4 ms·
I will never stop being dumbfounded by the contrast of people going through this kind of hardship being surrounded by some of the wealthiest people in the world
by imiric 8mo ago
I will never stop being dumbfounded by the contrast of people going through this kind of hardship being surrounded by some of the wealthiest people in the world. This exists in other parts of the world as well, of course, but it's particularly troubling that it exists in the tech epicenter.
There's something deeply disturbing about a society that allows this to happen, and yet it's something we've learned to accept and largely ignore for centuries. The promise of technology bringing forth universal prosperity is a lie promoted by those who have something to gain from that narrative. Yet we keep believing these people to this day.
- karlgkk 8mo agoIf you needed a bed for the night, do you have friends who would offer you their couch? Family? Cousins, parents, etc?
- pierrekin 8mo agoIn my society, absolutely, possibly literally more than a hundred people. Where in the world is the answer no? Maybe if you’ve freshly immigrated to a new country or something? That is a very scary thought, but it’s also scary for me to think that so many people live such isolated lives, it’s such a foreign concept to me culturally.
- darkwater 8mo agoUnfortunately I think there are many places in the world like that. It just takes someone with even a mild mental illness, a relatively small family and the sudden early death of a parent to start a vicious cycle.
- karlgkk 8mo agoThe answer is no when you are severely mentally ill or have some other condition that causes you to be strongly detrimental to the people around you, such as addiction. To the point where you have no friends. To the point where even your own parents have given up. > Where in the world Everywhere. You can’t comprehend it because you don’t know anyone like that, likely because the government you live in takes care of that problem for you. > isolated lives And by the way, the people in your culture in this situation are isolated too, from you. And that’s okay, and maybe good even. But you don’t know about them. I don’t know what the right answer is. America’s answer is definitely not the right answer. But interrogate your culture, too, and how it takes care of your most vulnerable people. You may be dismayed at the answer, or you may not.
- RandyOrion 8mo agoThere is a term called low-trust society, and at least 1.4 billion people are struggling in that.
- philipallstar 8mo ago> Maybe if you’ve freshly immigrated to a new country or something? SF's pro-homeless policies in particular attract people away from real support networks and towards government-assisted ones.
- imiric 8mo agoI don't see how that's relevant. I pay taxes and live in a country with a government in exchange for protection and a decent standard of living. Relying on family, friends or strangers for basic necessities is a sign that my government has failed me.
- johnnyanmac 8mo ago>“I Can Hire Half the Working Class To Fight the Other Half“ Technically a satire quote criticizing the robber Baron it's credited for, but the sentiment is the same. Pay off a bourgeois and they'll fight against the the sympathetic bourgeois and proletariat happily. The elite don't even need to lift a finger.