyle when studies prove that socioeconomic poverty has a detrimental effect on families, particularly children; however, the latter part falls on dead ears.

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      Live to Learnposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      GM, as much as you appear to worship money one has to accept the fact that not everyone considers money to be the most important thing in the world.
      
      People such as myself who have experienced both ends of the spectrum realize that ' poverty' is in the eye of the beholder. One person's idea of poverty is another person's idea of bliss.
      
      I think it's like a long power outage. At first, we are horrified that the lights are out but after a couple of days without electricity we enjoy it. We have to be more creative, we have to solve problems. We become proud of our ability to do so.
      
      It's a free country so you are free to continue to worship what you want to. I think you might be happier worshipping what you love and stop fretting over what anyone else finds of value.
      
      Or, maybe, you do see how consuming this is for you and are truly seeking answers to help find a more balanced way to look at life?

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         gmwilliamsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         What is the LEVEL of your education?  It is apparent that you aren't very educated because  people who are EDUCATED know that socioeconomic poverty is detrimental to families, particularly children.  So in your logical majesty, you want people to be socioeconomically impoverished & not strive to better themselves educationally nor socioeconomically?  What FINE LOGIC you have!  Notice( you didn't read) that the beginning of the post stated "for analytical & intellectual thinkers only"?  Brush up on your reading skills...….there are books on the detrimental effects of socioeconomic impoverishment, please read them instead of looking at the idiot box & idiotic programs.  Reading is fundamental, you know.  Am I speaking Selkup or Yakut to you?  Please read some books on socioeconomic poverty.  Also read some books on economics. 
         
         You are living in an imaginary world.  You are avoiding reality. Only children who don't know better say the things you do.  Money is very important to culture & society.  One needs money for food, clothing, & shelter unless one wants to live under the bridge by the river.   One needs money for the best services.  Money affords one myriad choices & options.  I knew this when I was a young teenager.  You are an adult & still don't know this.  Please read, travel & let go of your saccharine notions of life.  Life is the survival of the smartest, wealthiest, & fittest.   If you were in New York City, you will be eaten up & spit out, not to mention derided for such naivete!   Dorothy, you are no longer in......OZ!  Good bye Dorothy...…..GOOD BYE...…  Yes, I am right & you are......SO WRONG regarding socioeconomic poverty.

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            Live to Learnposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Lol.

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            TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Yeah, I keep wondering about that level of education as well.

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            1. 83

               gmwilliamsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               Unfortunately LTL seems to have a totally bucolic view of poverty despite extensive research that substantiate that poverty is limiting as well as detrimental to those born into it.  I have read many books on poverty & studied the subject in college.  It is quite puzzling to see how people view poverty as relative when it isn't.  Poverty is an absolute.   Poverty means socioeconomic scarcity.  An impoverished person doesn't have enough even for the rudiments.  It is amazing that although the truth through research is presented, LTL is not about to accept this truth.  It is quite sad. There are some Americans who proclaim that poor people in America aren't poor at all- in their "logic"- the American poor are wealthy in comparison to other poor people.   This is comparing apples to oranges- poor Americans are poor in comparison to other Americans.   Where is the inductive & deductive logic here?

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                  Live to Learnposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  The problem I've noticed with you is, if someone doesn't agree with you you assume it's because they lack critical thinking skills. Someone said something and you use that to reinforce an obvious ingrained bias, on your part; while carefully ignoring any scholarly studies or real time actions which might actually force you to think.
                  
                  What you, and at least one other, seem to be unable to fathom is that there are no absolutes. Yes, in some cases,your conclusions are valid. However, there is ample evidence to prove your conclusions do not encompass a large enough percentage of outcomes to be considered written in stone.
                  
                  This is my last post. I'm inclined to voice an opinion but not interested in reading self aggrandizing and short sighted ramblings.
                  
                  You ladies have fun dividing your time between threads where you cattily comment on women, complain about being so pretty men demand sex with you and preachers claiming your beauty is your cross to bear, and attempting to convince people you actually possess grey matter worthy of interest.

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                     TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     Nope. That's the way you wish to interpret what is being said.
                     
                     There is always research for everything I say.
                     
                     VERBATIM.
                     
                     Combing through decades of findings, social psychologists Lisa Slattery Walker and Tonya Frevert at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte have reviewed all the evidence to date – and their conclusions are not what you might expect.
                     
                     But if beauty pays in most circumstances, there are still situations where it can backfire. While attractive men may be considered better leaders, for instance, implicit sexist prejudices can work against attractive women, making them less likely to be hired for high-level jobs that require authority.
                     
