this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2025
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I know this is a meme, but is this what people think of poor people? Its a little insulting, at least from my perspective.
The following is not my opinion.
People think poor people are lazy. If they were to work hard, they'd be better off. Also, they are impetuous. They have enough money, but they waste it on unnecessary luxuries like an iPhone. Then, when they don't have enough money for food or housing, they ask the government for money. They wouldn't have to if they were frugal and worked hard... Like me and the other successful people. And all those government handouts have to be paid from somewhere. The government taxes me so they can be lazy. Hell... Its so bad that it's more profitable to not work and get money from the government than it is to work. Don't these people have any self respect? So... You may be insulted by this, but if you had some self respect, you'd be insulted by it and do something about it. (If you're a Democrat): I don't mind helping, but you've got to help yourself first.
That's my best shot at it. Most Americans think poverty is contagious and try to stay far away from the poor. Its shitty because it's not like there aren't some people who live this, but the overwhelming majority want to work hard in a place that gives them some belong to earn them enough money to give the people they love the security from poverty.
It’s what the ruling class thinks poor people should do, that’s the basis of the entire meme
No? Listen to anything the ruling class is saying so you can effectively argue against it.
The ruling class thinks poor people work less hours for better food, shelter, and amenities than any time in human history except for maybe compared to a decade ago for some cases(in America ofc). They think that poor people should be grateful for this and spend their time praising capitalism while enjoying the extra free hours they get using their cell phones and fridges while they engage with their local community. Most of the rich genuinely think this.
None of this is strictly wrong, but it blatantly ignores the fact that even based on their own interpretation of capitalism and the economy the amount of excess wealth we produce should have exalted the poor classes to magnitudes better life than they currently enjoy (even setting aside much more egalitarian views of how the economy should work). Instead, as a consequence of their greed and corruption we have generations of people recognizing that asking us to be grateful that most of our productivity gets siphoned away by the laziest of society is twisted and cruel.
Ok
It doesnt come off to me like that. To me it comes off as the person posting the meme telling poor people that there is nothing for them in society and that is offensive. I know the person is not Rich because rich people dont think about what poor people do outside of work, they just dont care or they're so out of touch they think poor people are doing fine and just wasting the excess money.
The people who have the expectation of poor life in the meme are middle class people. But they're wrong, there is plenty of life to live if you're poor. I grew up poor and I bet my family was far happier than most middle class families. When you're poor you dont just work extra hours for no reason, its always done for something. That may be to fix a broken car or to pay rent on a place you can barely afford so your kids can have a better life or it may be just to get something nice for a loved one. When I ask my Dad why he did backbreaking work for 12-16 hours a day he will say it was worth it to give my sister and I a better life.
If the person making this tweet was right then poor people should leave the US. But I dont think they should as a decent life can still be had here even if you are in the bottom 50% of income.
There is life to live if you're poor, but you're not supposed to, society will try to stop it, and most of the best stuff is illegal.
You can no longer give your kids a better life with hard work.
You dont seem to understand how difficult that is and i don't think you've ever been really poor.
So poor people just give up and die?
Supposed to, yeah. It's not great.
This is the type of thing that made me leave my initial comment. I dont think someone who is poor would say this. Having no money is terrifying to middle class people (which is the vibe im getting from you) but its life for people who are dirt poor.
Also to be clear bottom 50% income is 50k a year and not poor, bottom 20% is dirt poor.
'Supposed to' doesn't mean 'does'. It means that's what's asked of you. Thank you for letting me know im middle class. I'll let my bank know right away. Hopefully theyll fix the error by end of business monday.
If you're not middle class and you disagree with what im saying then your life must be working, going home to the cheapest home, eating the cheapest food and then sitting waiting for more money. I highly doubt this is the case.
Or i do stuff im not supposed to. Svery poor person with a shred of dignity does.
So then someone saying "if you're in the bottom 50% of income there is nothing for you in the US. The expectation is working > shit house > cheap food > wait for more money" is false and insults your dignity.
No. You are not reading what im saying. You are reading what you want to read.
I think we are both unable to communicate on this and gonna leave this thread
Ok
This was a very heartfelt post, thank you for writing it up. I see a lot of parallels here in the way my parents thought about me and my siblings growing up.
I think the issue though is one of trajectory. It seems like more and more people are struggling to make it. The thought of working extra to pay for something nice is fading somewhat as working “extra” becomes a necessity just to afford food and housing. There’s a huge upsurge of people going into debt currently via financing their groceries for example.
We should develop robust safety nets to prevent this. We have the resources to make decent groceries and shelter available to everyone. We need to push back hard against every attempt to resist making it actually happen
Yeah I think we mostly agree on this and what needs to be done economically since we're on lemmy. I also want to point out that bottom 50% of income is a big range of incomes from all over the country and there is plenty of people living comfortably in that range.
Middle class people will look out the weekly costs and say "how can they survive" and somedays I honestly dont but i know people will always be poor and I was just trying to make the point that poor doesnt mean lifes over it means lifes harder.