Been a long time since I've been involved in a flame war. This one's got me thinking…
Do wealthy people really believe that they are better, more responsible people than those who flirt with the poverty line? What do they base that upon?
On a higher level, does more wealth mean that you're more worthy as a human being? Because my friends out here are some of the best, most loyal, most generous people I've ever known, and we're all scraping right around the poverty line.
And does the person who suggested that I'm poor because of my own “irresponsible, instant-gratification choices” (and how dare he/she speak to me like I'm a WaMu mortgage broker) consider him/herself to be a Christian?
Perhaps…
But we'll probably never know, as that person was only brave enough to write as Anonymous. Which pretty much tells me everything I need to know; mainly that he/she may have more money than I do, but they aren't actually WORTH a blog posting from Motormouth. 🙂
Hey Monstro, is it time for me to invoke Godwin's Law yet? Let me know….
I can see no other way to answer your first question than to say, “It depends on the person”. I have known haughty and humble rich and poor people.
I had a friend in high school who was one of the nicest, kindest, most generous people I knew. Dressed “regularly” and drove a regular, old Honda. Her parents were loaded.
And I've known people who barely get by who were mean, selfish, and believed the world owes them everything. For those reasons, I usually don't count those people as “friends” for long.
Blanket statement or assumptions don't do anyone any good.
Likewise, I see no benefit or purpose to wondering about the religious self-identification of the person who made such foolish statements about your character. I don't see why you would wonder if they're Christian more than any other religion, cult, or other group.
Hey girl, lots of discussion where really, it seems all the people involved are intelligent and articulate and willing to back up their comments with actual facts or well thought out opinions. Makes a change from some other blogs I have checked out. I do find it a little funny now all the various discussions in the US about SOCIALISM (in re: Bank bailouts) and TAXES (caps intended), while I am living in Europe and on this side of the pond people have a completely different perspective on the US campaign, government interventions, etc. I hope everyone stays civil. BTW on the Christian thing–i agree that if someone posts something that states or implies that poverty is correlated to instant gratification AND makes a claim to be Christian, I would question their understanding of the new testament as well as the concept of “working poor”, and think they were being false to the teachings of most churches I attend. But I also agree that there are people from other groups that also make assumptions about poverty being solely due to character flaws –as well as thinking that anyone making less than some arbitrary number is poor. Anyway I am off on vacation to East Asia where I won't have access to the web, so I hope things go OK for a few weeks, Take Care Katherine
The Christian thing stems from an email I received after receiving the “Letter from a Nobody”, where the person used similar phrases as Anonymous did in his/her comments. Pretty sure it's the same person — a person who self-identifies as Christian. Pretty sure the major tenet of that religion is “love thy neighbor,” which, I think, is a major difference from many other religions.
(enter beat-a-dead-horse line about loving, but not being sympathetic to, people who make $250k/year and complain about taxes)
Additionally, I've been particularly testy this week due to overwork, undersleep, and (here comes what Alex would have called “penalty! oversharing”) after eight weeks of nursing-on-demand, my nipples hurt.
Here's to some sweetness and light next week, huh? And I can't wait for this frickin' election to be over already.
Sore nipples suck.
And, conversely, sucking=sore nipples. 🙂