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ivyetteSo I'm making my own custom content for the sims 2, having found a version of body shop that will run on my computer (sadly it's the pre-release version that only has a few options... sigh) and I was just searching google, as I do because it is hard-wired into my child of the new millenium brain (wait, I'm 22, do I count? idk) to always google first before asking anyone else, and I typed "applying" because I want to apply textures to things. So I type that...
and the first thing google suggests is "applying for foodstamps".
It's depressing on a snarky level because who doesn't know where to go for foodstamps? I mean, duh.
But it's also depressing on a "THIS IS THE VERY FIRST THING GOOGLE SUGGESTS OH MY GOD EVERYONE IS POOR" level. As someone who has been on foodstamps before, when I was a kid and during a rough patch in high school, I can tell you that being on public assistance is neither easy nor fun. It is not an easy meal ticket. It does not buy you enough decent food, or decent clothes, or decent anything. Unemployment does not give you enough money to live at middle-class level no matter how many coupons you clip. I know a lot of people see the people on welfare as lazy slackers. Some are. Definitely, some are. Some people are content to live in cramped apartments eating cheap crappy food, sabotaging interviews so they don't have to work. But a lot of people who are on assistance? Are people you wouldn't expect. People who still dress nice. People who are still trying to work. People who try really, really hard to maintain a standard of living for themselves and their families. It's a terrible stereotype, that of the welfare kings and queens cheating the system. But I'm reminded of how very many people are having to bite the bullet and ask for help, these days. My family is not the kind of family that wants handouts. We're people who like to do things for ourselves or not at all. And so many families like mine are having to admit they can't do it on their own, and that must hurt so much. It must be so horrible to lose a decent job, no fault of your own, and have to tell your kids "No, honey, we have to get the cheaper brand, we can't afford that one anymore". My boyfriend lost his amazing job last week. It's a family business. And he's not family. And they're losing money due to the economy. You see where this is headed.
I don't know where I'm going with this. I'm just... frustrated. I'm frustrated that so many people think decent, hard-working Americans don't deserve help. I'm frustrated they need it in the first place. And I'm frustrated that this is happening on such a widespread level that even google is convinced that I most likely want to know how to apply for foodstamps.
-4:11 AM
and the first thing google suggests is "applying for foodstamps".
It's depressing on a snarky level because who doesn't know where to go for foodstamps? I mean, duh.
But it's also depressing on a "THIS IS THE VERY FIRST THING GOOGLE SUGGESTS OH MY GOD EVERYONE IS POOR" level. As someone who has been on foodstamps before, when I was a kid and during a rough patch in high school, I can tell you that being on public assistance is neither easy nor fun. It is not an easy meal ticket. It does not buy you enough decent food, or decent clothes, or decent anything. Unemployment does not give you enough money to live at middle-class level no matter how many coupons you clip. I know a lot of people see the people on welfare as lazy slackers. Some are. Definitely, some are. Some people are content to live in cramped apartments eating cheap crappy food, sabotaging interviews so they don't have to work. But a lot of people who are on assistance? Are people you wouldn't expect. People who still dress nice. People who are still trying to work. People who try really, really hard to maintain a standard of living for themselves and their families. It's a terrible stereotype, that of the welfare kings and queens cheating the system. But I'm reminded of how very many people are having to bite the bullet and ask for help, these days. My family is not the kind of family that wants handouts. We're people who like to do things for ourselves or not at all. And so many families like mine are having to admit they can't do it on their own, and that must hurt so much. It must be so horrible to lose a decent job, no fault of your own, and have to tell your kids "No, honey, we have to get the cheaper brand, we can't afford that one anymore". My boyfriend lost his amazing job last week. It's a family business. And he's not family. And they're losing money due to the economy. You see where this is headed.
I don't know where I'm going with this. I'm just... frustrated. I'm frustrated that so many people think decent, hard-working Americans don't deserve help. I'm frustrated they need it in the first place. And I'm frustrated that this is happening on such a widespread level that even google is convinced that I most likely want to know how to apply for foodstamps.
-4:11 AM
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no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 05:11 pm (UTC)You have the right instinct on the issue. I just don't understand how people can't see it as clearly as you do.
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Date: 2010-05-09 05:08 am (UTC)People want to see it as simple issue- I work hard, I should keep my money, they don't work, they don't deserve it. But not everyone who's poor did it to themselves. Poverty, or just hard times, are not a choice.
And I'm sure people who believe this way would take government assistance in a heartbeat if anything happened to them.
I'm glad Idol Gives Back highlighted a family that was very recently middle-class and is now reliant on food pantries, who still live in a nice house and dress nice and try to work. Because it happens to you sometimes, no matter how hard you work or how many things you do right.