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What do you want the government to do when your parents decide to abandon civilization and then live out without plumbing in the Oregon wilderness and then your

by rayiner 8mo ago

What do you want the government to do when your parents decide to abandon civilization and then live out without plumbing in the Oregon wilderness and then your dad abandons the family to do drugs and alcohol? How can you blame “the system” for that? My wife is also from Oregon. Her grandma was “marry a random truck driver at 14 for a ticket out of town” poor. The guy abandoned the family and drank himself to an early death. And her dad was similarly situated to this guy—my wife lived part of her childhood in a converted barn. Her takeaway from her family history was the opposite: people are often incredibly self destructive and you can’t help those people. The problem isn’t that lawmakers were never poor. Many were. The problem is that all the ones who were were high-functioning enough to escape poverty. So our systems for helping poor people assume a level of competence and administrative capacity that’s simply beyond the capability of a lot of poor people. For example, a third of uninsured people are actually eligible for Medicaid. Someone in my wife’s family racked up 50,000 in medical bills because they didn’t sign up for Medicaid despite being eligible the whole time.

Supermancho 8mo ago
> my wife lived part of her childhood in a converted barn. So did my mom, in Oregon. Maybe no so ironically, my wife lived on a 2 trailer desert compound on a plot 2 miles from visible city infrastructure and 5 miles from any sort of built structure for most of her childhood.
problynawt 8mo ago
The system should not grind to a halt for a person because they did not fill out some paperwork That such a trivial thing destines someone to endless debt and health issues is just cruelty. That it doesn't account for terrible parents when they are a constant like gravity itself is nothing more than the result of willfully ignorant politicians parroting tropes of long dead, less educated, and more ignorant politicians Many politicians are intentionally in on the scam, erecting barriers so they can funnel wealth to rich corporations instead; look at this surplus from cutting education! Of course they don't say where the surplus came from so plainly. Mathematically air tight non-violent eugenics. Nevermind the meat suits engaged in such are useless themselves. Politicians are primarily just that, not also scientists and doctors. Just fuzzy VHS copies of historical story. The system as a whole can be blamed for ignoring reality and coddling non-contributors. Boomers and GenX did not invent anything we rely on. Art, music, technology...etc etc... are centuries old. But the contemporary elders act like reality itself is due to their existence. It's such a farcical concept. None of them are owed as none of them gave. They merely took the baton and redipped both ends in their own shit.
fleshmonad 8mo ago
>...abandons the family to do drugs and alcohol? How can you blame “the system” for that? We don't live in a vacuum and there a reasons why people turn to drug use that the system exacerbates. But that is completely irrelevant, because this blog post is a systemic critique, even if it is told through the life story of an individual. To cherry pick one stanza of the entire blog post to dismiss it on the grounds that the father who left is a drug addict is one more example of the delusions or strategies of the moralizing capitalist.
47282847 8mo ago
> How can you blame “the system” for that? You can, and you should. We all need a helping hand of a community, and a community to heal. We are social beings. And we carry the responsibility for not helping, too. “A child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.“
- aaron695 8mo ago
  [dead]
- belZaah 8mo ago
  I’m not sure you are familiar with the way some traditional communities treat, say, single mothers. The system is, that if you make unfortunate choices (such as moving away from your support network and carrying your life savings where you can forget them) and do not have anything (such as skills or low morals) to compensate, life is going to be hard. That has always been the case, that will always be the case. What the consequential decisions are, differs. But the basic premise of “f around and find out” holds.
  - 47282847 8mo ago
    And again, the collective failings of community (the “system”; the village), as stated in my response.
    - gos9 8mo ago
      “Community” is local and requires inputs, communal support, to function as support networks Impoverished druggies living in the middle of nowhere do not contribute to “the system” and such should not expect an output from it
      - 47282847 8mo ago
        Are you aware that this is your personal opinion? You make it sound like universally agreed fact. I have a different opinion, and operate from a wider definition of “community“ and “system”.
jjj123 8mo ago
Here are a handful of things that “the system” could change that would have helped the author: - free or greatly reduced cost of higher education - replacing means-tested programs like Medicaid with universal versions. Medicare for all, for example, where you don’t have to jump through hoops or even opt in, is better than the dehumanizing system we have in place today. Also removes the barrier to slightly improving one’s life, since you won’t lose your aid after getting a 10% raise or w/e. - cheaper housing, or public housing (god forbid!) These are not pipe dreams, these are all things other civilized countries have. I don’t want to live in a world where you have to be either lucky or extraordinary to live a secure, modest life.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
yomismoaqui 8mo ago
Some people don't know what personal responsibility means.
- happytoexplain 8mo ago
  This is deeply ironic, since often it is the people touting "personal responsibility" most loudly who misunderstand the concept most dramatically. They use it as a convenience to make it easy and comfortable to dismiss human suffering, rather than attempting to understand it.
  - analognoise 8mo ago
    Then when it impacts them directly, they still can’t take any responsibility for anything and it is someone else’s fault. Which is hilarious, except that these people vote.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
happytoexplain 8mo ago
Human are imperfect. One of the most critical functions of "the system" is to flatten out the consequences of imperfection across all humans in the system. To deny this is to invite the end.

