Attitudes about poverty..

[undergroundpanther]

There has been surprisingly little research on attitudes toward poverty and the poor as a stigmatized or stereotyped group, despite the available data regarding attitudes and stereotypes toward other disadvantaged groups (e.g., ethnic/racial groups, gays and lesbians).

Prior research has shown that attitudes toward the poor in the United States tend to be negative (Cozzarelli et al., 2001; Atherton, Gemmel, Hagenstad, Holt, Jensen, O'Hara, & Rehner, 1993). Studies have shown that reporting negative attitudes toward the poor are highly correlated with individualistic/internal attributions for poverty, and positive attitudes toward the poor have been reported as positively correlating with structural/external attributions for poverty (Bullock et al., 2001; Cozzarelli et al., 2001; Iyengar, 1990; Smith & Stone, 1989). Americans typically believe that individuals are responsible for their status in systems of social and economic inequality. There have been suggestions that poverty serves a societal purpose and is a necessary part of our social structure. Persons in low positions are kept there for the benefit of those in high positions (Gans, 1989). To eliminate the poor would be to eliminate the low-wage labor pool, physically dangerous work, temporary work, and undignified and menial jobs. Furthermore, attitudes toward and attributions for poverty have been linked to the belief that the world is a just place where people deserve what they get (Furnham, 1982).

Lerner's Belief in a Just World theory presumes that persons either believe that the world is a just place and that people get what they deserve, or that the world is not a just place and that events occur by chance (Lerner, 1980). Those with high just-world beliefs attribute poverty and other negative circumstances to one's behavior and personal characteristics, concluding that the poor person somehow deserves to be poor. The person's economic status is due to something the person did or failed to do, therefore they deserved it or had it coming. Many studies have correlated just-world beliefs with attributions and/or attitudes with some success (Bullock et al., 2001; Cozzarelli et al., 2001; Furnham, 1982). Although some have questioned the reliability of the psychometric scales measuring just-world beliefs (Lea & Fekken, 1993; O'Conner, Morrison, & Morrison, 1993), most studies have shown significant results with the measurement. And, Furnham (1993) reported that people having high just-world beliefs had more negative perceptions and attitudes toward the poor.

Research pertaining to poverty and attitudes toward the poor could serve as a catalyst for political policy, education, health care, and various other issues concerning this population. Poverty continues to be a significant problem in the United States and globally, yet the poor are apt to be devalued and marginalized. Minority group members (e.g., the poor) are objectively worse off than they would be if stereotypes and prejudice did not exist. They suffer psychologically, economically, and physically. Attitudes form quickly and easily, yet resist change. More importantly, the poor are often the victims of categorization, viewed as the social out-group, and perceived as homogeneous; they are all the same (e.g., lazy, immoral, promiscuous, etc.).

Rubin and Peplau (1975) found that just-world beliefs frequently tend to be polar in nature, extending between total acceptance and total rejection of the perception that the world is a just place. Given the previous research, it would seem appropriate to hypothesize that those having higher just-world beliefs will report lower levels of agreement with structural/external attributions for poverty, will report higher levels of agreement with individualistic/internal attributions for wealth, and additionally have more negative attitudes toward the poor. Conversely, those having lower just-world beliefs will report higher levels of agreement with structural/external attributions for poverty, lower levels of agreement with individualistic/internal attributions for wealth, as well as having more positive attitudes toward the poor.

http://www.iusb.edu/~journal/2002/coryn/coryn.html

Furnham (1993) reported that some people believe in a just world because of their personal pathology and experiences (individual functionalism), but there is strong evidence that just-world beliefs are a function not only of personal experience, but also of societal functionalism (i.e., a country's structural and societal factors). Just-world beliefs held by the rich and powerful condemn or devalue the poor.

Because of a just world BELIEF had by rich people who have not struggled, not been abused, or oppressed by money or needs, who have not had their lives ripped apart...Because rich people are insulated from suffering they CAN BELIEVE the world is FAIR and Just,because it has been FOR THEM somewhat,they assume poor people are fortunate as they are and so in their solipsism and beliefs they act like assholes to poor people.

