Things I Know Nothing About: Some Thoughts On Poor People

This post is going to get potentially offensive real fast so just roll with it and keep in mind I am in no position of power whatsoever so all of my stupid opinions have very little, if any impact on the world around me. So if you find yourself enraged by the content of my musings just keep in mind that your anger isn't doing anything except raising your blood pressure so just chill out and go eat some frozen yogurt or something. Also I'm aware that I'm a giant hypocrite so there's really no need to dwell on that.

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I hate politics. I really do. Choosing the lesser of two evils is an exhausting process and I really don't believe that either party is working in favor of my well-being. While I know that serving the overall well-being of the country is supposed to be the point of Democracy, I really just can't be bothered to wade through the bog of absolute horse-shit that is campaign politics if none of it is going to help or hurt me that much anyway. See, I believe that our country is already a massive sack of crap so I don't really see how it could get any worse. That being said, I don't think its all that bad right now. Yeah the economy is shitty, yeah a bunch of old religious bastards are trying to fuck with Women's health issues, and yeeeeah we need to do a better job at not letting greedy assholes get away with their nonsense. Those problems aren't going anywhere. Neither Obama nor Romney nor the reanimated corpse of JFK are going to fix any of that. I'm upset by the current state of Politics but I'm not actually worried. So that's how I feel about that. The reason I bring this up is because I'd like to discuss one particularly disturbing dynamic in the current Presidential campaign. I figured this could use a little preface about my political beliefs so it doesn't seem like this post is an angle towards one party over the other.
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It makes me nauseous when rich politicians imply that poor people are long suffering souls who could have a better life if only the [opposing political party] weren't making decisions. Sometimes poor people are people who got the shit end of the stick and yes there are vicious cycles that keep poor people poor and make it very difficult to change one's station in life. However, some poor people are not as well off as they could be because they spend their extra money on TVs and Video games instead of saving for education and building their credit. I know its not fucking fair to judge poor people for buying what better off people can easily afford but, shit, not every person who is having a hard go of things is a single mother whose husband died in 9-11 (not that I think THAT'S an excuse for anything at this point) and not everyone making minimum wage should be pandered to and treated like everything they do is noble. Having more kids than you can afford is not noble. Buying three packs of cigarettes a day pretty much negates any claim that you might have been able to make that the government is responsible for your problems. Not educating your god damn kids about sex because of your religion is not a choice that you are entitled to. It's a failure. You're failing your children, failing your community, and failing the country.  I'm starting to sound a little elitish (not elitist mind you) and bitchy but my point is actually that poor people do not need to be treated like martyrs because the ones who really are noble are probably also smart enough to know when they're being lied to and the rest of them would benefit much more from a hefty dose of reality. I'd like for candidates to say more often that the road to a better economy isn't going to be easy on a personal level. Lower taxes, higher taxes, more jobs, less jobs, its still up to the individual to keep their life on track. Then again, Politicians can't support personal financial responsibility because they want people to buy shit so it looks like the economy is improving. Everyone being in debt and not being able to afford to send their kids to decent schools isn't really an improvement...but whatever. Not pulling in the wages you'd like? Buy a Kindle and go eat a steak with your excess cash this month. It's the American thing to do.

Horrors...

Today on my way home from work a bad thing happened. At a major subway transfer hub (Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn) a few train lines weren't able to stop. I didn't stick around to get the details but it definitely wasn't announced which meant that it was the duty of a few bewildered MTA employees with megaphones to disperse this information. People stood around in a big stupid mass, unable to comprehend the disruption to their daily routine. They were angry. They were hot. They were not moving and collectively they didn't smell very good. I was walking the corridor between the 2-3 and the B-Q when I saw the mass, heard the announcement, and turned around. I was only two miles from home and it was a pretty nice day out so I knew that my best bet was just going to be to walk through Prospect Park (listen to me...I know where things are now kind of!). Before I could walk two feet a new mass of people had filled in behind me. I tucked my elbows in front of me and shouldered my way between two mildly obese individuals whose humanity I didn't fully register as they were both about a foot taller than I am and I couldn't see their faces. Well one of these behemoths, who was probably already enraged and confused because she was going to actually have to WALK somewhere didn't appreciate my little maneuver so she gave jabbed me in the back with her doughy elbow  as I passed. Maybe I was being a little too assertive but what I was doing was much closer to wriggling than shoving and I can confidently say that she was just a dumb lazy bitch (DLB from here on out). Fuck her. I hope she never made it home and is still standing in the train station gargling protestations at the MTA employees.

That's not even close to the worst part. The worst part was the dense mass of people who did figure out that they would in fact have to leave the building but were having a hard time reconciling their want to be outside with the fact that we wouldn't all be able to fit out the door at the same time. The mass, which I would liken to the flow of glacial ice except with sticky human flesh and hair extensions where ice and rocks should be. It could have been moving faster, but not that much faster so the most unbearable part of the whole experience were the loud twats behind me who kept squawking loudly that everyone needed to walk faster and kept shoving me into the hairy little guy in an undershirt in front of me. The DLB I might be able to pardon for ignorance and for the fact that she actually might have keeled over if she had tried to waddle the 8 blocks to the next station. These ladies though...I literally hope they got run over by cars. Note that I said GOT run over by cars, not "I hope they GET run over by cars". The difference is that I can't control something that already happened so I won't feel bad at all even I somehow find out that they did perish beneath the wheels of a miada but if I wished their future demise then I would feel a little bit responsible should something happen. Either way they are both absolutely the WORST.


The good news is that I had a very pleasant walk in the park and now I'm a JAZZ gig at a TEA lounge on a WEEKNIGHT. Granted, I don't have to work tomorrow so don't get too impressed at how good I am at staying up late.