6 ms·

Better idea: A camp where they have to struggle as the working poor for two months and get shit on by cops, bureaucrats, banks and angry customers.

madeuptempacct 8y ago
You can't mimic being poor. Enduring whatever isn't that hard when you know it's just a temporary game. At the very least, you don't get the psychological effect. Despite that, it would still be useful.
- extralego 8y ago
  That’s right, but I doubt the “would still be useful part.” I’m not sure there’s anything more harmful to society than wealthy folk who think they were poor once, but were not. Short-lived poverty feels like a game to me. It’s entirely motivational. The psychological toll doesn’t set in until repeated let-downs begin sinking in, and opportunities start evaporating. It begins undermining every other aspect of well-being and it really seems like somebody is playing a trick on you. This is why poor people prefer to be surrounded by other poor people. It helps to be reminded you’re not alone, which is what truly puts a person over the edge..
  - astrodust 8y ago
    > ... poor people prefer to be surrounded by other poor people... I'd challenge that assertion. I think people like to be around friends, and society tends to put people in a position where the only friends they can have are in the same economic strata.
    - Kalium 8y ago
      If people who feel deprived are frequently reminded of their relative deprivation, they will tend to dislike it. If your friends all talk about their vacations in Bali and $300 dinners, most people will find themselves feeling at least a little inadequate no matter how wonderful, kind, loving, and compassionate those friends are. The same thing will happen even via more subtle means as people give moderate-cost gifts or wearing clothing that is visibly more expensive. You're 100% correct. People like to be around friends. It's perhaps worth considering that there might possibly be more to it than just that.
    - extralego 8y ago
      Well, you’ve exposed yourself as having never been poor for any real length of time. So you’re wrong, but things could be a lot worse.
  - stuckinarut 8y ago
    "I was poor but then I pulled myself up by the bootstraps by getting access to my trust fund again"
- stuckinarut 8y ago
  Nah what you do is tell them it's 2 weeks. Then pull them out after 2-4 years instead.
Kalium 8y ago
That's a wonderful idea, well worth exploring! Surely having that experience would teach people some empathy, some sympathy, and some compassion for their fellow human beings. My general experience is that deliberately inflicting pain and misery on people in an effort to teach them is an excellent instructional approach. Mostly it tends to teach those people that you are an ass, rather than whatever the intended lesson happens to be, but I'm sure that's incidental.
- astrodust 8y ago
  At the absolute least you might identify those who are sociopaths and those who haven't been completely corrupted by wealth.
  - Kalium 8y ago
    You're completely right. It would be a great way to tell them apart. The normal kids will be the ones who resent you for inflicting pain and misery (as they understand such) on them for no reason they understand. The sociopaths will be the ones who figure out what you are hoping to impart to the children and regurgitate it back at you.

madeuptempacct 8y ago

You can't mimic being poor. Enduring whatever isn't that hard when you know it's just a temporary game. At the very least, you don't get the psychological effect. Despite that, it would still be useful.

extralego 8y ago
That’s right, but I doubt the “would still be useful part.” I’m not sure there’s anything more harmful to society than wealthy folk who think they were poor once, but were not. Short-lived poverty feels like a game to me. It’s entirely motivational. The psychological toll doesn’t set in until repeated let-downs begin sinking in, and opportunities start evaporating. It begins undermining every other aspect of well-being and it really seems like somebody is playing a trick on you. This is why poor people prefer to be surrounded by other poor people. It helps to be reminded you’re not alone, which is what truly puts a person over the edge..
- astrodust 8y ago
  > ... poor people prefer to be surrounded by other poor people... I'd challenge that assertion. I think people like to be around friends, and society tends to put people in a position where the only friends they can have are in the same economic strata.
  - Kalium 8y ago
    If people who feel deprived are frequently reminded of their relative deprivation, they will tend to dislike it. If your friends all talk about their vacations in Bali and $300 dinners, most people will find themselves feeling at least a little inadequate no matter how wonderful, kind, loving, and compassionate those friends are. The same thing will happen even via more subtle means as people give moderate-cost gifts or wearing clothing that is visibly more expensive. You're 100% correct. People like to be around friends. It's perhaps worth considering that there might possibly be more to it than just that.
  - extralego 8y ago
    Well, you’ve exposed yourself as having never been poor for any real length of time. So you’re wrong, but things could be a lot worse.
- stuckinarut 8y ago
  "I was poor but then I pulled myself up by the bootstraps by getting access to my trust fund again"
stuckinarut 8y ago
Nah what you do is tell them it's 2 weeks. Then pull them out after 2-4 years instead.

Kalium 8y ago

That's a wonderful idea, well worth exploring! Surely having that experience would teach people some empathy, some sympathy, and some compassion for their fellow human beings. My general experience is that deliberately inflicting pain and misery on people in an effort to teach them is an excellent instructional approach. Mostly it tends to teach those people that you are an ass, rather than whatever the intended lesson happens to be, but I'm sure that's incidental.

astrodust 8y ago
At the absolute least you might identify those who are sociopaths and those who haven't been completely corrupted by wealth.
- Kalium 8y ago
  You're completely right. It would be a great way to tell them apart. The normal kids will be the ones who resent you for inflicting pain and misery (as they understand such) on them for no reason they understand. The sociopaths will be the ones who figure out what you are hoping to impart to the children and regurgitate it back at you.