                     And as you might expect, good-looking people of both genders run into jealousy – one study found that if you are interviewed by someone of the same sex, they may be less likely to recruit you if they judge that you are more attractive than they are.
                     
                     More worryingly, being beautiful or handsome could harm your medical care. We tend to link good looks to health, meaning that illnesses are often taken less seriously when they affect the good-looking. When treating people for pain, for instance, doctors tend to take less care over the more attractive people.
                     
                     Interestingly, the online dating website OKCupid recently reported that people with the most flawlessly beautiful profile pictures are less likely to find dates than those with quirkier, less perfect pics – perhaps because the prospective dates are less intimidated.
                     
                     https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2015 … -beautiful
                     
                     When you are beautiful, other women despise you.
                     https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-sty … -1.3452938
                     
                     There's research somewhere that shows that men treat beautiful women very badly. Why? Because they think if they destroy her confidence, then they will have a chance.
                     
                     There's a lot you don't know.
                     
                     You're all about your opinions. What you're not about is the actual research. You don't read enough academic research - if any.
                     
                     As I said before, I'm not interested in opinions. I'm interested in academic knowledge.

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                        gmwilliamsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        Well said Tess.  Some people go by their idealistic definitions of what things are.  They refuse to accept documented evidence.  I know a person like this Tess.  I presented evidence of the detriments of large families on children's development & future opportunities to this person; however, she refused to listen but instead pontificated on her bucolic opinion of the subject.   There are people who are.....IN DENIAL.  They prefer their saccharine, rose-colored world to documented research & reality.  This is what I call immature behavior.  It is also avoidance behavior because subconsciously they know that documents & research are telling the truth & they are loath to acknowledge that they are.....WRONG!
                        
                        There are people who have their insular purview of what life should be.  They refuse to read & observe in order to broaden their perspective of life.  Although they are in abject circumstances, they will somehow glorify such circumstances although evidence & logic substantiate that such circumstances are detrimental.  They refuse to see this, continuing to live in their fantastical universe which has no basis in reality.

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                           TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                           There are a surprising number of people like this, and I have to tell you that I never came across it until I lived in America.
                           
                           Isaac Asimov once said "“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
                           
                           On my twitter feed, someone said that there was a distrust of education and expertise.
                           
                           It's more than that, though. When I say things to conservatives, they start with the ad hominems. They accuse me of things that I'm not remotely guilty of. They do this to everybody. It's as if they think that if they attack me hard enough, I will shut up and not point out the fallacies of their arguments.
                           
                           It's a recognized methodology in the USA. I guess when one cannot win an argument using facts, one's only method of 'winning,' vile though it is, to to attack the person.
                           
                           CONSERVATIVES USE OF FALSE AD HOMINEM ATTACK
                           https://www.californiafreepress.net/wil … tacks.html

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                              gmwilliamsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                              Believe me, there is a HIGH level of anti-intellectualism in America.  In America, it is how much money a person has rather than his/her educational level.   I remember my late mother stating that an unintelligent rich person is more respected than an intelligent person who isn't wealthy.   
                              
                              In America, there is the cult of popularity.  If a person is popular, h/she is revered no matter how unintelligent h/she is. A subcategory of this is that extroversion is highly prized in America.  Extroversion is viewed as intelligence in America.  People who are introverted in America are viewed as stupid or worse.  They are thought to be problematic although studies show that a high percentage of introverts are in the gifted category.   In America, brashness rules, not thoughtfulness.  In America, athletes are the gods, never the intellectuals among us.

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                  2. 83

                     GA Andersonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                     "You ladies have fun dividing your time between threads where you cattily comment on women, complain about being so pretty men demand sex with you and preachers claiming your beauty is your cross to bear, and attempting to convince people you actually possess grey matter worthy of interest."
                     
                     Holy cow! Thanks Live to Learn. As a man, I couldn't possibly have said that, but I sure wanted to. Thanks, uneducated peons like me sometimes need to hear a voice of charity and support.
                     
                     I couldn't respond before because GM Williams said only analytical and intelligent thinkers could comment, but your support gave me the strength to dare to challenge the intelligentsia's authority. For once. Even if I lose my family's potato ration - it was worth it.
                     
                     GA  ;-)

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                        wildernessposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                          I'll share my spuds with you, GA - living in Idaho I get an extra ration.

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                        TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                        So why respond? It's so frustrating having to speak to people who aren't objective, educated, or informed. And who are driven by hatred, ignorance, bias, and more.