It is because the rich have NOT really suffered enough poverty to empathize with the poor,The rich have NOT felt poverty THEMSELVES,Not felt powerless enough. They haven't felt the FUTILITY of living in poverty themselves yet..So they can delude themselves with fantasies about how Just the world is and how it's so easy to be sucessful..It is easier FOR THE RICH to succeed because THEY have what the poor are denied..The rich are so damn arrogant and ignorant. The rich need to suffer more. To feel the pain of poverty as if it was their own lot. In other words the rich need to be made poor to understand how poverty hurts human beings.

[Selatius]

1. I would guess the world appears just if you were born into wealth

The world looks different when everyone below you are ants in comparison.

[undergroundpanther]

2. yep we want equality

Some claim wealth breeds misery,but poverty is misery...Where is the The Balance...?
****************************************************************
The rich lock themselves in and lock everyone else out. So many fences rise to exclude us that after a while we are no longer shut out but shut in. And if we try to cross those barriers, we pay dearly, for the increasing freedom of capital has been accompanied by unprecedented rates of imprisonment. For both the secluded and the excluded, the fruits of economic growth become a substitute for human interaction: we watch TV rather than talking to our neighbours.

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2002/08/27/what-do-we-really-want/

[kentuck]

3. It's sad that poor people and poverty no longer seem to be a priority...

for the Democratic Party. Even though, we have more poor people and more people in poverty than just 5 short years ago. A Party that forgets its poor is no longer a viable Party, in my opinion.

[Selatius]

5. Look, economic populism does not sit well with many Democrats

There are lots of wealthy business Democrats who are squeamish at the notion of raising taxes on the rich to pay for social programs for middle class and poor people. You may win a ton of votes from working class people, but you will feel tension in the halls of Congress for possibly threatening their economic interests. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others faced the same kind of opposition, except King went so far as believing in democratic socialism. When you challenge power, you are asking for a big fight.

[undergroundpanther]

7. Greedy pigs don't wanna share

Greedy pigs that don't share and don't want to stop taking too much ,need to be made into bacon with no apologies or pity for the pig.. Our survival depends on us pushing the fattest greediest,pigs OUT of the trough..If the pig won't stop gobbling,well ...time for a pig roast..Eat the rich.

[undergroundpanther]

6. How many politicians are millionaires?

There is your answer why the Democrats don't care..They believe the world is just and so the poor chose to be robbed and exist in misery...The rich are not going to take less ,no way.. Instead the wealthy expect the poor to give more as if THAT will solve this problem and enable poor people to better themselves out of thin air...Make the poor get more education they can't afford,make them work harder for less wages..as if that helps..

No the rich need to STOP TAKING SO MUCH from the rest of us and being such thieves.

[bobbolink]

33. Thanks so much, Kentuck! I've been verbally tarred and feathered

for essentially saying the same thing here.

"A Party that forgets its poor is no longer a viable Party, in my opinion"

A very important opinion, and I really appreciate you saying this. I take it as personal support.

I would go further, and say that any party which forgets its poor no longer deserves to survive as a viable party.

Thanks. Your strong statement made my day! :hi:

[undergroundpanther]

4. More...

From rock singer Bob Geldof to UK politician Gordon Brown, the world suddenly seems to be full of high-profile people with their own plans to end poverty. Jeffrey Sachs, however, is not a simply a do-gooder but one of the world’s leading economists, head of the Earth Institute, and in charge of a UN panel set up to promote rapid development. So when he launched his book The End of Poverty, people everywhere took notice. Time magazine even made it into a cover story.

But, there is a problem with Sachs’s how-to-end poverty prescriptions. He simply doesn’t understand where poverty comes from. He seems to view it as the original sin. “A few generations ago, almost everybody was poor,” he writes, then adding: “The Industrial Revolution led to new riches, but much of the world was left far behind.”
This is a totally false history of poverty. The poor are not those who have been left behind;

they are ***the ones who have been robbed.***

The wealth accumulated by Europe and North America are largely based on riches taken from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Without the destruction of India’s rich textile industry, without the takeover of the spice trade, without the genocide of the native American tribes, without African slavery, the Industrial Revolution would not have resulted in new riches for Europe or North America. It was this violent takeover of Third World resources and markets that created wealth in the North and poverty in the South.

http://www.bctf.ca/SJ-Newsletter/Archive/2005-2006/2006-05/Page9.html

[lostinacause]

23. Sachs has the correct view if the goal is to solve the problem.

If you choose to blame someone for causing the problem you cannot look at the problem objectively. Blaming the rich inherently causes one's mind to concentrate on solutions that transfer wealth, often in a predatory manner. Such choices violate what I believe to be the primary axiom of public welfare; that societal welfare in decreased when one individual is made worse off with out others being made better off. If you look at the problem in a similar way to that of Sachs there are additional choices available. Based on a collection of Economic and Physiological information related to this topic it limiting the scope of solutions limits the set of potential solutions that satisfy the first axiom (and likely any other reasonable axiom). Thus using my primary axiom of public choice we can see that society is made worse off by attitudes and choices that limit the scope of investigation of a problem. While this result is somewhat trivial it is violated far too often.

