"Antiquated" social concepts like bourgeois propriety and noblesse oblige have become fading memories, but perhaps they served an unsuspected purpose: self-preservation.It's oh so true. I read a lot of angry conservatives, people who are furious because they have to pay for their medical care while John Doe is given free medicine at the clinic. Or free food in the form of government vouchers. The AC will lambaste the bleeding heart liberal like myself for coddling the poor.
Listen pal, I ain't coddling nothin'. The poor scare me s**tless.
Here in the big city, you're surrounded by the poor. If you don't give them medical attention, they won't go out and get jobs. They'll get sick. They'll throw up in the streets. They'll catch the bird flu, and you, the rich guy, will catch it from them.
When the poor are hungry enough, they don't get jobs. If they could get jobs, most of them wouldn't be poor! What they'll do instead is steal YOUR food out of desperation. Then you'll be poor, foodless, catching some nasty virus. Good luck.
Remember, when you give a man a fish, you help him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you keep him from sneaking in and eating all your f**king fish.
I noticed you labeled the posting under "DNC talking points." Damn it, this should be!
ReplyDeleteThe problem with compassion (now, there's a thesis title!) is people equate it with weakness. The modern Bush-style conservatives are positively allergic to it, probably becuse they use it so much in attack they've poisoned the very concept.
Now if the Dems came out and said something like what you outlined ("My fellow Americans, I also hate bums! But I'll give them a buck once and a while so they stay off my lawn, and if you value your lawn as much as I, you should too.") They may have the Great Universal Campaign Message in hand.
Apropos, and as a fellow Santa Cruz native, remember when the locals used to called the homeless "trolls?" Alright, it was and is a cruel nickname, but it had a strangely mythical quality. Hey, they lived under bridges and asked for money, right? I need to shut up now.
--Skot