Blaming the Poor

Robert Tracinski of the Intellectual Activist lays the blame on the poor – further, on the welfare state: (link from a comment over on Terrance’s blog)

People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don’t sit around and complain that the government hasn’t taken care of them. And they don’t use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men. The welfare state—and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages—is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is reporting.

 

Because remember: The poor have no values – that is why they are poor. God gives wealth to the righteous and those that follow the chosen path. When we help the poor we enforce their bad habits.

What a load of utter horseshit.

Then why do we bailout the rich CEOs who wreck their companies and thousands of lives in the process? Oh wait, they’re rich. Rich = good. I’m gonna go read some Ayn Rand and cut it with some Robert Kiyosaki.


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4 responses to “Blaming the Poor”

  1. palochi Avatar

    Tracinski is a follower of objectivism, a philosophy developed by Ayn Rand. One of its tenets is:

    “Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.”

    I don’t think he’s commenting on righteousness here. I think he’s commenting how “the welfare state” fails to motivate self-interest, which is why rioting and looting occurred.

    Either way, it makes my head and heart hurt just a little more.

  2. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    Sometimes I think Objectivism is really a belief system that allows others to be complete assholes to their fellow human beings.

  3. michael Avatar

    Why are the people who complain about welfare, the one’s who have never needed welfare? Not everyone on welfare is abusing the system, no matter what you hear politicians and journalists say. Some people are in situations where they truly need help, and have no one else to turn to.

  4. Beastmomma Avatar

    I think this was said somewhere else on the site, but there is also a HUGE misunderstanding of what it means to be poor to live in poverty. It reminds me of this quote by Jonathan Kozal when talking about education that no one questions the morals of “leaders” who chose to cut education funds so that more missels can be built.

    I also agree that no everyone on welfare abuses the system and would add that I do not think people are looking for a handout.

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