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Most harmful myth/lie ever perpetuated: That a dry cold is more pleasant than a wet cold... sorry, folks, this is a urban legend, and it needs to stop before someone dies... or worse, someone rants about it on a web forum... oops, too late.
I'm talking more about the myth that the poor are always to blame for being poor and that they should simply bootstrap up, find better jobs, etc. it's a myth propagated by those on the right side of the political spectrum who say such things because (either or):
- It makes them feel better about themselves and their achievements to put down others
- They fear becoming poor themselves
- They wish to end or severely cut welfare to save what they perceive as their money being used by the government to give to the undeserving.
- They believe that hard work always equals success
- They believe that we have more control over our own lives than we actually do
(Sorry but had to elaborate).
Amy - great post. I agree with you that this is a myth commonly believed and passed on by those on the right geo-political spectrum. But I've seen too many instances of people who were born severely disadvantaged or even become disadvantaged later in life by unforeseen circumstances. I think you nailed it about the fear of LACK too - which is not that surprising because who really wants to suffer from not having enough to survive or even not having enough to have a seat in a "respectable" socio-economic place. There is humiliation of sorts in being trapped in poverty. There is even a certain humiliation (as I see it) in being subjected to the futility of mortality. But only humans are conscious of this - other animals, while they have some sense of fear of death do not carry any sense of shame. That is reserved for humans. It may sound like I'm going in a circle, but I wanted to add that I think there is also shame involved in not wanting others to know we are AFRAID of pain and death.
I think you nailed it about the fear of LACK too - which is not that surprising because who really wants to suffer from not having enough to survive or even not having enough to have a seat in a "respectable" socio-economic place. There is humiliation of sorts in being trapped in poverty.
I also doubt that most people are systemic or abstract thinkers. It's not obvious to them how their better paychecks rest on the backs of low paid workers at factories or at Walmart. So they think they "earned" their money, even when there's some janitor cleaning toilets in the same building as them, because they take all the low wage infrastructure for granted. They could only be said to be earning money if everyone was performing the same kind of white collar work as themselves, and that's just not the case. What they actually do is extract surplus labor value from people farther down the corporate hierarchy. By the time the extraction gets to the level of a CEO, it's rather sick.
People are definitely conscious of hierarchical status, but they're not conscious of how they exploit others to get that status.
The police are your friend. They are on your side, and are there to help you and will never lie to you or deceive you.
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