View Full Version : We are the 99%--just found this
http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/
I don't really know how tumblr works but I just found this. Unbelievably depressing. Man, do I feel lucky that I found a job.
What the heck is wrong that we have come to this, in this country?
Just me I am guessing, but I think of it as a lot of baloney, self pity, blah-blah-blah and an appeal and attempt to prey on people's fears and anxieties.
That said, by just about anyone's definition I am most certainly not advantaged, and still manage very well and believe myself to be wealthy in every other aspect of my life. Heck, if I can do what I have accomplished what I have in my life anyone can.
Are you saying you think people make this stuff up?
Sometimes people have rotten luck.
Just me I am guessing, but I think of it as a lot of baloney, self pity, blah-blah-blah and an appeal and attempt to prey on people's fears and anxieties.
That said, by just about anyone's definition I am most certainly not advantaged, and still manage very well and believe myself to be wealthy in every other aspect of my life. Heck, if I can do what I have accomplished what I have in my life anyone can.
Jilly, I am mostly with you due to 35 years of listening to stories from a wide variety of individuals regarding income, debts, taxes, etc.
A favorite was one man who had a very good! management job. However, when things went wrong in his personal life, and they often did, it was NEVER EVER his fault. It was always due to someone else or some other company scr**ing him over. I heard this long tale of woe that extended over 20 years of these issues. When I tried to help him resolve his issue with us, I documented 30 contacts and broken promises. We finally presented his representative (with him sitting there) with a full typed single spaced list of what his client had promised and then not done. It is no wonder things went wrong in his life and it probably was mostly due to his inaction or nonresponse.
One sided tales of woe must always be taken with a big grain of salt. Sure it might be true, and equally it might be made up. Maybe he has had 20 jobs and quit all of them. Maybe he has big performance issues and could not deal with counseling. Who knows. I just know I am not going to act on or believe unverified stories in the media.
I think there are a lot of people who see themselves as victims and so for them, life is a self-fulfilling prophesy.
I also think this economy is in the toilet and skewed to funnel wealth away from the lower and middle classes and to the upper classes.
I don't see how reading much of that website will anything for anyone who is on any level struggling in this economy to better themselves (and isn't that most people?) other than to cause them to become paralyzed with fear. I don't see that reading these stories will empower most readers.
I think we should just accept that things are unfair and work to make them fairer but not focus on how dire the situation is if we want to advance our own lives.
Frugalone, life is difficult enough that most people do not have to make things up, but years of experience have given me the opportunity to observe that some ...and please let me be very clear that this does not mean everyone ...people use unfortunate circumstances, situations and events as excuses to resist forward movement in their lives.
My current work is helping people with employment issues and in conjunction with state and social service resources. Most of my clients are significantly disadvantaged.
Lest anyone think that this has made me jaded in any way, quite the opposite has been and continues to be how I work with and for my clients and their families.
I love my work and am grateful to be helping and learning from my clients. Heck, they really are our clients, but I feel very connected, empowered and proprietary about them. However, my experience allows me to provide an open, supportive, personally empowering, and, most importantly, honest relationship.
I would like to add that you cannot help anyone before they are ready to affect that forward movement in their lives. Some days the best I am able to do is make sure that they know I will be here when they need me.
It serves no one when we do things for people those things that they can and should be doing for themselves.
I forgot to add that it is my belief that sites and the attitudes and agendas of some people, organizations and philosophical or political groups is fear mongering of the most despicable type.
Just saying. And, of course, from my own experience.
Clearly, I have strong feelings about these sorts of issues, and for that I make no apologies. No compromises, either.
ApatheticNoMore
9-26-12, 1:16am
I don't see how reading much of that website will anything for anyone who is on any level struggling in this economy to better themselves (and isn't that most people?) other than to cause them to become paralyzed with fear.
Noone else has ever used doomer websites as a source of motivation (not when unemployed, but ....) The fear is motivating, to be happy with what you have etc. (because it's getting worse and worse out there etc.). Really though I'm seeing quite a lot of employer demand, I'm not sure how much longer this being happy with what I have is going to work.
domestic goddess
9-26-12, 11:14am
I have to feel for young people who have worked hard to graduate from college, and then find it so difficult and discouraging to follow their dreams. Yes, it is very disheartening and, yes, changes can and will have to be made, but maybe what some people need is a chance to grieve for the future they had worked for. Obviously, changes will have to be made in terms of expectations, and that is not always easy, but I would like to see news outlets spend some time focusing on those people who have made the changes, and made them work. I thnk that would be more motivating that these "doom and gloom" stories.
