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>I feel like it would be better if we just tagged poverty as being off-topic to Hacker News. I understand where what's underlying this sentiment, but "you don'

>I feel like it would be better if we just tagged poverty as being off-topic to Hacker News. I understand where what's underlying this sentiment, but "you don't get to talk about this subject unless you've personally experienced it" is ultimately unproductive at best. If for nothing else, when it comes to poverty in particular it's worth keeping in mind that educated people earning middle or higher incomes make up the most generous and most frequent donors to charity. "Shut up but pay up" doesn't read all that well.

taurath 6y ago
That reading was totally not my intention - go ahead and talk about it by all means. But when I see the same completely unuseful threads time after time amongst people who have pocket change that can seriously help lives, it becomes an erudite ivory tower academic argument that doesn’t have much empathy for people who are in poverty. Note I gave none of my own “qualifications” here. If you took my post to mean “shut up but pay up” then I don’t really find there’s much point in conversing further.
- nicbou 6y ago
  That's how I read your post too. I don't see why we should not talk about the problem because we haven't experienced it ourselves. If anything, what we share might develop our empathy for the people who are affected. Would you rather we just turn a blind eye to it?
- joshspankit 6y ago
  It feels like the underlying message you’re trying to get to is: When people who have never experienced poverty first-hand jump in to the conversation, there is a real danger that they will spout the same unhelpful misconceptions and argue that they are solutions. This can set the conversation back significantly while real lives are at stake. On that point, I would agree. Such as “Those in poverty just have to work harder”, which IMO is one of the absolute worst and most damaging mindsets.

taurath 6y ago

That reading was totally not my intention - go ahead and talk about it by all means. But when I see the same completely unuseful threads time after time amongst people who have pocket change that can seriously help lives, it becomes an erudite ivory tower academic argument that doesn’t have much empathy for people who are in poverty. Note I gave none of my own “qualifications” here. If you took my post to mean “shut up but pay up” then I don’t really find there’s much point in conversing further.

nicbou 6y ago
That's how I read your post too. I don't see why we should not talk about the problem because we haven't experienced it ourselves. If anything, what we share might develop our empathy for the people who are affected. Would you rather we just turn a blind eye to it?
joshspankit 6y ago
It feels like the underlying message you’re trying to get to is: When people who have never experienced poverty first-hand jump in to the conversation, there is a real danger that they will spout the same unhelpful misconceptions and argue that they are solutions. This can set the conversation back significantly while real lives are at stake. On that point, I would agree. Such as “Those in poverty just have to work harder”, which IMO is one of the absolute worst and most damaging mindsets.