And you need to be poor to understand and effectively help the poor. And you need to be a minority to understand the problems minorities face.
Yes, participating in something or belonging to a group helps one understand it, but participating and belonging are not pre-requirements to help and understand.
I am an exception, yes. But I think the reason I'm an exception - the fact that I've experienced, very directly, very personally, and very nearly fatally - the insane hell that is American poverty - is important.
People aren't opposed to helping people who need it. They just don't understand that people need it.
I think that you have misread/misinterpreted what Frondo has said. Frondo said, "The X doesn't do Y, which is why they are still X." You say/interpret Frondo as saying, "The X doesn't do Y because they are X."
What's the difference? Assume that a group of people have an expected group of behaviors. If they had a different set of behaviors, they could remove themselves from the group. But if they don't have those other behaviors, they aren't able to remove themselves from the group. Are they in the group because they are in the group (as you have been saying Frondo has been saying)? Or are they in the group because they don't have a set of behaviors to remove themselves from the group (as I interpret Frondo as saying)?
In the context of poverty in the US, there are countless structural, cultural, behavioral, and just daily life practicalities of why rising above poverty is very difficult. While I don't agree that the lack of political motivation and clout are the only or primary reasons for continued poverty, I do agree they are substantial contributing factors.
Growing up relatively poor (at least for Western standards), it feels that I can empathize with the poor a lot more than those who did not grow up similarly.
You can read about poverty, imagine it, and have knowledge about it. But unless you've experienced it first hand, you cannot truly understand what it's like.
I think that understanding can lead people to be more altruistic.
Yes you did. 'there are also drawbacks that are supported by research'
If increasing rationality has no effect on depression then it's not a drawback.
Or, put another way, being poor is correlated with being a minority. But, becoming poor is not going to transform you into a minority. Thus, saying being a minority is a drawback of being poor is confusing cause and effect.
Having some folks close to me that are trapped in the cycle of poverty this article felt quite refreshing.
I don't know if it's true but it helps explain that I don't understand the plight of poverty because I've never experienced it.
Being an engineer I can think of all the ways people near me in poverty can find a way out. I've even worked with them on some plans to do so. They haven't worked. It's frustrating.
Acknowledging that I don't understand moves me from frustration to empathy which is a much better place to be.
People don't 'tell' themselves they are poor and stuck. People learn they are poor and stuck when that has been their experience from their youth.
Some people's circumstances are a result of systemic racism that has kept them from succeeding. Some people have been deliberately kept from better jobs, better schools, and better neighborhoods. Some people have consistently bad experiences from the power structure.
Possibly it could be argued that many of these barriers can be overcome in the modern age but that is a questionable assertion and the experiences of one's parents and grandparents is not easily overlooked.
I am not sure what you are saying. Those who are able to learn will do so, given the right environment. Those who cannot, will not, whatever help you give them. Poverty has nothing to do with it, though those who lack the ability to learn may well also be poor.
If poverty if viewed as a lack of resources for certain individuals, then understanding the allocation and distribution of resourced over all of humanity is relevant as a means to understand the problem.
Everyone and their dog knows not to do drugs. Still people do. This is not actionable advice.
Knowing about the effects of poverty means knowing more about yourself. Understanding yourself leads to being able to take more effective actions increasing the control you have over your life.
You seem to think it is about victim mindset vs whatever you toxic middle-class self help "individual responsibility" thing is. Real change can only happen once you understand and accept yourself, including being a victim of circumstance and birth. After that there can there be healing and proper action.
> Telling them to live in misery and wait for the collective to solve a social problem in decades isn't actionable or useful advice either.
That is not the point. The point is for them to educate themselves on the issues they are facing, to politically organize, to organize in the neighborhood, to help each other out and ideally become leaders and role-models in their community. It starts with seeking help and community, not trying to lift yourself up by your bootstraps which often is not realistic.
> Individual responsibility and effort is the foundation of collective responsibility. You can't have collective action with personal action. It isn't one or the other. The boat won't move if there is individual responsibility to paddle.
Yes, obviously collective responsibility includes a form of individual responsibility. They only work together when your are poor.
Kamaal makes a valid point. He is simply stating things from the perspective of a poor person, and is describing reality. It would be a big mistake for a poor person to rely on somebody else to improve his situation.
The situation is very similar in South Africa. The poor makes up such a large proportion of the population that their situation cannot be improved significantly without major wealth redistribution (combined with a massive reduction in government corruption, preferably). Neither of these things are likely to happen (unless there is a revolution), so a poor person can only realisticly rely on himself to improve his situation.
Kamaal's point does not contradict the OP's. It's just a statement of reality from the perspective of the poor.
Yes, participating in something or belonging to a group helps one understand it, but participating and belonging are not pre-requirements to help and understand.
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