Regarding the OWS stories, I think they are probably the same combination you end up with in most of those kinds of venues. There are some that are genuinely sad stories of hard working people struggling, there are some that are made up to support the cause and there are probably some that are made up just because some people like to indulge in fantasy when they are anonymous. I'm personally happier and more motivated reading success stories, but its important to know about and be able to share the struggles if we are working to make things better.
decemberlov
9-26-12, 2:49pm
I think there are a lot of people who see themselves as victims and so for them, life is a self-fulfilling prophesy.
I also think this economy is in the toilet and skewed to funnel wealth away from the lower and middle classes and to the upper classes.
I don't see how reading much of that website will anything for anyone who is on any level struggling in this economy to better themselves (and isn't that most people?) other than to cause them to become paralyzed with fear. I don't see that reading these stories will empower most readers.
I think we should just accept that things are unfair and work to make them fairer but not focus on how dire the situation is if we want to advance our own lives.
I agree with everything said here.
As far as the OWS and all the other Occupy events that took place in all the other cities...I just feel their time could have been spent in a better way. Instead of sitting around wasting time and the money it cost to hire police or stand by paramedics in case something go out of hand and someone got hurt. It just all seemed sort of silly to me. If you have that much time on your hands go volunteer to help out in your community, find someone local to barter with for food or housing etc. After all, it seems many of those protesters come from the age of "everyone gets a trophy" >8)
I have to feel for young people who have worked hard to graduate from college, and then find it so difficult and discouraging to follow their dreams. Yes, it is very disheartening and, yes, changes can and will have to be made, but maybe what some people need is a chance to grieve for the future they had worked for. Obviously, changes will have to be made in terms of expectations, and that is not always easy,.
I agree, and I just went through a recent grieving process. I had to spend some time facing reality and finding other ways to see positive. I am one that thinks unfounded positive psychology is part of the reason we are in this mess (not being realistic about future income, planning on using eqity, overdoing spending in many ways) however doom and gloom is not really helpful to the average person either. What stinks for me, and so many others, is that i simply do not know what to do next. More education does not seem prudent, cutting costs are about as low as we go before health consequences, and i feel rather helpless trying to advise younger people.
I have seen so many people who work hard and haven't seen the success they were raised to expect. I am one of them. However I also (in a helping profession) see others. I have at least one friend who is qualified as a nurse yet continues to work a job she hates at a much lower wage and i cannot after years figure out what is going on. Another friend works in trying to help those behind on mortgages to make new arrangements. I did lose my house to foreclosure, it was negative 100K when I needed to sell, so hearing about how people have lower mortgages than I had with much higher incomes and have been in houses without paying for years, it just makes you wonder.
That is all
I certainly wasn't trying to bring everybody down. I apologize. I wasn't trying to do any fear-mongering either.
I certainly wasn't trying to bring everybody down. I apologize. I wasn't trying to do any fear-mongering either.
You did not do that and I thank you because this is something that absolutely needs dialogue.
Not to be a downer myself, but I had a client who is a perfect example of a person who accepts absolutely no responsibility for her actions. As difficult as she is, she is one of the reasons I continue to do this work.
Gardenarian
9-27-12, 4:41pm
Frugalone, the effects of the Great Recession are wide-reaching and under-reported. I too feel sad for those who feel there is no future. I work at a community college and am often inspired by our students, working and schooling full-time, through tremedous hardship.
Jilly - I like your signature line: It is well, when judging a friend, to remember that he is judging you with the same godlike and superior impartiality. Arnold Bennett
I certainly wasn't trying to bring everybody down. I apologize. I wasn't trying to do any fear-mongering either.
I don't think you were trying to bring everyone down or fear-monger.
I think you were genuinely touched and felt real sorrow for those people. I think a lot of people (myself included) were just more skeptical than you were being in the moment you posted.
Love much of Arnold's stuff.
Forgot to add that as hard as I work on releasing my attachment to judgment, I continue with that struggle.
That client yesterday was an excellent opportunity to practice not judging. Especially when security wanted to escort her out of the building because she had lied to the front desk people and tried to use a restricted telephone.
Not all that huge a deal, as per my concerns, so:' we talked it over and decided that I would be allowed to finish serving her so that she would not have to return next week.
Some times you have to insist on taking the higher road for the greater good. Besides, I do love a good challenge!
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