This Is Why Poor People's Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense

[DaShi]

Why did they have a kid again?

Because no one told them that only rich people can have kids.

[pchang]

Why? She was asked to provide more information. She's not forcing views on anyone.

She has exceeded my attention span.

[notyoueither]

There is something that drags about her story, but mental illness greatly complicates things.

[notyoueither]

Only there was virtually zero chance of a USSR-sponsored coup over here. There was one communist guerilla group backed by the Cubans (and the USSR indirectly), and they had less than half the total strength of the left-leaning groups. There were also several right wing paramilitary groups fighting them.

Justifying the interventions by assuming the worst would have happened otherwise seems a bit extreme...

Extremes are something you get when people are engaged in something they regard as just that important, like whether communism or capitalism survive.

We second guess the people who bombed civilian populations during wartime. They thought they were doing what had to be done, for the most part.

Hell, Chile had a democratically elected socialist president, and the US didn't hesitate to replace him by a bloody dictator. I somehow doubt that, had he stayed in power, somehow Chile would have turned into a communist dictatorship...

Key word? Socialist. This was at a time when that word was a red flag in front of the Western bull (I'm not going to wimp out and say American, the rest of us followed dutifully along, or led cheers).

Acknowledgement? Of what? Communism was never going to succeed here. Ever since Perón, the left has never had any significant support.

Look, I do not argue that most communist-backed coups were as bad (or worse) that the right-wing coups the west backed, but arguing that it was an either/or situation is frankly ingenuous. A lot of supoprt went to topple/oppose left-leaning governments, which were far, far away from being a communist dictatorship. Their main 'mistake' being in opposing US economic interests.

There's a phrase. You're with us or against us. It would do a lot of good for people everywhere to keep that in mind when the bullets are literally flying, or could be very shortly.

It sucks, but it's a fact of life for the last 10,000 years. Don't piss Pharaoh off or he be coming for your head.

[DaShi]

I agree. It's better to make personal attacks against her or to just dismiss her without afterthought than face the harsh truths of poverty. The worst part is how she forced you all to read her story. This is why the poor need to suffer.


I think this story is the ultimate test of one's character. There are several ways to react to it. Some here have shown the lower quartile in human decently. I guess you could go lower by threatening to kill her.

[Ban Kenobi]

It's the lower nonile of humanity that needs a good thwacking. Like hitting an old television to make the picture better.

[Ban Kenobi]

Don't get me started on the lower vigintile of humanity

[molly bloom]

Key word? Socialist. This was at a time when that word was a red flag in front of the Western bull (I'm not going to wimp out and say American, the rest of us followed dutifully along, or led cheers).

That's Socialist, not Communist. And, more to the point, democratically elected socialist. What was really driving the coup was not Chile's chances of going full-blooded Communist, but the threat to American business interests- such as Pepsi Cola, I.T.T., Anaconda Copper and Citibank.

Donald M. Kendall, chairman of PepsiCo, made (at least) two 'phone calls to Richard Nixon, then President at the time of the 1970 plot against Allende. Why should this be of interest ? Well, guess which person, initials R.M. & H. was previously a lawyer for PepsiCo ?

The owner of PepsiCo's Chilean bottling corporation met N.S. Adviser Henry Kissinger the month before. Hours later Nixon ordered the C.I.A. Chief Richard Helms to 'enable' the C.I.A. to prevent Allende's inauguration.

It's not all Nixon and Kissinger's fault- according to a previous U.S. Ambassador to Chile, the rot set in during the Kennedy administration- they preferred Eduardo Frei to Allende, so in 1963, the Kennedy combo inspired U.S. business interests to stump up $ 2 billion to 'invest' in Chile. Chile's population at the time was only 8 million.

According to Mr Korry (the ex-ambassador) this was not soft aid but a corrupt and corrupting mesh of business deals and bribes and kickbacks- the U.S. firms gladly donated a few millions towards Frei's election campaign (amounting to over half the costs), and the rest is history.

As a result, over 85% of Chile's hard-currency earning industries were in American hands.

[N35t0r]

Extremes are something you get when people are engaged in something they regard as just that important, like whether communism or capitalism survive.

We second guess the people who bombed civilian populations during wartime. They thought they were doing what had to be done, for the most part.




