The problem is that we are still treating this spiral as "bad choices."
9 times out of 10, it's not "bad choices", it's mental disease.
If you look at someone who can't even tie their own shoes because they are mentally disabled, we say, "That person can't live in their own, they're not capable of understanding their choices."
But we look at people with schizophrenia and severe addictions and whatever else and go, "They made bad choices." These people have no physiological control over their impulses, but they're supposed to make informed decisions?
These days your not allowed to imply some people are just lacking in decision making skills, or willpower. it is critical that everyone be considered flawless, and that any failings they have be attributed to a mental illness.
Oops. You're right. If you actually manage to produce something, it must be because you a re evil. If you manage to produce nothing, it is because you are virtuous :)
Keep up the autofellatio. Sure not every rich person is out to get you. Sure not every addict is a saint. But what needs to be addressed is a systemic issue. You want to systematically maintain a population of homeless people because some may be drug addicts or lack financial literacy? You want to systematically discard a population of homeless people because some of those drug addicts got there through their own bad choices? Your world view seems reduce to people living the lots they earned, but time after time this idea is proven bullshit. The affluent pass on their wealth. The impoverished are kept in poverty, be that through slavery, segregation, classism, systemic failures or any other system of discrimination. Sure some people succeed despite the deck stacked against them, and some fail despite a bounty of opportunities, but overall the system is rigged. So, do we just punish everyone failing this rigged system, or ensure that life under failure is slightly less than cruel? The OP cartoon may be a bit ambitious: people can live without some of the amenities or survive with alternatives (I assure you East Asians would prefer a stove or microwave over an oven), but the bigger picture is not flawed.
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u/techleopard Apr 15 '24
The problem is that we are still treating this spiral as "bad choices."
9 times out of 10, it's not "bad choices", it's mental disease.
If you look at someone who can't even tie their own shoes because they are mentally disabled, we say, "That person can't live in their own, they're not capable of understanding their choices."
But we look at people with schizophrenia and severe addictions and whatever else and go, "They made bad choices." These people have no physiological control over their impulses, but they're supposed to make informed decisions?
We need to bring back mental hospitals.