[roseBudd]

8. In America there is a racial aspect to blame the poor because the face

of poverty in America is disproportionately Black. In England (reportedly) there is more of a "but for the grace of god go I"

I would argue that this was very apparent during Katrina. I felt like saying what part of no extra money for gas, no credit card or extra money for lodging do you not understand. If Nagin had loaded people onto the buses that repugs smugly pointed out ended up under water where was he to take them? A cornfield somewhere inland?

[EFerrari]

15. And they weren't under his control but some county transit agency

and there was other bs - no air conditioning.

Those buses didn't move because no one took the plight of the poor seriously enough and so, people died instead.

[roseBudd]

24. Exactly, just because you are mayor doesn't mean you are king...

How was Nagin going to fill those bues with gas when they ran out and how was he to feed the people on the bus had he siezed them. American Express?

[EstimatedProphet]

9. Good discussion!

One that needs to be had, since it is so common that people discriminate against the poor that it is ingrained.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Absolutely.

This is one of the most important and useful threads I remember on DU.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. Sometimes a so-and-so middle class life is enough to trigger that ideology

as long as no big disaster happened close to the person throughout their formative years.

An extremely enlightening article. I'd never look at anti-poor rants the same way again.

Religion may be another trigger to this particular personality disorder: all things happen if and only if God allows them to, therefore the world is just.

[raccoon]

12. True, a lot of middle class people believe the "just world" crap.

My guess is a lot of this group, when they or someone close to them, is stricken with a debilitating illness or disability, or when their good job goes to China and all they can find is a McJob, they change their minds.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Either that or their minds fall victim to the "scapegoat du jour" ruse.

"It's them damn blacks/Mexicans/Irish/Martians/whatever fault I can't get a job!"

"My son gets bad grades because the schools favor minorities!"

"A family member of mine was shot by a thief! It's the Democrat Party's fault!"

I would list a few more examples but I don't want to fall foul of Godwin's Law.

[undergroundpanther]

18. Narcissism!

[roseBudd]

25. Fundies definitely buy into, if a person is right with god, the lord

provideds. Who would choose welfare and the abject monotonous boredom of doing nothing AND literally living on a pittance. Reagan and his ficticous welfare cadillacs fostered a lasting misimpression. College Republicans interviewed lasy year by a blogging infiltrator all said they were GOP because of welfare recipients driving BRAND NEW cadillacs. That statement absolutely defies logic. You cannot get a loan for a brand new vehicle with welfare income.

[porphyrian]

14. What about the poor-hating ex-poor?

I know you know the people I'm talking about - the people who, through both intentional effort and blind circumstance, work their way from abject poverty to being rich, then act as if everyone can do the same, claiming those who don't aren't worthy or aren't trying. They've been poor, so it isn't that they don't understand the shit end of the stick. What do we do about them? They are the ones who keep the elitist mentality alive among the wealthy (who point to these ex-poor as examples, but never really welcome them into their clique).

[undergroundpanther]

19. Sometimes

For a narcissist,the fact they got money now their whole self worth is tied up in that money. If you take it away and they'd collapse and implode, or act out...they act that way because of a dread insecurity they deny they got all day long..they look at their STUFF and reassure themselves they are special and the world is good and they are elites...That's all these little narcissistic fuck faces are doing propping up their humongous egos . THey are still toxic pernicious little worms eating at the foundation of this world poor or rich..evil is evil.

[porphyrian]

20. Heh, I like you. - n/t

[undergroundpanther]

22. Thanks

I think I may like you too! Don't know you yet,but I will over time..Cool! New freind!

[bobbolink]

34. Oprah comes immediately to mind........

What a lack of humility.

I quit watching, because I was so tired of that meme of "I helped myself, what's your problem?" Ego.

Every point in her life where she was in much need, there was ALWAYS someone there who helped her!

