• Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            1 year ago

            Gonna blow your mind here. Both can be true! People can make it work with some effort and (even you) a ton of luck, but that doesn’t also mean there’s not A HUGE issue. I guarantee you every single person who is struggling day-to-day, and doesn’t have some kind of reality-altering mental illness, wants to improve themselves. Most people either don’t know how, or have tried and tried and tried and just not been fortunate to find their break. Instead of being met with “ah, man, that’s rough bud. Let’s see if we can figure out some resources to help” though, it’s “get a job, don’t do drugs, pull yourself up with those bootstraps you bought (no handouts here!) And fuckin grind til you get it you worthless maggot!” One of those approaches will actually lead to people doing better for themselves, and it’s not the one you chose.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              I guarantee you every single person who is struggling day-to-day, and doesn’t have some kind of reality-altering mental illness, wants to improve themselves

              I can 100% guarantee you this is false. You are dramatically underestimating the number of people who are happy living with nothing if it means they don’t have to try hard.

              I’m literally in favor of paying these people money just to spend, and totally supporting their life of uselessness, but we need to accept that a shitload of these people exist or there cannot be any serious discussion about reforms.

              Most poor people want to not be poor anymore. However millions of poor people are poor because they don’t want to work at all, and only work as much as they have to in order to pay core bills.

              You can’t “save” those people because they don’t want to be saved. Their quality of work sucks, too, so the best thing for everyone is just to have a gov program give them cash and let them contribute to the economy through spending.

              • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                1 year ago

                See, I think those people are living their best lives already. There’s no saving them because there’s nothing to save them from. But I bet they’re still improving their lives in other ways. Everyone wants better for themselves, we just don’t always agree on what better IS.

                • SCB@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  I agree that there is nothing to save them from. They absolutely get to choose how they want to live their lives.

                  I simply disagree with the idea that they want to better themselves at all. That doesn’t match my experience, having worked with thousands of people like this.

                  I wasn’t really big on UBI until I really learned about this entire subclass. They’re what sold me on the concept.

                  • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    5
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    Again, I think they’re still working on improving their situation in their own way. They don’t WANT what we see as improvement. For us, improvement is comfort, money to live, a better home, etc. For some people, it could be achieving an altered brain state. Or reading a book. Or spending a day walking the streets. All of this would, in my view, be “trying to improve your situation” - they all make you more comfortable. They may not be long-term viable, or what the broader society may define as improvement, but that’s kinda irrelevant.

              • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                1 year ago

                Well, something must be weighing you down if you’re on here being shitty at the thought of people needing a bit of help to get out of their rough spot. Hopefully by the time YOU’RE 60, you can get that sorted. It’ll make you feel better.

          • SCB@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            I’m 39 and I do drugs a lot and I pretty much guarantee I’m more successful than you, given what you’ve said.

            Maybe let’s leave the drugs out of this discussion