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               Live to Learnposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               There you go again. Still not impressive. I wonder at your lack of education but wouldn't have brought it up had you not chosen to.

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                  TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  It's very easy to tell. The things you say indicate that you don't know much about the topic.
                  
                  Dunning/Kruger effect.
                  
                  If someone told me consistently that 1+1 = 3 and 3 + 4 = 8, I would know that they couldn't do arithmetic. They wouldn't know that, of course, because in order to know if one has the right answer, one has to be able to do it.
                  
                  If you actually had a degree, you would just write, "I have a Bachelor of Science in Geology" or something like that. You never have.
                  
                  Of course, at this point, I would want to see a scan of it.

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      TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I am not sure that all people who fit the socioeconomic poverty category do glorify it.
      
      I find that there are people who are extremely wealthy who look down on poverty and worship their wealth.
      
      There are people from all categories, religions, nations, in life who worship their particular way.
      
      I wonder if it's a defense of some sort - that they need to assure themselves that it's a great place to be, because if they didn't give themselves that sort of assurance, they might not be able to live with themselves.
      
      Sometimes one feels so inadequate inside that the only way one can feel adequacy is to convince oneself that one is superior to others.
      
      That said, people who grow up in some poor homes are simply taught that there is nothing to be ashamed of in being poor.
      
      So much of what we believe is taught to us by our parents, our peers, and society around us. And most of us never question what we are taught.
      
      I know that it took me a long time to question my world view. I've now been through three world view shifts, and each time it felt as if the earth had been pulled from under my feet.
      
      People seldom question their world view precisely because it's a frightening thing to do.

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      lovetherainposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Humanity is a hive, there are different types of people with different desires wired in, to keep everything running smoothly.

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   The0NatureBoyposted 4 years ago

   What makes some people see socioeconomic poverty is a badge of strength?
   There are at least two primary reasons:
   1. Socioeconomic poverty is the only life some have lived and they were satisfied with it.
   2. Some have lived both socioeconomic poverty and the affluent life and chose the renounced life.
   
   Why do these same people believe that socioeconomic poverty makes one somehow superior?
   1. Those who only know economic poverty finds they often have stronger bodies and greater tolerance than the affluent.
   2. Those who objectively explored both both lifestyles, as most revered sages have, noticed the peace and tranquility they have when not concerning themselves with nothing more life's basic needs. They have experience how being enslaved to stuff imposed on them prior objectively experiencing them denied then the ability to objectively choose one over the other. They saw without stuff in their lives they needed less sleep, less food, were more tolerant of and able to sympathize with the others because of the education the others didn't get but are following the schooling to do what most people do.
   
   The "detrimental effect on ... children is because city children aren't exposed to that life as children. Being born in the very rural area of Grambling, Louisiana (formerly called Ruston Rural) on a farm with 80 acres of land for roaming and exploring, I found myself at home with the tranquility of it all and sought it once I went to the city of Fort Worth, Texas. Only after I had fulfilled the life I was revealed in my childhood I explored environmental living and only after the first year I choses live or die I will not return to civilized living entirely.

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   Castlepalomaposted 4 years ago

   Edison said, from the neck down your worth minimum wage. (Today minimum is not a living wage) From the neck up your worth as much as you can imagine. Put into practice with love and work.
   
   Money is imaginary, people suffer and die mostly from poverty and natural environment which go in hand and hand.
   
   Today's greater separation of wealth and poor is the greater case of unhappiness and suffering. The top 10% richest People case most of the pollution and climate change which most directly effects people's suffering also. It almost as evil to be among the poorest and the wealthiest extremes. Be glad your just the miserable adverage. Even that is not good enough for me.
   
   I've been one of the lucky one who love my work for most waking hours of my life. Then many people would come along and look at me with envy or jealousy and put me down (ugly virture). When I look at other strong individuals that have mastered life or have it together I celebrate them. Much of the suffering is within the the individual, greater than what happens exteriorly.

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      TessSchlesingerposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I like what you said.

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         Castlepalomaposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks.

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   KC3Ladyposted 4 years ago

   Who is wearing socioeconomic poverty as a badge? lol It could be that they are not bought and paid for with all of the corruption.

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      Castlepalomaposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      When I was upper middle class for 30 years. I felt more owned by the system by doing most of the work, paying most of the taxes and surrounding myself with junk.
      
      Today I can say no body owns me, and don't show so much money they can steal. Stay within my means and stay away from government as much as humanly possible. Once you understand that authorities do most of the stealing and murdering than the public in the world. You can begin to redesign your life to be happier.

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