THAT's the difference, dear Oprah. Thank your lucky stars, instead of crowing and putting others down.

Yes, she keeps the elitist mentality healthy among the wealthy.


Oh wait, she are one.

:hi:

[porphyrian]

37. It explains why she's so adored by otherwise racist-inclined housewives...

...who wouldn't give her show the time of day if Oprah wasn't helping them feel better about their selfish materialistic tendencies.

[bobbolink]

45. Hadn't thought of it that way before....

There's something to what you say.

She tells them they really *are* superior, afterall.

sigh... what a crock.

Is there any hope for us at all?

[LisaLynne]

16. But it's easier to just pretend like you have what you have ...

because you're basically a really smart, really good person. To admit that perhaps the world isn't fair and that random things happen is very, very frightening to them. Not to mention the idea that perhaps they have only blind chance to thank for their perfect lives. Even the Bible says that time and circumstance befall us all, but a lot of the people who should believe those words convince themselves that there is an all-powerful being looking after them who wouldn't allow anything bad to happen to a truly good person. I remember that attitude springing up when my father, who was a very prominent, active member of his church got sick -- there were people who really thought he wasn't as good of a person as they had thought before because if he were, then God wouldn't have let that happen.

I think this is a fundamental lesson in life, but some people simply never have to face it.

[undergroundpanther]

21. And when they never face it

It's so easy to play make believe they will NEVER face it.

This is why the narcissistic/psychopath part of the world HATES to see a victim, a weaker person,a disabled person,a poor person, ect.ect.IT reminds them,they have no control and they ARE NOT the sole master of thier own destiny or of humanity for that matter.
It reminds them sucess is NOT justification for ANYTHING.

Check this book out.. It tells how far these narcissist authoritarian pieces of shit will go to create thier utopia in thier OWN image of course.. The Ultimate projection..
..Some Reveiws..that reveal alot I think..

It’s easy to see why the Library Journal calls Edwin Black’s “War Against the Weak” a “bombshell of investigative journalism.” The facts gathered in it exhume a rank and shameful shadow history of American idealism..

and...

An important work... A well-documented, comprehensive exposition of a story not known to most Americans, about a perversion of the pursuit of knowledge in the interest of race and social superiority.

http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/reviews.php

[bobbolink]

35. "because you're basically a really smart, really good person"

BINGO!

The whole "us and them" syndrome.

That's what people in this society do best.

I found that out when my son was kidnapped. Receive compassion? NOPE. "What kind of person are you to let that happen?"

Yes, that's exactly what some people (liberal!) said.

The pattern is, they are struck by the pain of the situation, but rather than empathize, and take the risk of worrying whether they could end up in those shoes, they quickly (less than a second) find some reason why the other person "had it coming", which is different from how they are, so they are safe and can be spared worrying.

A neat little psychological trick.

[marions ghost]

39. liberals

can be just as bad as conservatives on this. Judgmental and critical without taking time to get the facts. Blame the victim mentality. It's epidemic in fearful times.

[bobbolink]

42. Yes, we're all a product of a puritan critical society

The problem is, liberals want to consider themselves "above it all", and that they have no part in it --it's all the RW.

It's time for some Jungian looking at our own dark shadow.

Suppose that will ever happen?

[undergroundpanther]

17. a few more points...

Musings on "just world" belief as a symptom... My comments on the paragraphs and links are in these thingys.. ().

They are not "forcing" you into a role- they are enforcing the role they presume everyone plays. They are not capable of distinguishing between their delusions and a human being standing before them. Again, it is grandiose of a psychopath to think that they have the power to force you into a "role" and that it is a given that it is always successful...


(And what may some of that role be like that you are not forced into,overtly? This writer says nothing about COVERT manipulating of a person into a role,manipulation of situations make an impression on what you do think stanford prison experiment,none of those volunteers were "forced" either... Roles we are taught are noble as KIDS from our parents,like Work hard and obey the boss until you die,what kind of personality does that belief system serve well? Work 18 hours a day because you believe it's noble to be a good unquestioning servant like the puritan work ethic says? WTF? Who made up the puritan work ethic,rich clerics? These puritan people murdered people they thought were witches the very kind of persecution our founding fathers wanted to get away from!!How about Reeducate yourself, pull yourself up by your bootstraps but if there are no jobs it's all YOUR fault,you didn't TRY hard enough or pick the right career in the not being outsourced today lottery.??!!WTF You too can be a millionaire??? Yeah how? The Lotto? Bwahahaha..)


