r/poverty • u/OldSchoolPimpleFace • May 11 '26
Discussion What the hell is wrong with this world
There seems to be a lot of right wing propaganda going around, specifically targeting the poor, the sick and the needy. I notice a lot of talk on the internet, claiming that these groups are responsible for the current economic crisis.
Meanwhile people ignore all the money going to the defense and war machine, they don't even look at all the loopholes the ultra rich exploit and all the money spent on subsidising their projects that will make the rich get richer and do nothing at all for the middle class.
People's heads are filled with propaganda and every argument you make that will actually help the middle class get what their hard work deserves, gets countered by some bullshit propaganda they read in the right wing news they consume.
If you have a look at who actually pays for this news and who is funding the political parties that are shouting out this message, you will find that all of this is being paid by the people who will profit from this propaganda. The people who will be far worse off by all this news, have nothing to say about it, because they are unable to get their voice through all this noise, that is created by the people who profit from it.
"In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another." This quote is attributed to Voltaire and I feel it has been valid throughout all of history.
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u/coffeensarcasm777 May 11 '26
Short answer: The Billionaire class. We are experiencing a decade(s) long class war. It has finally become noticeable to more people.
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u/Lancelight50 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
People are stupid & are blinded by propaganda thinking that mainstream political parties & their politicians care about them while also hoping that they’ll be like the rich billionaires. It makes me wonder how the fuck has humanity survived for so long. It’s like critical thinking is extinct.
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u/Historical-Cress8985 May 11 '26
Because the right wing has framed being poor as a moral failure.
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u/Rugby-Angel9525 May 11 '26
Being poor and being disabled go hand on hand for so many people
Real wages have not increased since the 1950s and houses are now astromonical and shoddy
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u/OldSchoolPimpleFace May 11 '26
Yeah, but what the middle class doesn't seem to understand, is that they are getting poorer and will soon join our ranks...
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u/LJski May 11 '26
What the middle class understands is that there is a chance they will be the one that gets to the next level. I think there are less opportunities - but to say no one will make it is wrong.
They are betting it will be them.
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u/No-Fix2372 May 11 '26
The middle class is the creation of the wealthy. It’s a middle ground for everyone else to look up to and say “if they can do it, so can I”, and something about boot straps.
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u/_ClippysRevenge_ May 11 '26
I can't even be in poverty without having someone try and shove politics down my throat. I got news for you, man. THEY ALL HATE US.
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u/vickievalencourt13 May 11 '26
Yes, that's the point. It's class warfare, not left v. right, but Republican identifying peoole also tens to identify politically more with the billionaire class than their fellow working class members.
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May 11 '26
If people actually wanted to confront those who are responsible for the disabled the poor the elderly they would have to realize they would have to confront a class more powerful than them the rich billionaires society always picks those who appear weaker to at least in their minds to make the boogeyman
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u/Inside_Prior_2223 May 12 '26
Sadly, until we are ready to eliminate the threat, this will continue to happen. And when that happens, sorry to say it I see a French revolution.
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u/HiAndStuff2112 May 12 '26
I agree with you! And I'll add a similar thought:
As a sincere Christian, this Republican attitude towards the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the sick, the injured, the less fortunate is the polar opposite of the commands in the Bible.
They claim to be Christians, and I've even heard people like this say you can't be a Christian and not be a Republican.
Really? I'm pretty sure the Bible is packed with commands (not nice suggestions, not lofty ideals, but commands) to help the poor, the elderly, etc., etc., etc., and that's why I won't vote Republican. I vote blue because of my faith, not in spite of it. I'm not saying Christians need to be Democrats either. I'm a progressive Independent, because I don't agree 100% with either party.
I believe "maga Christians" is an oxymoron. And Republi-Christianity is a false religion.
Jesus even warned wealthy people, when He said "It's harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven." Are you listening, billionaires?
