These are phrases far too often used against anyone that speaks badly about capitalism. But that’s a terrible oversimplification of the issues in these countries.
Also, don’t call me a communist, or socialist… Difficult as it may be to fathom, there is more than 2-4 possible systems for government. It’s just that when we hit capitalism (the one that works best for those in power), they stopped trying to brainstorm new methods.
To the point…
People that are raised by low income parent/s are more often the victims of physical, or sexual abuse when growing up, and even abuse/avoidance from their peers due things like wearing out of fashion clothing, and/or not having access to all the latest fads, or being able to afford certain events and such. That abuse/avoidance can lead to feelings of worthlessness, and difficulty making friends, which can in turn lead to general social difficulties which not only compounds the difficulty of making and keeping friends down the road, but also in job interviews. Self confidence goes downhill in all aspects, and it’s not like you can just tell people “don’t think that way”.
When people go through all of this (and more) in their lives, many if not most of them will end up dealing with depression. This is notably different from the sadness that one may feel after someone close to them dies, because the harsh effects from it statistically last longer, and depression is like a snake eating it’s own tail, it feeds off of itself, and generally does not go away on it’s own.
Because by that point, the person has it so deep within their core mentality, that the only way to get them away from that is to give them a chance; a real opportunity that will make them feel deep within themselves, that they have value and worth. And I mean something real, not just a couple extra shifts at the fast food joint that they’re working at the age of 30+. But nobody wants to give these people a chance, because they’re always seen as nothing more than a liability. The few people that will give these people a real chance, also often fail to realise that because of all that they’ve been through, there’s a much higher chance that they will blow it the first (or even first few) times around, despite trying their best). Because for people with depression; the amount of effort that it takes to do anything beyond the full time job that they have to work just to survive, is somewhere around equivalent to a non-depressed person doing the same, with only an hour or two of sleep per night.
What most depressed people need, is the one thing that society has been geared not to give them; which boils down to companionship, trust, love, affection, someone to believe in them, and even support them along the way. But what they get is, people telling them that they just aren’t working hard enough, that they need to believe in themselves, that no one is going to help them, or even that age old phrase “no one is going to love you if you don’t love yourself”.
However, for many people going through depression, that is a complete oxymoron, because if no one loves them, then it is a near impossibility for them to love themselves, because they don’t have anything within them that tells them that they deserve love. It’s like telling someone that’s got something stuck in their throat to just stop choking… But it doesn’t work that way. There comes a point in many people’s lives in which they simply can’t help themselves, and are in need of external help, otherwise to be doomed to a state of sad lonely mediocrity. I don’t mean “professional help”; while I believe that psychology can be helpful to some extent, telling someone that’s lonely and depressed, to seek professional help, is like giving someone a Tylenol for a brain tumor… Short of medications like antidepressants and such, there are a relative handful of psychologists and psychiatrists that can legitimately help people through chronic/severe depression, but most just spout the same after school special bullshit that we’ve all heard a thousand times. Basically telling people to go out and do all the shit that we don’t do because we lack the confidence, self worth, and social skills to do so. Even if we did take the suggestions, we (generally) would not be successful because of the things I just mentioned.
I just want to get ahead of one thing before replies roll in;
I don’t want to hear “but I knew this guy that was poor and did lots of work and got rich…”. Obviously it’s not an impossibility, but let’s face it, short of knowing that person personally, the only reason you even heard about them is because they were in the news, or on YouTube, or in some trending post or somesuch, and the only reason that they were in any of those, is because they were a statistical improbability. And even in those cases, more often than not, the person had that one person that believed in them all the way, and/or were good looking, charismatic, or just extremely lucky. But either way, these people are not the rule, they are the exception to the rule.
One more thought. How is someone that put any amount of money into Microsoft in the 1980’s, any less lazy than someone that’s busted their ass on construction and fast food work their entire life…?
This is the major issue with capitalism; the entire mainstream mentality of “that sounds like a YOU problem”. Like, no one wants to help anyone else unless they’re getting something out of it. This system creates selfish, greedy individuals.
Money doesn’t buy happiness, and that’s proven by the fact that (on a ratio scale) Mexico has a lower suicide rate than Canada(hell, Canada is only 4 down the list from North Korea…)…
Couple other fun facts;
In Mexico, familia means everything. You live and you die for your familia. In Canada, Family is people that you’re biologically related to, and generally go have semi-awkward visits with them on holidays, where you talk about nothing, because people are so scared to socialize in this country…
In Russia Comrade is a tight bond between two people. You would do anything for a Comrade, even die for them. In Canada we have ‘friends’, but the word is more a synonym for acquaintance, as more often than not, a so-called friend will ditch you the second you become inconvenient to them in any way, or embrace any form of ideals that they don’t agree with, or even just after you stop acting, and start to be yourself.