1) The psychopath, incapable of empathy, doesn't understand the question.
2) He is convinced that everyone is just like him.
3)He is convinced that he has the godlike power to transform anyone.
4) He is convinced that he has the godlike power to force anyone to do his bidding.
5)He is convinced that he has dominion over (and dominates) all things, including human beings.
6) **He is convinced that he is successful in all his ventures.**


(in other words.. Does the narcissist believe..the world is just ,the world is his oyster,and he cannot fail,so people that cannot get out of poverty CHOOSE to fail??)


http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/narcissism/malignant_narcissism.html


********************************************************************


Sociopathy is chiefly characterized by something wrong with the person's conscience. They either don't have one, it's full of holes like Swiss cheese, or they are somehow able to completely neutralize or negate any sense of conscience or future time perspective.
(some religious types and New Agers say stuff like -live in the NOW,BE here in the present all the time and frankly that BOTHERS me because they might as well be saying forget the future/past live like a narcissist in the NOW MOMENT only. And some of those advisor's ARE narcissists BTW)

Sociopaths only care about fulfilling their own needs and desires - selfishness and egocentricity to the extreme. Everything and everybody else is mentally twisted around in their minds as objects to be used in fulfilling their own needs and desires.

***They often believe they are doing something good for society,***

or at least nothing that bad.

http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/428/428lect16.htm

(Doing something GOOD? like what? Stealing than declaring themselves Owners of every natural resource for sustenance and redistributing what was once free at a cost,or developing land and making the population on it unsustainable and no longer self sufficient?)
********************************************************************
But I also believe that we make a natural, predictable mistake: We believe that by changing ourselves that we can change the past. We believe that by changing ourselves we can find a reason we can live with for what happened to us. We believe that by focusing on ourselves, we can take control over what happened to us and what is happening. I think that none of this is true. None of this is true!

http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/narcissism/Soul_no_footprints.html

( Under stress of losing work, we change ourselves... we go to school,we rearrange the budget,do without, berate each other for not being frugal enough,we compete over rags,yet we always ALWAYS focus on CHANGING OURSELVES.. Why? Why are we NEVER good enough?)

The patient is made to feel better by finding a wonderful thing that would make others envious, show off her good fortune, and make her feel special.
http://shrinkwrapped.blogs.com/blog/2005/11/architectural_d.html

(and isn't THIS the whole consumerism game who's it geared to? Feeding the egos of narcissists and sociopaths,sadly 1 in 4 people have some form of these sickening personality problems.And they'd be the last ones to notice anything was wrong with them tho. They'd rather encourage YOU to change.)

"The world does not exist merely to satisfy our own desires."
Christopher Lasch
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/40334/?comments=view&cID=178823&pID=178280

[aikoaiko]

26. I'm not sure how making the rich suffer will solve much.

[undergroundpanther]

29. Remember wehen raygun got Alzhiemers?

And for just a moment around his death,Stem Cell resaerch wasen't a boogeyman?

Suffering changes perspectives of people who never had to.

[TheFriedPiper]

27. Eat the Rich! (jk)

[Ron Green]

28. I believe slavery and subjugation are the natural state of life on earth,

but that democratic institutions are available to us to ameliorate this. The Free Market (in its purest form) seeks to enslave, and the Church (in its purest form, mind you) seeks to share. The State, to the extent that it's controlled by the Market or by the Church, will make policy and law to either rob from the poor or take from the rich and give to the poor. Note that "Church" in this meaning includes all charitable organizations that seek to increase and spread enlightenment and good will. What we've seen since the Reagan years, of course, is the "marketization" of the State, and now even the Church is increasingly market-based.

Thanks for your OP; this is a valuable discussion.

[undergroundpanther]

30. And this is one reason among many

Why I despise life. I cannot wait to get out of here.It's a prison,a sometimes pretty sometimes not as painful,prison.Abuse or be abused. And I HATE it..