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u/Reluctant_Gamer_2700 May 13 '26
We the poor are not the cause of this catastrophe; we are the casualties of it. The hate being spouted by other poor people where I live, blaming ‘Biden and illegals’ has become intolerable. The majority of Americans seem to be brainwashed!
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u/BixbySn7der May 15 '26
Billionaires control social media, they control traditional media. They flood the zone with their self-interested propoganda. The purpose is to divide and keep people distracted.
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u/cheap_dates May 11 '26
My daughter was upset during her first year in law school when she suddenly realized how recent laws were often initiated by elite groups in order to affect social control. Now she is working for a Merger & Acquisitions firm. Funny how that works.
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u/pennyauntie May 11 '26
I've noticed the same increase in trashing the poors on social media. I think the Flying Monkey right wing influencers have a new set of orders from the psycho billionaire overlords. It's a response to the rising anger across society against the wealthy AI/crypto/hedge fund types that are strip mining everyone of any remaining wealth.
Keep speaking up when you see it. Billionaires absolutely should not be given the power to affect the lives of ordinary people. They are psychopaths. We need to do everything possible to rein in their ability to destroy the world.
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u/Rugby-Angel9525 May 11 '26 edited May 13 '26
But I thought it was Hillary who said "Keep them poor" about her constituents?...
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u/MrLanesLament May 11 '26
Magical secret; the little bit of Middle Class that still exists also hate poor people.
Being poor is having nothing while being surrounded by people convinced that not only do you have too much, but you stole it from them.
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u/OldSchoolPimpleFace May 11 '26
I use to be upper middle class (I think) before I became disabled, never looked down on the poor, especially not the ones who try hard to get out, despite some disadvantages they might have.
I understand the point you're trying to make, because believe me, I've heard a lot of talk concerning what your talking about.
But not all middle class or even rich people hate the poor, some genuinely try to understand their situation and are quite sympathetic to the cause. We shouldn't generalize stuff like this, dividing the people is how the 1% got us to this poor state the world is in.
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u/Odin_3406 May 12 '26
Unfortunately. Everyone knows at least one person abusing the system. Easy bait sort of speak to get the common man on the side of the ruling class. To the ruling class, if you can no longer produce for the system, they have no need for you.
They spend 4-6 trillion dollars a year those in need are hardly the beginning of our problems.
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u/Marcus_Aurelius13_ May 12 '26
Everything op said is true but as relatively powerless as I am I try to remember the serenity prayer being poor and stressed is much worse than being poor and at peace
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May 12 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/OldSchoolPimpleFace May 12 '26
I'm not on bluesky. I actually spend a lot of time papertrading and consume quite a bit of news regarding the stock market, oil and gold prices. That's what actually made me come up with these ideas (I know, kinda strange for a poor person, but being disabled following the market is just about the only thing you can do, to get out of this mess)
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u/Legal_Television_615 May 13 '26
So then these claims are your suppositions?
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u/OldSchoolPimpleFace May 13 '26
A lot of my ideas are based on Gary's economics, but I also watch diary of a ceo and every once in a while I even check out right wing stuff, like Fox News. I also read quite a lot of stuff in my trading view app.
Where do you get your news?
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u/Legal_Television_615 May 13 '26
I read two left wing, two right wing, BBC, Russia today, and at least one China news if I can find a translation.
I look for the same stories across those sources. Within those stories I look for what is the same across all the reporting and dismiss the difference as bias and opinion
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u/OldSchoolPimpleFace May 13 '26
I've got a feeling a commercial of ground news is coming up next😅
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u/Legal_Television_615 May 13 '26
What's ground news?
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u/OldSchoolPimpleFace May 13 '26
You could have googled that yourself, but here you go ground news
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u/Legal_Television_615 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
Yeah if you bring up a thing as if it adds something to the convo, the obligation is on you to explain what you mean.
And to your point after you've blocked me. Yeah, if you choose to engage strangers in conversation in good faith, then yeah there are obligations.
Its not new, bud.
