Why do Americans hate poor people?

cat

One of the reasons may go back to our Calvinistic roots. A belief that you can not do anything for your own salvation, it is in the hands of god only. As a result, many believed that if you had wealth you were blessed by god and if you did not you were not. Thus, people came to believe that the poor were unworthy, ungodly and would not be saved. This morphed over time into the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps mentality." Of course not all Americans believed this or believe this today, but it seems to have, unfourtunatly, become a part of our culture

nuhax · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 18, 2005 Posts: 62

spudbuddy · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 28, 2005 Posts: 150

oh hell.
America is just the biggest dawg on the block, is all.
Let's not forget Canada...(the cute imitator...stands in well as Hollywood North)
While Washington parades down Main Street, Ottawa whistles down the back alley-
and while we're at it...Australia has its Aboriginals, New Zealand has its Maoris, Western Europe has a whole host of African and Asian sub-cultured "guest" paupers...
and then there's China.
Imagine a country with a middle class 300 million large...
which leaves almost a billion (that's a "B", folks) peasants.
Let's have a little global perspective here.

The dawghouse is done up fine in America no doubt
and the wolves will howl about that.

Hatred is far too strong a word.
Denotes an actual emotional disturbance...accompanying some semblance of blip actually showing up on the radar screen.
Too much to hope for in circles of power...anywhere on the planet.

Let's not forget how many poor people live in oil-producing nations.
None of that wealth ever made a difference in their lives.

America doesn't particularly love, hate, or even notice the poor any more than most other nations.
A fat, corpulent media that bangs the drum ever louder, celebrating the polymorphous worship of manifest destiny only makes it appear so...wealth is healthy as ever, and the whole world applauds in its own various fashions...
I believe it is far less dangerous to examine honestly hypocritical rhetoric, rather than to hide it with by devious sleight of hand.
(Saints are far too rare, these days.)
They will not bail us out after all.

And just to throw a contrary spanner into the works...it might do us well to consider what kind of tolerance exists these days for the obscenely wealthy.
Tolerance is the right kind of word. We used to pat them on the head and forgive them their indiscretions and their silliness. As long as they stayed on the sidelines, and out of our way. They used to comply.

Hatred of poverty strongly suggests the opposite - love of wealth.
Scratch an average American these days...and I think you'd be absolutely amazed at what you'd find just beneath the surface.
(careful where you step...)

seldom_seen · Fission Joined: Apr 12, 2005 Posts: 2066

nuhax · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 18, 2005 Posts: 62

I'd like to see some facts on how the US hates the poor...

Here are some interesting observations to chew on:

"If poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing for a family, relatively few of the 35 million people identified as being "in poverty" by the Census Bureau could be characterized as poor. While material hardship does exist in the United States, it is quite restricted in scope and severity.

The average "poor" person, as defined by the government, has a living standard far higher than the public imagines. The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:

Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.
Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.

The typical poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)

Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.
Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.

Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/BG1713es.cfm

bobcousins

LadyRuby

perplexd

Paul64 · Tar Sands Joined: Sep 23, 2005 Posts: 58

I agree with those responding that we don't actually hate the poor; we just do our best to ignore them. Me, guilty as charged; I have to admit sadly I don't have a huge compassion for the poor here in the U.S.; most of them get by ok and have more than enough material comforts and watch plenty of TV. Many are grossly obese, unhealthy, and personally helpless. I don't blame them for the situation and culture they have been born into, or subscribe to the idea that they can 'pick themselves up' and get to a better situation. All in all it's quite sad, but giving them welfare funds does nothing to help in the long run.

The 'poor' people in this world I have a true affinity for (if you can call them 'poor'), despite a limited association, are the remaining indigenous peoples of the third world. In Peru I had the privilege of being exposed to the culture and music of the indians in the small village of Chivay. These indians live lives more balanced in mind, body, and spirit than almost all of us first-worlders rich or poor, have a unique culture and a wonderful spirit, amazing music and dance, and the smiles on their faces told a thousand words and deeply moved me.