Not just socially it's that way,but the prey predatory parasite bullshit is also in the Animal kingdom and it reflects right down to the molecular level. This is one reason if there is a creator I want to harm it destroy it,because of what it has done or allowed to happen here,to the most vulnerable,innocent,powerless and creative. What use is life really if it hurts so much,is so frustrated, and is in bondage. Why have consciousness to dread the future regret the past and be so blind to the future yet still blame yourself for it fucking up after the fact? Why feel this shit? Why be conscious? Why be in a sensitized body? Why have a tender heart? Why care and empathize only to be torn apart everyday,and yet because it is your own nature to care and to reach out and nurture ,you suffer for it you get preyed upon or abused..for your kindness,uniqueness and empathy? THere is something ghastly perverse about life as it is on this Earth. If one dares to see it.There are no easy solutions.

I wish there was a way to destroy the predatory impulse and remove the sickness and bondage and pain permeating this world and the life on it that endlessly struggles..I hate the way it is.I am I feel deep in my heart,not from this world,I was captured by whatever causes life to be inside bodies here,and taken here and born against my will.I hate the maker of this world if there is one.

[Ron Green]

31. However, I think the good fight is worth fighting,

and that the democratic institutions that seek to fairly distribute wealth and make life better for more people are worth supporting.

"Hating life," however, is not a good state to live in, and I sincerely hope you'll find more peace and less frustration in your own life. My view is that forgiveness is the key: "forgive the world, forgive yourself." And continue to fight the good fight.

[undergroundpanther]

40. Well...

<..and that the democratic institutions that seek to fairly distribute wealth and make life better for more people are worth supporting.>

IF and that a big IF.. To me,if those said democrats do NOT bother to listen to help or care about the poor ,disabled ,kids,victimized etc. the"weak" basically.. than they are acting like the narcissists.
Once they act like self absorbed narcissists,they have lost my respect and support ,if they do policies that further harm they earn my ANGER..Dem's in name only really disgust me..You know the assholes like Zell Miller Republicans dressed up in a dem suit...

<"Hating life," however, is not a good state to live in, and I sincerely hope you'll find more peace and less frustration in your own life.>

I don't see that happening any time soon. I looked and researched and asked why why,until I found out there is no answer. Life is SICK.

<My view is that forgiveness is the key: "forgive the world, forgive yourself." And continue to fight the good fight.>

Forgive? forgive what? What's to forgive about here? I know we are all in a prison our wills are mitigated, we are not free, we all suffer here,some more than others.Some feel it more than others do..I offer forgiveness to people who won't take advantage of it.... Forgiveness in some cases doesn't do much,other than let someone off the hook,whom you really didn't get wounded by so you let it go no big deal,smooth it over and move on..In other cases like with authoritarians,narcissists and sociopaths, I give them NO FORGIVENESS and NO PITY,because they will use this kindness I would normally extend to NON-Sociopath people to further harm or exploit sensitive ,caring,"weaker" people..

I DO hate life, not in of itself or because it's alive or because it is..I hate life as it is here because of the CONDITIONS we suffer here.I DESPISE these conditions and situations and predatory/parasitic behaviors that cause pain and harm.I hate the fact life must devour the living to survive and die anyway. That"cycle of life and death", abuse or be abused, eat or be eaten,Survival of the fittest,yet killed by it's own success..
it is a ghastly catch 22. And I HATE it.It makes me crazy pissed off.

I fight the good fight because behind it is my burning hatred,of the hurtful conditions, bad situations,bad people, catch 22's,and predations this world does and how the sickness of it all imposes such pain upon the living and sensitives.I care because I choose to, First simply because I CAN. Second, because I want to be at ease with my own conscience and avoid dealing with my own wrath,at myself within..I will not by stand and make believe. Thirdly, I fight the good fight because I hate reality , I hate reality because I care about the beauty trapped and tortured by existing in this situation this sick sad painful condition...I feel for it. I can't help it.

So I want to defend and protect the sensitive,the vulnerable,the creative different and well,precious,from this awful world.I want to protect the sensitive and beauty parts inside myself from this fucked up world, and also I offer my protective attempts for the unique beauty and tenderness in everyone else ,human or not who has it in them too,and feels the pain too.. I give my love and whatever else to those who can use it,and need it and will not make a weapon of it,..because their hearts are in pain..I can feel it and so I sympathize..and give myself to them..But..that kindness is not for everything in this world.

I give my hate to the hateful,spite to the authoritarian,humiliation to the narcissist,defiance to the bully, and death wishes to the sociopath..I hate them.

[bobbolink]

36. I so understand what you're saying!

I'm sensitive, I care about others, and it's a constant source of pain.

