11.28.08
Poor is the new rich?
The Huffington Post is a great place to look for the sort of news of interest to the left which is ignored by mainstream media. They cover general interest stories, as well as all kinds of political details about Obama appointments that would only interest the most politically-oriented leftists.
They also print blog entries. I’m not sure what it takes to be a blogger there, but there is definitely some kind of screening and approval process that goes on. A lot of them are interesting, but unlike the Daily Kos (where it’s okay to admit you’re a poor, struggling radical), there seem to be quite a few who are…how to put it…self-consciously upper-middle class. Sometimes I wonder how people like that get approved in the first place.
I recall reading one a while back where the author, a woman, blathered on about how any woman who considers herself a feminist should support the $150,000 shopping spree that Sarah Palin helped herself to, because it’s unfair that men’s clothes cost more than women’s (true) and that women are expected to have a larger wardrobe than men (also true), or else they may be savaged by the press. But $150,000? That’s worth twice the value of my house. They could have clothed her for a quarter of that money, and should have, considering how many people are doing without necessities in this economic downturn. Besides, $20,000 was the budget she was given in the first place.
And the writer started in on how Palin had every right to take her kids with her on political junkets they had not been invited to and charge it to the state, and women should support her on this…
Let’s just say that there were no supportive comments and the entry disappeared within a few hours.
But onward. There’s a blog entry by a woman who is reciting her life history as reflected in the Black Friday sales she has attended, and how she is marshaling on despite loss of family members and the depressing economic outlook. Um, brava?
I have to admit that I am prejudiced here. I am, in fact, so un-American that I have never viewed recreational shopping as a virtue, nor shopping like a crazy person when you hate to shop for stuff you don’t need.
But anyway…
There was a post yesterday by Beth Broderick, Poor…it’s the new rich that just totally had me shaking my head. The gist of the article is that upper-middle class people have all these obligations, like mortgages and tuition at pricey exclusive colleges, and their investments have fallen in value. But we’ll do whatever it takes to get by, and by golly, we will make it!
But poor people, they are not weighted down by possessions, they have their spirit, and they have each other, so no matter what happens they are far richer than ‘us’.
Like, excuse me, so if poor people have each other but neither heat nor food, they’ll still be fine? Talk about self-serving, it made me want to puke. Actually, it reminded me of this old Onion article.
