jtr7 on 1/12/2008 at 19:48
Some employers are simply not fooled during an interview. They know a depressed wretch when they see one, no matter how clean-cut. Having an education doesn't mean having skills or abilities. Sometimes getting a leg up means there's someone crushed underfoot. I can tell you this much, there are people who are horrified when they see what they would have to become in order to be even minimally successful. The word they use is "monster". I know what they mean. Yeah, it's complicated.
There are those who are striving to be better and aren't getting anywhere. Working harder and harder, because there's less and less of themselves to work with, and burning the fuck out. Like a dead bulb, they are useless for their intended function. But since they are people, they sense their loss of purpose.
There are valid personality types that cannot define themselves by their occupation. There are skill sets that are not marketable. There are people who have the mind, but not the body, or have the body, but not the mind. There are people who invoke hatred and jealousy by their integrity who have been struck down. There are many ways to practice discrimination in the workplace that cannot be fought against. There are many people in positions of power who are not there because they are qualified, but because of who they know. Mental illness and social disorders are rampant. Some people are so frustrated and powerless, they are effectively mental, and the further consequence is stigma, and even ostracism, which feeds the vicious circle.
Some people have no stamina, due to genetics, disability, lifestyle, an undiagnosed disease, environment, etc., and will never be able to work more than one job, and can barely work the one they've got, and until the problem is identified, which usually costs money the person doesn't have, they are deemed lazy, and slandered, and scorned. Yeah, it's complicated. There is no clear concept.
Grievously, the solutions require bloodshed--or a new way of thinking about jobs, skills, and "abnormal" personality types.
As for these businesses that cash in on desperation, the word "culpable" comes to mind. Well, some sort of accountability needs to happen with the stores and people who give in to the herd mentality. I'm not holding my breath.
"Merry Christmas, Johnny! Here's everything you wanted. You'd better take care of it, an' not break it, 'cause remember: We killed someone so you could have it."
fett on 1/12/2008 at 20:03
Quote Posted by dethtoll
Point is some people just perpetuate their own shitty situations. Got 7 kids and can barely afford to feed them all? Then why are you fucking in the back of your inherited van with a reused condom ('cuz they're expensive!) while Kenny Chesney blares on the radio? Don't you know sexual intercourse is the leading cause of pregnancy in the United States?
But if you're trying to juggle 3 jobs and night classes while keeping your kid warm and fed, kudos to you. You're not the sort of person I have an issue with.
Does that make everything clear for everyone?
For whatever it's worth, I think you're dead on, and I can tell from the specific examples you're using that you know what you're talking about.
When I was a pastor, my church was in the poorest part of Saline County Arkansas where the "7 kids" example is NOT an exaggeration. Most folks blame the president or their boss for keeping them down when the fact is they're too lazy to get off their asses (and sometimes their sister/cousin/step-daughter's ass) and fill out a FAFSA form. They live in shitty trailers with a $1700 satellite tied to the end that they bought with welfare money, and spend $50 a day on McDonald's and Pabst "beer" (then bitch because Medicare won't pay for their liver transplant). They simply don't give a shit. Right next door is scenario number two where the person actually wants to get out of the situation and is doing more than buying lottery tickets to make it happen. I interacted personally with hundreds of cases like both of these and came to the conclusion that the folks who want to get out of Wal-mart land usually do, and the others are the reason NASCAR and pro-wrestling are so popular. The latter can kiss my ass - why should I care if they don't? I just feel sorry for their kids.
ZylonBane on 1/12/2008 at 20:19
Quote Posted by jtr7
I can tell you this much, there are people who are horrified when they see what they would have to become in order to be even minimally successful. The word they use is "
edjumacated".
Fixed.
