this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2024
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Vonnegut is kind of right here, but the emphasis is wrong. It’s not that people ‘blame themselves’ for being poor exactly (in a moral sense), but rather the material condition of poverty strips one of dignity and self-worth, particularly in a society that is oriented around the petite-bourgeois middle class and relegates those below to a kind of wasteland devoid of opportunities for community and self-development
people have existed with far less material wealth than the poor in the US do, its the system that chokes the life from us which imposes poverty, that system which blames us and raises us from birth to blame ourselves for this condition so that they may continue to leave us poor so they may be rich
True, but people will always judge themselves relative to their surroundings. And it is hard in the wealthy West to be poor without feeling (and actually being) ‘outside’ of society, which most people will respond to by feeling ashamed. In so far as self-hatred exists I think that’s the primary source of it.
Whereas it sounds like Vonnegut is saying the poor could love themselves except they have some kind of moral need to blame themselves for their condition, which (in my opinion) is not entirely accurate to what’s happening
Yes I agree but in other cultures, such as here in europe, there is considerably more empathy because of the cultural history of folk supporting the poor. There's definitely something unique going on with the US and only having the settler history.
Maybe before the complete neoliberalization of the last twenty plus years. There's no empathy for the poor here nowadays.
This makes a lot of sense. If I ever make something of myself I’d love to write about this and make it a counter-thesis to Hillbilly Elegy, I’m going to call it Redneck Requiem.
You nailed it on the last bit, while I know it’s not nearly to the same extent as the real thing. As far as I’m concerned, the boonies and the suburbs are just another form of ghettoization for a different section of the working class. I’d love to write how the modern suburb is now used as a “icky poor containment zone” now that the rich learned about walkable cities (and want them all to themselves.) Despite being mostly white and having some “privilege”, suburbs deny people growing up in them access to community and amenities and if all jobs are going to be nepotism hires from here on out, suburbs and rural communities also deny people access to connections that pull them out of poverty. Oh, and if you’re queer then it’s fucking over for you and even more isolating knowing you’re under the good ol’ boys watchful eye.
Sorry for the rant, that last part really struck a nerve in a good way.