Quote:
Originally Posted by Harlem resident
It's not something they think through. It's just the way they do things.
I met mothers, heads of families, who did not differentiate between my salary, which I receive as part of a professional appointment and for performing certain duties, and their "benefits" - I did what I did, they did what they did. We both got pay checks.
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What you seem to be suggesting (or stating outright , for that matter) is that the greater bulk of them just go through life kind of lackadaisical . . . kind of like a chicken who just lost its head just running about without rhyme or reason (re: as you stated: "It's not something they think through. It's just the way they do things."). As though they really really don't think of cause-and-effect and consequences but just flail though life operating in auto-pilot mode which is seemingly guided by, shall we call it, a "hedonistic principle" (thinking to themselves "If it
feels good and comforting to me,
do it . . . and if it
doesn't feel good and is not wholly comforting to me,
don't do it." Hence, in light of what we are talking about here, they apparently find that it "feels good" to engage in sexual relations (especially intercourse) without thinking too deeply that they can hardly afford (if at all afford) to take care of themselves independently and then, on top of having to take adequate care of themselves, to then also consider all the other outcomes, implications and consequences for their lives (as well as for society-at-large) of bringing more life into this world (even often well beyond what is reasonable for them). And apparently it often enough doesn't "feel good" and "the most comfortable" to wear protection when having intercourse as well as for other sex acts (for certainly, we'd
all agree that not using protection "feels so much better" than using protection . . . so just go with "what feels good" or "what feels the very best" without thinking of the
full impacts and consequences). And it often doesn't "feel good" to them to aim to engage in legitimate income-producing work
as a way-of-life (whether employed by others or self-employed or some combination of both, and whether working in one or more than one work capacity as is necessary to viably take care of themselves) rather than willfully or semi-willfully looking to make themselves become wholesale dependents on the public till. And/or advancing their skill base and education/training as necessary to give themselves a more viable chance of being gainfully employed or self-employed (or both at the same time). And the fact that they so often have this "safety net" made available to them by the government to cover them financially and otherwise-- along with the expectation or assumption on the part of enough of them that they can fall back on whatever they have for an extended family (to shift some if not most if not all of the burden to) --removes them from feeling and incurring the
full impact and consequences of such decisions.
Hence, in summary: Unless any pregnancy is the result of forced sexual relations (rape or incest), I intuit that that the very great majority of the poor/low-income populations (at least in the United States) become pregnant as a
willful act . . . or otherwise it is a case of them just being caught up in the passion and lust of the moment (being carried off in a sea of passion and lust and losing their cognizance of what they are in the midst of doing). Often enough, "being carried off in a sea of passion and lust and losing their cognizance of what they are in the midst of doing" may well be a result of the partaking of mind-altering substances (drugs and/or alcohol) which affect their self-awareness or caring at the time about the possible consequences of the sex act that they become engaged in. But then they so often keep repeating this same scenario over and over and over and over and over again (having multiple children and then, often enough, the male produces multiple children by multiple mothers and with seemingly little to no consideration of how HE or THEY TOGETHER will support and be there for said children
on their own (i.e., without having to have the public till pay for it . . . either entirely or for the most part). And again, this is all talking here about
fully consensual sexual relations (not cases of rape or incest).
So, for any who suggest that this is all simply an outcome of "lack of education" (though this may be so in some cases), I submit that even if their parents or guardians (or whoever else it is that takes care of them) chose to keep them ignorant about sexual matters, they nearly unavoidably learn these details by virtue of being immersed in the culture-at-large (amongst their peers, social networks, school crowds, being subject to what prevails in the media, music, film and videos, and so on). They would most likely learn about what causes pregnancy
even if they had no formal sex education. That is, their "informal" sex education had already informed them. Now, whether they
care enough and take seriously the full consequences and impacts of what having children means for them is another story. For this simple "hedonistic mindset" takes over for them -- enabled by this "safety net" made available to them by the government (hence, actions without the full impacts or consequences being fully experienced and hence fully appreciated by them).
So the question can be asked: So why
are enough of them seemingly or, in actuality, guided by a "hedonistic mindset" as described above? It may be more than just saying "lack of education". It may be, as well, that some number of them might be, in fact, to some degree "developmentally challenged" (to put it in the most culturally-sensitive & politically-correct language) and hence, even with sufficient exposure to education and acculturation, they are limited in their brain capacity to make the fullest advantage of such exposure to said education and acculturation. You stated it as "It's not something they think through. It's just the way they do things."
Yet I go back to my
indented paragraph # 2 in my original posting that you first responded to & submit that I surmise that, for all those among them who are
not otherwise "developmentally challenged" (as though they truly don't know any better and, even if you provide education and guidance to them on these matters, don't quite absorb the lessons learned and can't seem to appreciate the lessons . . . possibly, at least for some of them, because they are not wholly psychologically developed in a comprehensive, integrated way), it is done by them as an
intentional ploy to "play the system" enabled by the government's safety net (i.e., to use the system in ways that one should not if one is a morally-upstanding person and hence take undue advantage beyond what they should if guided by a stronger moral foundation). For those who are not otherwise "developmentally challenged", it is not "ignorance due to lack of education or not knowing any better" but rather an
intentional (willful) act on their parts of looking to build & make a way-of-life (or at least a goodly if not greater portion of their day-to-day lives . . . over the course of their lives) around dependency on public tax monies.
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