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Really poor people don't have electricity, cars, central heating, and have probably never seen a disposable diaper. Source: grew up in that situation.

spidersenses 3y ago
Of course, there will always be someone who has it way worse or lives inside an underdeveloped region but this isn't some kind of competition. To observe the lifelong negative effects of growing up poor one doesn't have to grow up in absolute squalor. Living in a large German city, I also never owned a car and didn't feel poor for the fact.
- MichaelZuo 3y ago
  I think the parent is pointing out that this description is of someone literally above average. In no other circumstances would it be referred to in this way. e.g. it’s like saying someone with above average work ethic is ‘lazy’, someone with above average intelligence is ‘stupid’, etc…
  - amanaplanacanal 3y ago
    Well sure. Poor depends on where you are too. Poor in an American city can still be rich compared to poor in a very poor country. I don’t think that negates the point though.
    - MichaelZuo 3y ago
      Does ‘lazy’ and ‘stupid’ also depend on location? i.e. at a conference of neurosurgeons perhaps the vast majority of the HN userbase, including perhaps everyone commenting here, would be considered ‘lazy’ and ‘stupid’. If it’s fine to refer to people in this manner, depending on their physical location, then I think it would have some pretty big implications.
- Rinzler89 3y ago
  >Living in a large German city, I also never owned a car and didn't feel poor for the fact. Lacking a car doesn't make one poor, and if you're growing up in one of Germany's largest cities (where one does not need a car to survive), you're already in an incredibly fortunate position in terms of lottery of birth compared to the rest of the people on the planet.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  > Of course, there will always be someone who has it way worse or lives inside an underdeveloped region It's not "someone". It's the majority of the world's population. 150 years ago, it was all of the world's population, including the rich people. Was everyone severely traumatized back then?
samatman 3y ago
The issue with this sort of gatekeeping definition is: why stop there? There are a billion people living on less than a dollar a day, now they're the "really poor people", you were just lower-middle class. The concept of the poverty line is somewhat artificial but it avoids this sort of pointless digression.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  It is not a "pointless digression" at all, but rather speaks directly to the claims at hand. If being "poor" in the United States (meaning, say, having to buy Walmart clothes instead of designer stuff) leads to "lifelong trauma", imagine how traumatic it must be to live in one of those countries where the income is less than a dollar a day.

spidersenses 3y ago

Of course, there will always be someone who has it way worse or lives inside an underdeveloped region but this isn't some kind of competition. To observe the lifelong negative effects of growing up poor one doesn't have to grow up in absolute squalor. Living in a large German city, I also never owned a car and didn't feel poor for the fact.

MichaelZuo 3y ago
I think the parent is pointing out that this description is of someone literally above average. In no other circumstances would it be referred to in this way. e.g. it’s like saying someone with above average work ethic is ‘lazy’, someone with above average intelligence is ‘stupid’, etc…
- amanaplanacanal 3y ago
  Well sure. Poor depends on where you are too. Poor in an American city can still be rich compared to poor in a very poor country. I don’t think that negates the point though.
  - MichaelZuo 3y ago
    Does ‘lazy’ and ‘stupid’ also depend on location? i.e. at a conference of neurosurgeons perhaps the vast majority of the HN userbase, including perhaps everyone commenting here, would be considered ‘lazy’ and ‘stupid’. If it’s fine to refer to people in this manner, depending on their physical location, then I think it would have some pretty big implications.
Rinzler89 3y ago
>Living in a large German city, I also never owned a car and didn't feel poor for the fact. Lacking a car doesn't make one poor, and if you're growing up in one of Germany's largest cities (where one does not need a car to survive), you're already in an incredibly fortunate position in terms of lottery of birth compared to the rest of the people on the planet.
Turing_Machine 3y ago
> Of course, there will always be someone who has it way worse or lives inside an underdeveloped region It's not "someone". It's the majority of the world's population. 150 years ago, it was all of the world's population, including the rich people. Was everyone severely traumatized back then?

samatman 3y ago

The issue with this sort of gatekeeping definition is: why stop there? There are a billion people living on less than a dollar a day, now they're the "really poor people", you were just lower-middle class. The concept of the poverty line is somewhat artificial but it avoids this sort of pointless digression.

Turing_Machine 3y ago
It is not a "pointless digression" at all, but rather speaks directly to the claims at hand. If being "poor" in the United States (meaning, say, having to buy Walmart clothes instead of designer stuff) leads to "lifelong trauma", imagine how traumatic it must be to live in one of those countries where the income is less than a dollar a day.