Queue on 1/12/2008 at 20:25
Quote Posted by fett
When I was a pastor, my church was in the poorest part of Saline County Arkansas where the "7 kids" example is NOT an exaggeration. Most folks blame the president or their boss for keeping them down when the fact is they're too lazy to get off their asses (and sometimes their sister/cousin/step-daughter's ass) and fill out a FAFSA form. They live in shitty trailers with a $1700 satellite tied to the end that they bought with welfare money, and spend $50 a day on McDonald's and Pabst "beer" (then bitch because Medicare won't pay for their liver transplant). They simply don't give a shit. Right next door is scenario number two where the person actually wants to get out of the situation and is doing more than buying lottery tickets to make it happen. I interacted personally with hundreds of cases like both of these and came to the conclusion that the folks who want to get out of Wal-mart land usually do, and the others are the reason NASCAR and pro-wrestling are so popular. The latter can kiss my ass - why should I care if they don't? I just feel sorry for their kids.
*sending all of my money to the Church of Fett*
Finally! FINALLY!! There is someone else...
Can I dump my wife and move in?
ercles on 1/12/2008 at 20:37
Quote Posted by jtr7
Grievously, the solutions require bloodshed
Okay, now you've lost me.
I for one don't actually see what all the fuss is about, dethtoll is only being realistic, not sure why we're all hating so much.
ZylonBane on 1/12/2008 at 21:01
Quote Posted by ercles
Okay, now you've lost me.
I for one don't actually see what all the fuss is about, dethtoll is only being realistic, not sure why we're all hating so much.
Don't you SEE man? Isn't it all
CLEAR? HELTER SKELTER! HELTER SKELTER!!
HELTER SKELTER!!!Kolya on 1/12/2008 at 21:24
*picks up one of the marbles everyone's losing at an alarming pace, looks at it and throws it away*
Ghostly Apparition on 2/12/2008 at 04:26
Quote Posted by fett
THIS.
I was at my in-laws in Searcy AR (Read: BumFuckEgypt) for Thanksgiving and actually had to go to a Wal-Mart on Black Friday afternoon to get some diapers (No Target). The place looked like a fucking tornado came through there. I saw more ass-cracks, crack-heads, head-jobs, and jobless junkies with 12 filthy kids and 200 extra pounds plodding through the place than you could take in at a Harley Davidson rally. One little girl had mushrooms growing on the bottom of her feet I shit you not.
I live in Bentonville, AR, the home of Wal-Mart, and I drive 40 minutes into Fayetteville every week to go to Target and Harps because I can't stand that place.
Ok, I can picture that in Arkansas, which is sort of redneck country(or maybe hillbilly) But how is it I can go into a Target here in Los Angeles county
and the place is very nice and clean, but go into the Walmart 3 blocks away
and the scene is exactly as you describe there. With the added bonus that the barefoot homeless live in old motor homes or beat up trailers behind raggedy cars in the Walmart parking lot. (IN THE FREAKING PARKING LOT?)
Please keep your (ass-cracks, crack-heads, head-jobs, and jobless junkies)
in Arkansas please.
Syndy/3 on 2/12/2008 at 08:34
If the poor were all beautiful and charming the problem of poverty would soon be solved.
fett on 3/12/2008 at 19:56
Quote Posted by Syndy/3
If the poor were all beautiful and charming the problem of poverty would soon be solved.
That's just the thing - there are poor people who are beautiful, charming, industrious, and hard-working (and shop at Wal-Mart). You'll usually find that while they try to take advantage of sales and such, they draw the line at killing someone to get the last copy of American Chopper Season 6.
For the record, I was one of those trailer living, night-shift people the first five years of my marriage. But my trailer was clean, my buying habits proportionate to my income, etc. Hell, I STILL don't have a flatscreen TV, DVR, or iPOD, but it wasn't worth enduring Black Friday to get one. If I'm beating anyone down for something, it's related to them messing with my kids or wife, or stealing from me. Other than that, I can't understand what motivates people to behave like this, broke or not.
I guess what I'm saying here is that all poor people should act like me. :p
