They have to, it's the only way they can justify the system they love so much. If poverty is a systemic failure, then they might have to change something, but if poverty is a personal choice, all's fair.
this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2025
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Ergo, most American adults are uneducated or willfully ignorant.
It’s more comforting for people to think it’s a choice they make rather than something completely out of their control that may happen to them at any time. And it comes with a bonus that they feel superior “making” the right choices in life.
Failing up accounts for a lot of success.
So most us adults are idiots. Checks out.
And cherry on top: guess I am safe to say they are so very not alone
I live here- can confirm vast majority have a terrible education and don't care enough about things like history or statistics of poverty. Tbh, a ton being in poverty probably doesn't help them think about these things and there's just this constant strain trying to live even in the middle class.
Which is something that I can never understand: it is obvious neither of us decided how much taxes we pay, how high salaries are, how much margin the companies are allowed to have etc. So yeah, our choices do have a role in where we are now, but we are far from only players in the game, so to speak. And this line of thought does not require any profound knowledge
Many people are too psychologically fragile to process the thought that we live in an evil world run by evil people, and, like, I almost want to say fair enough, it is kind of a lot, but then they start scapegoating poor and marginalized people for everything that goes wrong and my patience runs out quick
Excuse me have you missed the 75 million people who believe, with cult like devotion, in a "deep state?"
I get what youre saying but like most people have no trouble thinking the world is evil and run by evil people. They just think the evil people are "globalists" (read: da joos) because they are brainwashed Muppets.
There is no contradiction, really. Things are bad because are actively making it so, and if not for them, all would have been just and fair, as all things should be. The reality of "just and fair are just dreams made up by humans" is still beyond them
"Until it happens to them"
I do volunteer work for homeless outreaches and yeah I'm totally sure the women who are homeless right now due to escaping domestic abuse it was totally an "individual choice" to get their faces beat in on a daily basis. The kids who are homeless because their parents abandoned them for being LGBTQ+ - totally an individual choice on their part. The military vets who are homeless because their country ditched to the curb, yup that's an individual choice because they decided to serve their country and then their country said "get lost". The ones who end up on the streets because they couldn't get treatment or help for their mental illness. Why that was an individual choice to go mentally ill in the first place! The Elderly who can no longer afford to pay the constantly increasing rents on whatever fixed income they have, totally an individual choice to not some how make more money at the age of 80+.
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I would be surprised if the percentage was much lower in any country experiencing a surge of the far right currently
The only reason they can gain any ground is there's a large contingent of people who have been conned into blaming others for what's actually caused by the failings of the economic structures built around them
The AP-NORC poll of 1,121 U.S. adults
They had the audacity to claim that 0.0003% of the population indicative of the whole. As if we didn't know already, these ppl are divorced from reality and are pushing rage bait/propaganda.
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Oh, I ~~live~~ love that definition: "actions will necessarily have morally fair and fitting consequences for the actor". Magic morals on a planet where life devours life just because it is hungry/capable
Guess there really are people who think humans are totally not animals
US or the World? You would have to argue that with equal opportunities other countries/populations would do the same. Mental health is a issue in the US.. but the world too. 2.9 billion people are still offline? They are not even here to give their opinions. Let me guess, you think that's by choice?
Sure. So according to most adults, humans are somehow perfectly adapted for this very short and specific period of history. And corporations don’t take advantage of that at all.
I think it's systemic for sure; but also true that the only thing you can directly control is your own choices, so maybe this is a sort of hopeful take?
But like, what sort of choices are gonna lead you out of poverty, if you land there? I got out with school and then job, but does that even work anymore? Crime, maybe but that would take so much intelligence to pull off it is usually the realm of the already rich. I know a guy whose sister did topless dancing and was so good at saving the money she bought a house with it, and went to school after that, but that seems a one-in-a-million story.
I do think individual choices can send you TO poverty, but can't really see how they can get you out, it's more luck than choice.
Here are two lies that is it useful to believe:
- My current situation and the past is/was entirely beyond my control. Luck, fate, the system, and actions of others put me here now.
- My future strongly depends on My decisions. They are the only things that will get me from where I am to where I want to be, and the first decision is where I want to be next.
But, maybe that's just my privilege talking. My skills, interests, and opportunities aligned well with the system for at least 30 years.
This shit makes me want to scream everytime I encounter it
In my experience, they think the exact same thing is what makes some people rich, when often it‘s dumb luck. Or, more likely, rich parents.
Regarding long-term homeless in the US, isn't most of that attributed to mental health & drug/alcohol abuse? I understand short-term homelessness is different.
In news that shocked no one. Americans are still stupid!