Thinking about the encroachment on these fast-disappearing villages and peoples by heartless mining and other first-world interests breaks my heart far more than the tragic scenes from New Orleans.
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thuja

My job is to work with the poor and those with disabilities. Yesterday I stood in line with one of my friends for over two hours with 80 other needy people so he could get a bag of groceries. My friend is old and slightly disabled and lives on 564 $ a month plus 60 $ in food stamps he gets from the govt. He is one of the lucky ones because he was labeled with having a disability so he can receive this paltry check once a month. He survives by going to food banks, soup kitchens and leaving the heat off at his appartment so his electricity bill isn't too high.

The working class have it maybe worse than he does. They have to work their asses off and still don't have enough to pay for health or dental insurance which comes for free if you are destitute. If they have children, they are in a hole they can't get out of. They need to pay for larger living quarters and spend extras for clothing, and more food. Many of these folks are racking up massive credit card debt and many file for bankruptcy (increasingly difficult here).

The middle class have it just a bit better but are squeezed by the cost of mortgage payments (increasingly high due to housing bubble), health care costs, student loans, energy bills, etc. The middle class is not saving and many go into credit card debt as well.

This leaves the professional class (upper middle) and the wealthy on the top. There is an increasing division between the bottom and the top and social mobility is getting increasingly difficult. With the advent of PO and as costs for everything goes up and jobs dry up, the struggling working and middle class will simply fall into the ranks of the poor as they just can't make ends meet.

Those who "hate" the poor, or just ignored them, will experience first hand what its like to have difficulty getting food on the table.

1966 · Guest

spudbuddy · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 28, 2005 Posts: 150

on the other hand, how stupid a question was it, really?
Our media-addicted world saw those New Orleans pix on tv.
Everyone knows anyone who had the means just drove out of town.
There's a dividing line well illustrated.
But anyhow-
As far as hatred goes:
Corporations hate the cost of labor (we can hardly imagine how much, unless we live in boardrooms)
and poor people work for wages.
They do not cash in stocks, bonds.
The majority of them are not old enough to vote, or legally own property.

If you are a wage earner, just imagine some executive sitting in an office somewhere, examining the cost of your paycheck, and really loathing that expense. Kinda gives you the heebie jeebies, doesn't it?
Sorta like Bela Lugosi comes to life for real, and wears a suit.
Notice how much cuter vampires are getting on tv these days? They all look like pop stars. A socially viable concept.

I suppose poverty is a valid topic on this website. Lord knows it is a growing fact of life, and it wouldn't be a bad idea if people knew the real reasons why.

I have to quote this:
In 1988 Jonathan Kozol wrote an amazing book called "Rachel and Her Children" in which he lurks around places like the St. Martinique hotel in NYC...interviewing the single parent families he found there.
These homeless families were put up in the hotel, because that is how the authorities decided they could house them. At the time (17 years ago) this form of housing cost the municipal government approx. $2600 a month per hotel room.
At the time, an apartment suitable to house a family cost less than a third of this amount. But that third...was deemed "unaffordable" by the powers that be. They were far happier with the "whip the puppy" set of policies they'd set up.
One of the women living in the hotel with her children had this to say:

"Yeah, they all get together, all them pop stars organize and record some song, and send the profits off to Africa 'cause they saw some pictures of starving children...well, ain't my children starving enough? Ain't they black enough? God bless America for being so generous!"

America doesn't need the rest of the planet to throw daggers. What dwells within its own borders does just fine.
For a look at a possible future...read Jack London's "People of the Abyss."
This will tell you what the east end of London looked like in 1904, at the height of the English Empire, the very apex of its power and wealth.
America hardly invented the concept.

LadyRuby

pstarr

We don't hate the poor. we ALL hate ourelves because deep in our hearts and minds we understand that we have been made redundant by our machines. The notion that we will never ever find value in our lives is truely horrifying to most and drives people to distraction and ignorance. Only when our culture adapts and appreciates art, culture, creativity, self-expression, and comes to grip with . . . hobbies at one corny extreme and recreational drugs at the other, will we find peace. Until then we will remain obsessed with status, hierarchy, and bottled-up, frustrated, and war-like. As oil runs out passive, intellectual, low-energy living will become the norn and the citizen bully, soldier, striver, loudmouth, punk, radical will die off. Americans might grow up.
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