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You'd rather tell a disabled worker he is worse than useless because if he wanted to work he'd be displacing an able bodied person. If a disabled person wants

by meric 11y ago

You'd rather tell a disabled worker he is worse than useless because if he wanted to work he'd be displacing an able bodied person. If a disabled person wants to work despite being given benefits I think they should be allowed to. Perhaps the only reason he is having to accept a lower wage in the first place is because of his appearance. (People afraid of someone who doesn't look normal) which speaks nothing about his effectiveness or capability. You're preventing people from joining in society, because they are different. That's some prejudice and discrimination.

paulmd 11y ago
Who am I to tell anyone that they are worse than useless? I never said anyone was worthless - that's your Protestant work ethic talking. The reality is that in the near future we will no longer need everyone in the population to do assembly-line work. It's time to explore self-actualization - the softer arts, enterpreneurship, etc... We are all going to have to get used to the idea that someone who isn't in the workforce isn't "worse than useless", as you put it. When you put it in so many words, that's really a hideously offensive concept. Sometimes people drop out of college and start the next Apple or Microsoft or become the next Andy Warhol. The rates of enterpreneurship in Scandinavia are nearly an order of magnitude higher than the US. Believe it or not people actually don't want to sit idle and will start working on that one crazy idea if you let them. We can certainly find something for disabled people to do regardless of whether it's paid. In no way should we prevent people from joining in society - but society is so much more than a paycheck. There are so many things to do in society that help our fellow citizens but don't necessarily pay a check every two weeks. But until we get something like a basic income going, we also must ensure that things like mentally-disabled and prison labor don't the labor market that's actually feeding families.
douche 11y ago
That's a problem we're going to have to figure out real soon, since we're probably looking at at least half of humanity being unemployable within the next couple decades. Unless, you know, we pay everybody to dig holes and fill them in. Raising the minimum wage is only going to accelerate the automation of low-skill labor.

by meric 11y ago

paulmd 11y ago

Who am I to tell anyone that they are worse than useless? I never said anyone was worthless - that's your Protestant work ethic talking. The reality is that in the near future we will no longer need everyone in the population to do assembly-line work. It's time to explore self-actualization - the softer arts, enterpreneurship, etc... We are all going to have to get used to the idea that someone who isn't in the workforce isn't "worse than useless", as you put it. When you put it in so many words, that's really a hideously offensive concept. Sometimes people drop out of college and start the next Apple or Microsoft or become the next Andy Warhol. The rates of enterpreneurship in Scandinavia are nearly an order of magnitude higher than the US. Believe it or not people actually don't want to sit idle and will start working on that one crazy idea if you let them. We can certainly find something for disabled people to do regardless of whether it's paid. In no way should we prevent people from joining in society - but society is so much more than a paycheck. There are so many things to do in society that help our fellow citizens but don't necessarily pay a check every two weeks. But until we get something like a basic income going, we also must ensure that things like mentally-disabled and prison labor don't the labor market that's actually feeding families.

douche 11y ago

That's a problem we're going to have to figure out real soon, since we're probably looking at at least half of humanity being unemployable within the next couple decades. Unless, you know, we pay everybody to dig holes and fill them in. Raising the minimum wage is only going to accelerate the automation of low-skill labor.