There have been so many “feel good” stories about people with nothing who find joy in the ordinary, and for the longest time, I respected that. Honestly, there is something special about seeing what happens in the world and not letting it affect one to the point of dysfunction. Conversely, pretending that all one needs is a walk in a world of hoarders and environmental degradation is lunacy, and I am pleased that more people are waking up to this reality. It is not healthy to keep telling deprived people that we just need to look at our degradation with a “fresh perspective.”
Life requires many things, and the list continues to grow as society lets the technoligarchs run rampant, buying the press and exploiting the masses. Not having any one of those things can make life stressful, especially since we have privatized the availability of food, clothing, and shelter. Yes, many people want and need more money, and pretending like flowers will cure foreclosure is just pissing on someone and calling it rain. People need resources to relieve stress, and pretending otherwise is to surround the vulnerable with 24/7 gaslighting, and wildly unhealthy for society as a whole.
Stop romanticizing poverty and telling everyone to find ways to “have fun” without resources. We get it: rich people have no intention of sharing their resources, and they want us to feel like we have moral failings for our lack. Everyone also understands that because some people got lucky, they cannot empathize. Bad journalism blames the targets for abuse, like environmentalism, and it is way past time to stop having idiotic legacy journalists talk about a world they have failed to understand. Being poor requires the world to pour in, not for people to “change.”
—Image found here.