Key word? Socialist. This was at a time when that word was a red flag in front of the Western bull (I'm not going to wimp out and say American, the rest of us followed dutifully along, or led cheers).




There's a phrase. You're with us or against us. It would do a lot of good for people everywhere to keep that in mind when the bullets are literally flying, or could be very shortly.

It sucks, but it's a fact of life for the last 10,000 years. Don't piss Pharaoh off or he be coming for your head.

So, basically, it's OK to claim moral superiority when you're ****ing other people's lives as long as there's somebody doing things worse that you can consider an 'enemy'. Good to know.

[Patroklos]

I am not sure why anyone thinks its odd citizens of a country consult their leaders about foreign events that will impact the interests they own or their livelihood depends on. That's exactly what is supposed to happen.

[Ban Kenobi]

It's not odd. It just supports the contention that America toppled Latin American governments to advance American economic interests (a contention that was proposed as an alternative to the theory that America was engaged in a noble crusade to prevent Communist global domination).

[N35t0r]

I am not sure why anyone thinks its odd citizens of a country consult their leaders about foreign events that will impact the interests they own or their livelihood depends on. That's exactly what is supposed to happen.

So there was nothing wrong with the 9/11 bombings then? After all, it was just Al Qaeda taking action against interests that were opposed to their own culture and its livelyhood.

[DinoDoc]

That Viral "Poverty Thoughts" Essay Is Totally Ridiculous



There are times when the good deeds that happen by the magic of the Internet make us quite giddy. This time? Well, this time they make us cringe, to the tune of $100,000.

If you haven't read the "insightful" personal narrative that recently went viral, "Why I Make Terrible Decisions, or poverty thoughts," there's a good chance it's somewhere on your Facebook news feed. This thing is everywhere.

The essay, which is being touted as a poignant look at the "terrible" decision-making processes of the poor, is the product of writer Linda Walther Tirado's personal experience with poverty. Linda, a married mother of two, speaks of having to live in seedy motels, where there are roaches that she stabs with toothpicks. She can't cook for her family because she lacks a kitchen, and she's afraid of attracting more roaches, so they survive on junk food in said seedy motel.

Oh, and not only does Linda say she's living in seedy motels and stabbing roaches, but she's also working two jobs, taking a full load of college courses, and is banished to a life as a cook in the "back of the house" at a restaurant, as she is deemed too unsightly as a waitress -- or apparently a legal secretary -- due to an unfortunate set of teeth. She's in desperate need of dental work, and her body is full of infection, but she can't afford to spend the money on medical or dental care. It's a tragic, tragic story.

It's also tragically fictional.



You see, Linda Walther Tirado, or "KillerMartinis," as she's known on her Kinja screen name, wrote this brain-grating essay, and it's all about being subjected to the pitfalls of poverty. Linda's not actually poor, though, nor was she raised in what most would describe as poverty. Unless you consider a boarding school education as a marker for poverty, anyway.

The inferences on what it's like to be poor -- from the roach-infested living quarters to the lack of wholesome food -- would almost be laughable, if they weren't such freakin' gross stereotypes written by a person who has never experienced true poverty. That little fact takes it from laughable to infuriating.

What's also infuriating is that Linda -- who is panhandling for $100,000 worth of donations on GoFundMe -- wrote this piece, and the comments and rebuttals to it, while masquerading as a "poor person," but has now decided to clean up the mess by copping to her past as a person from a much different background.


....

It seems a fair number of people bought into a fraud being perpetrated by HuffPo.

[pchang]

Looks as though she has exceeded her goal. Problem solved.

[Ben Kenobi]

It seems a fair number of people bought into a fraud being perpetrated by HuffPo.

At the time this is what I posted.

She ain't poor. I know real poor people who were single mothers who had to get off the street. I've worked with them and helped them and they had the exact same issues.

You're telling me that a lady with 2 jobs who has a USMC husband can't get a goddamned bank account? I call bull****. Hey, and she even makes the precision strike on Bush's Patriot Act. It must be nice to be so rich to bite the hand that feeds your family.

Do you enjoy being played for a fool, Kentonio? Dude, you just got played and hard

Why didn't everyone figure this out?