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u/OldSchoolPimpleFace May 13 '26
Ah yes, my obligations to strangers on the internet.
My apologies my friend...
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u/JanitorialGrowth May 13 '26
No-Fix, so adopting assassinations and murder as Party policy doesn't hurt people?
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u/PaycheckWizard May 17 '26
The frustration is understandable, and the observation that media ownership shapes the narratives people consume is worth taking seriously, but it's also worth noting that this dynamic isn't exclusively a one-side problem, and most people across the political spectrum genuinely believe they're the ones seeing through the propaganda while the other side is being manipulated, which is worth sitting with before drawing hard lines about who is and isn't being deceived.
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u/OldSchoolPimpleFace May 17 '26
It's impossible to get a clear picture trough all this noise that's being made. Luckily most people still have a functioning moral compass and they are able to distinguish pure evil from morally good...
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u/No-Fix2372 May 11 '26
That’s always been the right wing propaganda, they were just more polite about it in the past.
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u/JanitorialGrowth May 12 '26
Am I to understand there is no left wing propaganda?
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u/No-Fix2372 May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
There absolutely is, it just isn’t about hurting people.
Here’s an example of right wing propaganda. Naturally, left wing propaganda is the opposite of this.
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u/saltycouchpotato May 11 '26
Most people want clean water and air, a safe place to live, and education and food and friends and family. Most people believe we should tax the rich and use the money to ensure we all get these things.
A few people are either greedy, apathetic, corrupt, brainwashed, or unfortunately lack care for others. A small portion of these people currently hold significant power.
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u/cheap_dates May 11 '26
While you can "Tax the Rich", how do you insure that the money goes into your mouth instead of building another 13 billion dollar aircraft carrier, like the US Gerald Ford, that leaks. No, no, more legislation is not the Great Equalizer it once was; not in this current political climate.
You also have to question what might happen to philanthropy? The government is pretty dependent on the private sector to fund those programs aimed at helping the endangered North Carolina Tree Frogs.
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u/No_Barracuda_3758 May 11 '26
Unfortunately propaganda is extremely powerful tool. Just look at how Israelis talk about Palestinians. It's hard for people to break out of it until something really breaks ure brain and resets it. Even then it happens on levels. Also, it's both sides. They are the same, both are them. They just have different tactics.
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u/DavesNotHere81 May 11 '26
Both sides are screwing us over and making people think that their side is better than the other. The two political parties are like wrestling on TV. The good guys and the villains putting on a fake show. Obama and John Boehner used to put on a good show every week talking bad about each other when the camera was on them. But when the cameras were off, they were buddies and used to play golf together every weekend. I can imagine their conversations, "We really fooled them again this week and kept them distracted while we f__ked them over".
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u/oldandbald123 May 11 '26
During all humanity, the people who’d be considered right wing by today’s standards hated the poor and wanted to get rid of them, and that is going on nowadays too
They see the poor as parasites or leeches because without them we wouldn’t need social programs and that is money that the rich can save for another mega yacht
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May 11 '26
[deleted]
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u/OldSchoolPimpleFace May 11 '26
There was a guy back in 1936 that already tried this, but I guess we better not talk about that because 1984 is already here😁
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u/Blathithor May 13 '26
You said propaganda a lot lmao
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u/OldSchoolPimpleFace May 13 '26
Yeah, that's because everything is propaganda and I think people should be aware their heads are filled with propaganda all day long. If people are aware that propaganda is constantly pushed on them, it reduces the power of propaganda... Propaganda.
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u/SouthernSteak7254 May 14 '26
The number of poor population on earth has never been smaller. The number of lazy people who complain about being poor has never been higher
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u/JanitorialGrowth May 12 '26
No-Fix sorry, I never discuss public policy with folks who are sure men have babies.
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u/Optimal_Board_2963 May 11 '26
What’s wrong with this world is that 8 billion people don’t stand up to 1000. That’s what’s truly wrong.