"Being broke is nothing to be ashamed of"

[leaf_collector]

It’s Time for the Poor to Come Out of the Plutocracy’s Closet of Shame
Posted on December 3, 2012By Jeff Nall

Comments

[chaya]

You're so close. Add tags, esp. the 'opinion piece' tag.

[leaf_collector]

Done. I think I got everything.
Sorry for the trouble ;-; thank you so much for your tolerance.

[chaya]

Everyone makes mistakes! Thank you for fixing it quickly and using so many ♥ Have a marsupial

[leaf_collector]

akjhdkja the CUTENESS~

[a_phoenixdragon]

Poor myself. And I've never bought into the stereotype and I go out of my way to educate those who would say otherwise. The poor make up the majority of the world. There are people who take two jobs just to keep a roof over their heads, food in their mouths and still have to sweat out the last four days before payday. When it comes to getting cereal or getting gas to get you to work...there's a problem. Regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, or other federally protected statuses - any one can be poor. The only 'disease' that plagues the poor is the people who make them that way. The ones at the top get there by the people below them.

The poor (not middle class, that hasn't existed for years) PAY FOR EVERYONE ELSE. That's just facts. We do most of the work, pay the most and get the least. Hell with just saying we aren't ashamed. I'm not ashamed. I'm more curious on why it IS this way. I work hard, I pay my bills, I pay my taxes and I struggle through as best as I can. I just wish I didn't get paid so little to do so much.

[romp]

Some of the hardest workers in this country are also among the poorest

Anyone who doesn't know this needs to leave their homogenized little world. Or actually LOOK around.

[darth_eldritch]

This

And stop being afraid of "redistribution of wealth" and start caring very much that 90% of the world's wealth is concentrated in the hands of 10% of the "elite."

[agentsculder]

It blows my mind that there are so many people who actually believe that if a person is poor, they must somehow be lazy. I grew up in the upper-middle class, but my parents made damn sure I knew that the people who do minimum wage jobs work VERY hard.

I swear, EVERYONE should at some point work in retail or food service so they can find out just how hard it is.

[elialshadowpine]

Goodness yes. And manual labor, too. I absolutely cannot with the contempt that so many people have towards people who work on farms or construction or, hell, even thing like plumbers or electricians or stuff. I don't actually know what plumbers and electricians make, but I hear people talk about them like the jobs they do are worthless and that they are somehow lazy people because they didn't go to college (... never mind that some people do go to vocational schools for education related to those types of jobs) and get a white collar job. Do they not realize that society needs people to do these jobs

[poetic_pixie_13]

Some people who are poor often try to “pass” as middle class.

Well, hello my entire life. It took me forever to realize it's not something to be ashamed of.

I didn't make it far into the article, tbqh, because I'm pretty sure this is all going to hit too close to home right now.

While I'm no longer ashamed of being poor, it's still shit and seeing what it's done to my family, what it's still doing, I can't properly describe how much I fucking hate it.

(Rereading this makes me realize how much I need a hug. Oi.)

[squeeful]

*HUGS*

You're too awesome to be ashamed. You're an articulate, intelligent, kind, and amazing person.

[darth_eldritch]

*HUGS*

I feel you. It's been only recently by reading all these posts and comments on this awesome comm that I've gotten rid of that shame.

[jenny_jenkins]

*hugs*

[tilmon]

I'm nodding my head in agreement with him. Poverty in academia is an especially nasty secret that has gotten worse because of the reliance on adjunct instructors whose untenured, unstable, poorly paid work barely covers necessities let alone research and conferences requisite for advancement, or the massive student loans acquired in order to be able to teach in the first place. I am speaking from personal experience in saying that you are better off taking a clerical position and just forgetting that you ever wrote a thesis or dissertation. The entire edifice of higher education, at least in the US, is founded on the lie of prosperity through educational attainment

[veracity]

I talk to one of my teachers after class all the time, which I love her for, and she was telling me about how as a teacher they're only paid once a month and by the end, money gets tight. I'm at poverty level at this point, even though I live in a nice place but can't pay the bills and don't have the credit to get another place to live (catch 22). And since I got a wee bit of money last week, I bought my teacher a stainless steel traveling mug to keep in her office so she can have water available, or put in some of her soda from home, and save some money. I get it. So I'm trying to make it easier. But you don't hear about the money issues at all.

Our school's pay is shit anyway, given how they're running a brand new school into the ground. Like our charter won't allow for tenure professors...but they're already looking at adding grad school programs to hit university status since teaching college ain't doing much for them. In the meantime, the students and fac are carrying the monetary weight on our shoulders.

[bowtomecha]

"live in a nice place but can't pay the bills and don't have the credit to get another place to live"

I hate this situation. Its like somebody telling you how many times a minute you can breathe and to do it quietly otherwise they'll take your air.

[veracity]

Nah, it's a direct effect for me of my diabetes. "Oh, rice is bad for you? That's all you can afford, you're hosed." I never breathe easy anymore.