"You're too sensitive", and my fave on DU -- "Grow a skin!"


OUCH!!

It's sensitive people, throughout history, who have fought for the changes that we all now enjoy.

But, we suffer for it tremendously.

Thank you for your stubbornness in holding on to your sensitivity!! Thank you for your integrity in seeing the pain in another's eyes!

Thank you for caring about "the least of these"!!

[undergroundpanther]

41. Grow a skin?

What use is a skin if there is no heart within it that beats warm blood?

When someone asks a sensitive to grow an armored skin they are saying 3 things they have no RIGHT to demand of you..

#1 You are not good enough as you are,YOU change to suit ME... or else..( a subtle veiled threat)

#2 YOU get used to tolerating my verbal abuse and learn to pretend it isn't really designed to hurt you,So I won't be called into account for being a verbally abusive asshole by other people.

#3 The people demanding you get a skin are saying YOU better SHUT DOWN your sensitive heart and become cold and hard like a crocodile. Because the person who is insensitive basically has a heart like a lizard and this lizard is pressuring you to sink to the cold depths of insensitivity and callousness where they relate,they want you to tolerate the sort of cold hearted climate they thrive in..

Callousness....Calloused Skin...If you scrape soft part of skin long enough repeatedly,it gets wounded than scarred than calloused.That is what these insensitive people want you to go through,rub it raw until it hardens so these crude people don't have to consider or care about how their choices of words and actions contribute to the pain of living in this world. It's a SELFISH reason. Because these lizard hearted narcissists have calloused hearts ,they need not armour their skin,that is THEIR problem .. So you growing calloused skin will not help you become desensitized.. a tough skin over a tender heart does not make the pain of a bullies sarcasm not hurt stop it just stifles your voice when you get wounded which eases the lizards rudimentary sense of shame,which the lizard needs to feel to become sensitized...Liard people are very weak,they cannot stand to suffer sensitivity,they can't tolerate it in others because they lack it in themselves. Ever wonder why lizard hearted people have GREEN eyes?


It's empathy that makes us as human as we are, while helping us to manage our most violent feelings.
We don't kill others or ourselves because we still see the human being in others,
and ourselves and feel sympathy or caring.
When our sense of connection is gone, then any kind of violence can be unleashed.
People who torture others have lost touch with their own humanity.
No longer able to care about themselves, they grow to hate others.
Desperate to have any kind of feeling, they torture feelings out of others.

Tell all those thick lizard skinned,critics.. to GROW A HEART..Get WARM blooded and evolve into a real Mammal that is capable of caring.
Come out of the depths and the mud and walk upright.

[bobbolink]

43. "no heart within that beats warm blood"

Ohhhh, that is GOOOOOOODD!!! Can I use it here at DU?!

I didn't get any further in your post than that first sentence. This has caused me so much pain, especially here at DU, where everyone is supposed to be such compassionate liberals.

I think we sensitives need a class in verbal self-defense!! I know that I get battered all the time with this crap.

And, you're right.... it's a veiled threat. All this complaining about the fascism of the right, yet there is so much manipulation and threats that the left considers just fine. They talk about peace, but don't see that their very language is verbal violence.

Thanks soooo much.... That definitely made my day!

[bobbolink]

32. I used to believe that a strong muddleclass was very important

I've come to seriously doubt that premise.

When I look around at the Great Muddleclass, I, in large part, see a large group of very self-involved people who aren't really able to care about those besides themselves.

It's the poor who give a larger proportion of their meager $$$ to others, and to causes.

It's the poor who try to help others in need (I've experienced this directly.)

Yes, those are stereotypes, and of course there are exceptions. But, while that was a good article, it also spoke in generalities.

What I've observed has led me to doubt that the muddleclass, as a group, has a lot to offer in terms of awareness.

Very good article -- I printed it out to share. Again, it talks about "rich" people, but I see muddleclass people in the same way. They have to have a fire lit under them before they can empathize.

[porphyrian]

38. I think there's a serious misconception about which class people...

...actually belong to, especially among the wealthy. Generally, broke people admit they're broke (unless they're trying to pick someone up, and sometimes even then). However, the majority of the rich consider themselves "middle class" or "upper middle class." Once you bring in $200,000 or more a year, you are well above the middle, but these people tend to compare themselves only to those who are as rich or richer than themselves apparently, seeing not how many people they make more money than, but how much less than those with more money they have. The real middle class is poor today, by these standards.

