Nerd is my Gender
What's yours?
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The income inequality in the USA is right up there with Uganda and Ivory Coast. Nice.
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Nine things I wish economically privileged people in my life knew.
I’m not always going to “look poor”. If you see me drinking a beer at a local meetup, that’s because I was living on ramen noodles and bean burritos the rest of the week. If you see me driving my car to said event, that’s because I made room in my budget for rising gas costs by once again not purchasing any health insurance whatsoever for myself. If you see me wearing a new shirt, that’s because the pre-paid cell phone I carry with me is never used, ever. If you see me paying rent, that’s because I had to sacrifice paying day care costs, and thus custody of my only child.
That being said, read this:
- I am poor, I exist, and I’m right here. Hi! Many people who meet and get to know me without knowing my background are rather surprised to find this out. It matters to me on a very personal level when people do things like make nasty comments or assumptions about poor people, or assume that everyone in a given space is wealthy, thereby erasing the fact that I exist and am present. There are better reasons to not be classist (namely: it’s just plain wrong) than worrying about whether a poor person will hear you, but assuming that I’m not poor or that poor people are not present adds insult to injury and creates another communication barrier.
- I may not look like what you imagine poor people should look like- but neither do most poor people. I’m smart, well-spoken, and a careful dresser. I’m highly educated because of financial aid. I avoid doing certain things and remember to do others because I don’t want to “look poor” and be judged for that. Then again, the commonly held stereotypes of poor people- that we’re stupid, “trashy,” lazy, waiting for handouts instead of taking care of ourselves, and so on- are just that, stereotypes, not true assessments based in reality. Just because I don’t match the stereotype doesn’t even necessarily make me unusual, just one more of so many different faces of being economically underprivileged.
- I need and deserve as much space to talk about my experiences as you do to talk about yours. Talking about money- especially money one doesn’t have- is considered crass and impolite, but I can’t be fully myself without bringing that up. I know it makes people uncomfortable sometimes, but honestly, that’s not a good enough reason to expect me to keep quiet. As much as anyone else does, I deserve the right to talk openly about my background, my challenges, the reasons behind decisions I make- the realities of my life.
- Being poor has substantial, everyday, direct effects on my life, and if you spend time with me, you will have to deal with those effects. Nearly everything I do, every decision I make, is in some way affected by my financial status. If you’re close to me, you will watch me struggle with money and financial decisions on a daily basis. If you want to do something with me, it has to be something I can afford. If you give me advice or recommendations, you will have to take into account my budget, or else your attempt at help will just sound laughably insensitive. There’s no way around it.
- Being poor also has a large indirect impact on me in terms of how people think of me and the community I come from. Stereotypes of poor people abound. People frequently assume that my parents are unintelligent, ignorant, and bad parents. They treat me as an anomaly, an escapee from a uniformly horrible situation that they can pity and make fun of. People who know me treat me as an exception to a classist rule, not realizing that their upholding of that rule allows people who don’t know me to stereotype and mistreat me. That’s the world I live in.
- I don’t want your pity. For me, pity is one of the most hurtful sentiments I can experience. It assumes a really troublesome hierarchy; if you are able to pity me, you must be better than or above me in some way. Also, it’s completely useless, and doesn’t do anything to actually address or talk about the reality of my situation. It’s a copout, and it’s often a way to shut me up so that I stop “making people feel bad.”
- Yes, I know full well that there are many people in this world who are worse off than me, but that doesn’t invalidate my experiences. I’m aware that I am privileged in many ways, and that in a broad view, I’m better off financially than many, many people. Between privilege and luck, I’ve found myself in a position where I will likely no longer be poor once I’m a full-fledged independent adult, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how to handle that in an ethical way. But that admission doesn’t make the substantial disadvantages that I have experienced and continue to experience disappear. They are still real, painful, and very important to my life.