by rayiner 8mo ago

Supermancho 8mo ago

> my wife lived part of her childhood in a converted barn. So did my mom, in Oregon. Maybe no so ironically, my wife lived on a 2 trailer desert compound on a plot 2 miles from visible city infrastructure and 5 miles from any sort of built structure for most of her childhood.

problynawt 8mo ago

The system should not grind to a halt for a person because they did not fill out some paperwork That such a trivial thing destines someone to endless debt and health issues is just cruelty. That it doesn't account for terrible parents when they are a constant like gravity itself is nothing more than the result of willfully ignorant politicians parroting tropes of long dead, less educated, and more ignorant politicians Many politicians are intentionally in on the scam, erecting barriers so they can funnel wealth to rich corporations instead; look at this surplus from cutting education! Of course they don't say where the surplus came from so plainly. Mathematically air tight non-violent eugenics. Nevermind the meat suits engaged in such are useless themselves. Politicians are primarily just that, not also scientists and doctors. Just fuzzy VHS copies of historical story. The system as a whole can be blamed for ignoring reality and coddling non-contributors. Boomers and GenX did not invent anything we rely on. Art, music, technology...etc etc... are centuries old. But the contemporary elders act like reality itself is due to their existence. It's such a farcical concept. None of them are owed as none of them gave. They merely took the baton and redipped both ends in their own shit.

fleshmonad 8mo ago

>...abandons the family to do drugs and alcohol? How can you blame “the system” for that? We don't live in a vacuum and there a reasons why people turn to drug use that the system exacerbates. But that is completely irrelevant, because this blog post is a systemic critique, even if it is told through the life story of an individual. To cherry pick one stanza of the entire blog post to dismiss it on the grounds that the father who left is a drug addict is one more example of the delusions or strategies of the moralizing capitalist.

47282847 8mo ago

> How can you blame “the system” for that? You can, and you should. We all need a helping hand of a community, and a community to heal. We are social beings. And we carry the responsibility for not helping, too. “A child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.“

aaron695 8mo ago
[dead]
belZaah 8mo ago
I’m not sure you are familiar with the way some traditional communities treat, say, single mothers. The system is, that if you make unfortunate choices (such as moving away from your support network and carrying your life savings where you can forget them) and do not have anything (such as skills or low morals) to compensate, life is going to be hard. That has always been the case, that will always be the case. What the consequential decisions are, differs. But the basic premise of “f around and find out” holds.
- 47282847 8mo ago
  And again, the collective failings of community (the “system”; the village), as stated in my response.
  - gos9 8mo ago
    “Community” is local and requires inputs, communal support, to function as support networks Impoverished druggies living in the middle of nowhere do not contribute to “the system” and such should not expect an output from it
    - 47282847 8mo ago
      Are you aware that this is your personal opinion? You make it sound like universally agreed fact. I have a different opinion, and operate from a wider definition of “community“ and “system”.

jjj123 8mo ago

Here are a handful of things that “the system” could change that would have helped the author: - free or greatly reduced cost of higher education - replacing means-tested programs like Medicaid with universal versions. Medicare for all, for example, where you don’t have to jump through hoops or even opt in, is better than the dehumanizing system we have in place today. Also removes the barrier to slightly improving one’s life, since you won’t lose your aid after getting a 10% raise or w/e. - cheaper housing, or public housing (god forbid!) These are not pipe dreams, these are all things other civilized countries have. I don’t want to live in a world where you have to be either lucky or extraordinary to live a secure, modest life.

deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]

yomismoaqui 8mo ago

Some people don't know what personal responsibility means.

happytoexplain 8mo ago
This is deeply ironic, since often it is the people touting "personal responsibility" most loudly who misunderstand the concept most dramatically. They use it as a convenience to make it easy and comfortable to dismiss human suffering, rather than attempting to understand it.
- analognoise 8mo ago
  Then when it impacts them directly, they still can’t take any responsibility for anything and it is someone else’s fault. Which is hilarious, except that these people vote.
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]

happytoexplain 8mo ago

Human are imperfect. One of the most critical functions of "the system" is to flatten out the consequences of imperfection across all humans in the system. To deny this is to invite the end.