[sweetheart]

44. puritains

well, despite the long winded wikipedia defniition, they missed that puritains have a fundamental endemic belief that
poverty and wealth reflect one's station with god... and that material wealth signifies that you are closer to god.

This is reflected with more verbage in the eloquence of that lucid post... but really, the source, is puritainism and
the repression of the english civil war that sought to repress it with violence, that it reared its ugly head, like osama
terrorism, alloverthefuckingplace.

[Jcrowley]

46. Excellent discussion

The economy consists of an elite and everyone else.  At times 'everyone else' has been stronger relative to the elite, at times weaker.  The elite by definition has power over the rest.  But the economy is not so simple-- there are some who are more elite and have more power, some who are less.  Economic power is a combination of wealth, income, status and occupation, access to education and health care, connections, and geographic and social mobility.  These in turn translate into political power, organization, access to media, business and government.  A great deal of the damage done by racism is done through the economic system.  People of colour are denied economic power, here and in many places in the world.

Having economic power or elite status is being in an exclusive club.  How important is race in deciding who gets into this club?  Some examples: blacks search for work longer and often more aggressively than whites and are 36-44% less likely to be hired for jobs in mostly white suburbs even when they are just as qualified.  White males with a high school diploma are as likely to have a job and earn as much as black males with college degrees.  When controlling for age, experience, and other relative factors, blacks are paid at least 10% less than whites.  (Alice O' Connor, Chris Tilly and Lawrence Bobo, eds. 1999.  The Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality, "Urban Inequality: Evidence from Four Cities." NY: Russell Sage Foundation.)  2% of lawyers and less than 1% of partners in law firms were black, according to a 1987 survey in the National Law Journal.  A 1988 survey of Public Advocates, Inc. showed that fewer than 0.25% of partners in the US's biggest accounting firms were black (37 out of 20 000 surveyed).  (cited in Farai Chideya, 1995.  Don't Believe the Hype.  New York: Penguin Books).  On average, African Americans have only one-tenth the net worth that white Americans do.  (also in Chideya, 1995). 

People with power do not give it away out of morality or a sense of justice.  Instead they use the means at their disposal to maintain and extend their power.  They hand out jobs and positions in society, and so have the power to discriminate based on race (and sex) and create the kind of pyramid they want.  The consequences for the economy are these: not only does racism cause the economy to be stratified as it is, and place people of colour at the bottom of the economic pyramid in terms of occupation, empowerment, income, and wealth.  Racism also splits the 'everyone else' into racial groups with different interests, and helps elites maintain their economic power against a divided opposition.

http://www.zmag.org/racewatch/znet_race_instructional3.htm

Once we delve into these manner of issues the root causes surface.

[Jcrowley]

47. Economic caste system

Those who lament the rise in inequality are often dismissed as economically naïve. They are faulted for forgetting that this is a country where, in the words of one scornful commentator, “people simply do not remain in the same top and bottom income categories over time.”

In fact, many people do. The U.S. is not only more unequal than it was (and more unequal than other countries), but less economically mobile than many have assumed. Recent estimates of inter-generational mobility are sharply lower than the consensus of two decades ago. Some researchers see evidence that mobility itself has declined, because of a proliferation of dead-end jobs and a labor market sharply divided between those who possess, and those who lack, a four-year college degree. That all-important credential, in turn, appears to have become less accessible to the children of parents who are neither wealthy nor well-educated themselves.

The immigrant success story is another economic legend that may due for reexamination. The gulf between immigrant and native-born incomes is roughly three times wider today than it was a century ago, according to the Harvard University sociologist Christopher Jencks.

To speak with alarm about the gulf between rich and poor (or between rich and middle; or middle and upper-middle) is to invite the charge of fomenting “class warfare.” Indeed, the question of inequality has rarely stirred much passion in America except in periods of deep discontent, and it has usually been framed as a problem of “haves” and “have-nots” or (in recent years also) “have lesses.”

These laments arise out of feelings about justice, suffering, and mutual obligation that are as old as humanity, and deserve respect rather than scorn. It is only by making a religion of the “free market” that anyone could possibly construct a reasonable-seeming justification for American-style differences in earning-power between, say, a janitor and an investment banker. But the poor are not the only victims of inequality, and the damage is not to be measured solely in material terms.