- Me saying that you are (economically) privileged doesn’t mean I’m calling you a bad person, that I want you to feel guilty, or that I don’t think you deserve to have a good life. I don’t go around wanting people to feel bad. In fact, I rarely bring up things like this- too rarely, probably- because I know that people will take it personally and get defensive. Being poor is so much a part of me that it’s very emotionally difficult to handle when people totally dismiss the idea that there are substantial, important differences between my experience and theirs. But I have a responsibility to challenge the ideas- often unspoken, but present everywhere- that wealthy people are morally and functionally superior to poor people, that poor people could be wealthy if they only worked hard, and that my background, my family, my current reality can be dismissed with choice insults and assumptions that I’ve brought this on myself. If that makes you feel bad about yourself and your behavior, well, it probably should.
- If you can’t deal reasonably and respectfully with me being poor, I’m not going to be able to keep you in my life. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I can never forget that I’m poor, or behave like I’m not poor. It is with me every moment, in everything I do and every decision that I make. If you constantly lean on classist stereotypes, if you insult my background, if you patronize and pity me, if you yell at me for “making you feel bad,” if you won’t let me talk about my financial struggles or get too uncomfortable to let me continue, if you forget every time that I can’t afford to do the things you want to do or don’t share your experiences and perspective- well, I’m sorry, but you’re not worth being around. I have no interest in spending time with someone who will not give me the space to be myself, or who cares more about their own zone of privileged comfort than respecting another human being.
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Poverty Survival Techniques
Some of these techniques I have employed (like giving up soda and spreading out purchases) and some I haven’t (like stealing or damaging items). It’s a good reminder that reality isn’t as clean and pretty as we’d like it to be, and that sometimes it’s either live creatively or starve.
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![This actually happened to me.
fyeahpdp:
[Picture: Background: 8 piece pie style color split with red and teal alternating. Foreground: White guy with light shadow and short light hair wearing a suit jacket over a button down shirt and red bow tie. Has a big-toothed smile and is talking with his hands.
Top text: “Times are bad, so we’ll have to start firing people.” Bottom text: “I’m just kidding!”]
My boss made this joke to a client while standing right in front of me. He is very wealthy, but I live paycheck-to-paycheck as I’m working my way through school.
Joking about how casually you can ruin my life isn’t cool, and it just makes me not trust you. Not very healthy for a workplace environment, methinks.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ln7xvbWOi01qgy0fio1_250.png)
This actually happened to me.
[Picture: Background: 8 piece pie style color split with red and teal alternating. Foreground: White guy with light shadow and short light hair wearing a suit jacket over a button down shirt and red bow tie. Has a big-toothed smile and is talking with his hands.
Top text: “Times are bad, so we’ll have to start firing people.” Bottom text: “I’m just kidding!”]
My boss made this joke to a client while standing right in front of me. He is very wealthy, but I live paycheck-to-paycheck as I’m working my way through school.
Joking about how casually you can ruin my life isn’t cool, and it just makes me not trust you. Not very healthy for a workplace environment, methinks.
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Due To Health Cuts, Miscarriage No Longer Considered An ‘Emergency’ For Medicaid Patients In Washington State
Pregnant women are apparently expected to make appointments in advance if they plan on miscarrying.
I guess the moral of the story is that to some people, saving the life of the host person doesn’t matter if the fetus is just going to die anyway.
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Shh… Don’t Wake the Dead
Steve Jobs is dead, but exactly what kind of legacy did he leave us?
And don’t even think about mentioning the fact that Jobs cancelled Apple’s corporate philanthropy program in 1997 when they were low on money, but after the iPod and the subsequent dozens of iProducts created a giant corporate monster with more spare cash lying around than the Federal Reserve, never even considered reinstating it. And don’t even acknowledge how Jobs refused to sign onto Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s Billionaire Pledge, and never gave publicly to charity.
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As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. *To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
(Source: nycga.cc)
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Go ahead and say that increasing taxes on the rich is “class warfare”. It’s not like politics need to be reality-based or anything.
