3 ms·
What you describe is a real, severe, and tragic impact of crippling poverty, but I think “SLS” is highlighting something related yet more subtle. From what I c
by ip26 3y ago
What you describe is a real, severe, and tragic impact of crippling poverty, but I think “SLS” is highlighting something related yet more subtle.
From what I can construct, it’s referring to people who are able to meet their basic needs, but are slowly destroying themselves in ways no doctor or medicine can fix. They appear to be able to help themselves, but don’t, because the weight of it all is too much. They could quit smoking, or quit painkillers, or quit sugar, but they just don’t, and it’s because they feel hopeless. The cards are stacked against them, they’ve practically given up, and - critically - given their circumstances, who could blame them?
For example, usually we think of depression as irrational, abnormal, and so antidepressants are a way of correcting your thinking. Except, for someone with “SLS”, maybe depression is actually a perfectly appropriate response to their life circumstances rather than temporary aberrant neurology.
- throaway_12345a 3y agoI am very sorry if I could not frame my comment better. What I didn't write explicitly, but vainly assumed that people will read between the lines. The people I describe also suffer from SLS exactly because what you say. Their lives are full of bad practices like alcoholism, not seeking medical health, choosing cheap and unhealthy choices whenever possible. Because of the weight. You described it well. I assumed that people will get it- SLS is a result of helplessness at the extremes. Another commenter wrote about the role of religion. I also think it plays a somewhat positive role. At least in my state, days of Brahminical oppression are over. And the role of religion and social rules are positives.