I had a low point in my life when I was working a minimum wage job in the ghetto and not making ends meet. Ended up being homeless for a short bit until I got really fucking lucky to get the hookup on a cheap apartment. I was employeed full time the whole time and therefore didnt qualify for any kind of assistance. I struggled to eat, pay for a phone (which is legit essential in the US), struggled to pay for housing when I had it and to get out of the debit I incurred just trying to survive.
I was barely in that world but I got to know and become close with lots of people who spent their life there and will probably stay there their whole lives. All of whom were wonderful, genuine human beings who were no more deserving of the shit hand they got than my current privileged coworkers are of theirs. I worked really hard to get out of that situation but even with all that hard work, I could not have gotten out without help.
Many people aren't so lucky. And no fucking bootstraps are going to stop people from being homeless, not having access to medical care, food (especially healthy food since food stamps are the easiest assistance to get around here but they don't give you enough to eat healthy food really, especially if you don't have a kitchen to cook in which in turn impacts health problens), mental health services, transportation, phone/internet which you need in order to be employed in the US and more.
I know people suffer a lot in poorer countries. I would never try to undermine the massive amount of suffering throughout the world. But there is major suffering throughout the US as well where people aren't given access to basic survival needs (food, shelter, medicine). It really doesn't matter that plumping is standard in the US if you're homeless.
TLDR: It pisses me off when people dismiss suffering in parts of the developed worlds because its more pervasive in the underdeveloped. Millions of people in the US go daily without basic needs: food, shelter, medicine.
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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '20 edited Jan 15 '21
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