My father joined the U.S. Air Force at age 18, learned a trade, and worked hard as a mechanic for 30+ years after that. His health failed and he could not afford treatment; his diabetes became worse and he was eventually disabled (and summarily dismissed by his workplace without a second thought). We lived in a car for two years while he sought benefits, and was denied many times. My mother worked since age 13 but had a stroke 5 years ago, paralyzing one arm. She is nearly blind in one eye and prone to seizures. Their combined disability income is not enough to pay for both rent and medicine. My father suffers with diabetes, cancer, and Parkinson’s, while my mother requires meds for heart disease and seizures. She still has to work under the table cleaning rich people’s houses with one arm, just so they can eat. We are the 99%.
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My dad is unemployed due to disabilities obtained on the job. He’s in need of health insurance but is NOT ELIGIBLE for Medicare because he could be covered on my mom’s health insurance.
The problem is, if she adds him, she would OWE her job $$ each month and have no take home income. The sole income upon which they rely.
After 25+ years of happy marriage, my parents are considering DIVORCE just so he can be eligible for Medicare.
WE are the 99%.
As far as I know, divorce wouldn’t be enough. He’d actually have to move to a different address as well. Fuck the system.
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This is why we need to put more teachers to work permanently: for the economy and for our future.
I am a teacher. You are able to read, write, do arithmetic and much more because of people like me. Each year, I am expected to take your children further than ever before with fewer materials and resources. I spend thousands out of my own pocket to educate your child. Due to budget cuts, I am also nurse, lunch monitor, counselor, and janitor. I spend long hours after school away from my family, grading papers and planning lessons. I am overworked, underpaid, and I am still told I do not do enough. I am the 99%.”
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Newt Gingrich’s Latest Assault On The Constitution: Drug Test Americans Before They Get ‘Any Kind Of Federal Aid’
Drug testing for all members of major corporations who receive tax credits, right? Or are they only targeting the poor and minorities, and ignoring all the federal programs which primarily benefit rich white men?
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I’ve never had private health insurance.
I’m ideologically opposed to paying someone to prevent me from obtaining treatment.
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Priscilla Of Boston Spray-Paints Unsold Wedding Gowns To Keep Them From Grubby Poor People
Anyone who thinks the class war is being waged by the poor upon the rich needs to pull hir head out of hir ass.
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FACTS: The State Of The Union
ThinkProgress rounds them up:
Since the last SOTU, the economy has created 1.9 million private sector jobs. [Source]
• The top 1 percent take home 24 percent of the nation’s income, up from about 9 percent in 1976. [Source]
• Private sector job creation under Obama in 2011 was larger than seven out of the eight years Bush was president. [Source]
• The top 1 percent of Americans own 40 percent of our country’s wealth while the bottom 80 percent owns only 7 percent. [Source]
• Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 2.5 million young adults gained health insurance. [Source]
• For every one job opening, there are four people looking for work. [Source]
• Last year, China spent 9 percent of its GDP on infrastructure. The U.S. spent 2.5 percent. [Source]
• 2.65 million seniors saved an average of $569 on prescriptions last year thanks to the Affordable Care Act. [Source]
• “In 2011, the United States killed Al Qaeda’s most effective propagandist, Anwar al-Awlaki; its operating chief, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman; and of course its founder, chief executive and spiritual leader, Osama bin Laden.” [Source]
• Union membership is at a 70-year low. [Source]
• Unemployment benefits have lifted 3.2 million people out of poverty. [Source]
• The United States used to have the world’s largest percentage of college graduates. We’re now #14. [Source]
• One quarter of all contributions to federal campaigns come from 0.01 percent of Americans. [Source]
• 47.8 percent of households that receive food stamps are working, because having a job is not enough to keep them out of poverty. [Source]
• In the last three years, 30 major corporations spent more on lobbying than they paid in taxes. [Source]
• 50 percent of U.S. workers make less than $26,364 per year. [Source]
• More than one in 70 homes faced foreclosure last year. [Source]
• Since 1985, the federal tax rate for the 400 wealthiest Americans dropped from 29 percent to 18 percent. [Source]
Genderqueer with a touch of happy humanism.
