This is one topic on which I part ways from conservatives- not everything in life is about personal choice, and there are legitimate reasons that not everyone has "high-earning potential." And while not everyone who makes-do on lower incomes take the 'I'm-a-victim' approach, there's too much bashing going on. When the subject comes up, it reminds me of 3 individuals I knew in the past at different points in time- they all limited their futures when they dropped out of school. None were complainers. My mother's best friend quit school to raise her newborn sister and younger brother when their mother died in childbirth; a teenage neighbor dropped out to take care of his mother when she fought and eventually lost a long battle with cancer; and a longtime schoolmate of mine dropped out at 13 yrs old to take care of his younger siblings after their mother died. All of these kids came from two-parent households with fathers who worked, but as the fathers obviously couldn't quit their jobs the kids 'chose' to take on adult responsibilities at home. If they hadn't, younger siblings would have been in foster care or orphanages, and the one mother would've ended up in a hospice facility. These incidents always come to mind whenever I hear that however a person's adult life is financially is nothing more than consequences for 'poor choices' earlier in life.
True, but that doesn't change the fact that taking orders at McDonalds is an entry-level job, and not one that can realistically be made to support a family of three. Now, as I have noted in other threads, people can make a good living even while working for McDonalds, but they have to do something to make themselves stand out from everyone else who is asking, "Would you like fries with that?" My nephew took an entry-level McDonalds job to help earn money while he was going to college, and ended up dropping out of the state college and attending Hamburger University, which is where McDonalds sends employees who have whatever it is that they're looking for. He was a regional manager over several McDonalds locations when he retired with a good retirement plan while in his early 40s.
This thread has certainly morphed from what I was thinking when I started it. It seems to have become just another racist thread. I have to ask: do any of you honestly believe that a black child born in a ghetto, to a mother who doesn't want it, a father who deserted it, into a society which scorns it; has as good a chance of becoming a successful, happy person as a black child born in a small town to a middle class mother and father who want it and can afford it? Or a white child born in the same environment?
It seems to be pretty much still about reverse racism, which is the title. Wouldn't this be pretty much the same question if you left race out of it altogether? The question then, is whether people born to poor families can be as happy or as successful as those born to wealthy families, and I think the answer is yes. They may use a different definition for the word "success" but they can both be successful. As for happiness, the wealthy certainly don't have a market on the emotion, perhaps because they are more likely to consider financial success to be necessary for happiness. A part of the problem is that some people are unwilling or, for whatever reason, unable to consider changing their environment.
But you seem to be saying that anybody, anywhere can succeed if they try. I happen to believe that where you are born and under what circumstances pretty much determines your future.
In the United States, there are fewer opportunities today than there have been in a long time but when I look at the people who I know who have led a good life, I don't see a close relationship between their parents' income levels, but then I don't define happiness or success in terms of money, although a living wage does make people feel more secure, which certainly plays into it. Surely, not everyone is going to succeed by their own definition, but I do believe that a motivated person can pull himself or herself out of pretty much any situation. Then again, the expectations differ. Someone born to a wealthy family probably won't consider himself to be successful unless he becomes wealthier than his parents, while the person born to a dirt-poor family will probably consider himself to be successful if he can pay his bills and afford a home one day. I've never had more than $60,000 in the bank at any given time but, except for a few times in my early twenties, I haven't had to worry about being homeless or unable to feed myself, so I feel as if I have led a successful life. Plus, while I kept my eyes open for opportunities, I have mostly done things for a living that I enjoyed doing. Certainly, I'd love to have millions of dollars, but that has never been a real goal in my life, certainly not one that would make me feel as if I had been a failure for having not attained it.
Re; this post and the one you posted before it- I somewhat agree with your viewpoint, but the additional point to consider is the parents' role: parents who don't give a crap about their kids or their kids' futures are stacking the odds against their kids much more than where they were born and under what circumstances, and race isn't the issue. And when the parents are telling kids to go ahead and drop out, use drugs, sell drugs, etc., it's not really the kids' fault when their lives are down the drain decades later.
My dad worked full-time and took home less than $70 a week when I was growing up. He also farmed, and logged, and shoed horses, but his full-time job didn't pay well at all. I don't think he graduated from high school, although he may have. He would say that he didn't make it past third grade but he lied a lot, so I could never tell when he was telling truth about that sort of thing. I wore handed down clothing that were often patched. I never had a new bicycle as a kid but I had an uncle who built bicycles out of parts. If we wanted to buy comic books or popsicles, we picked up bottles along the road or from the dump and turned them in for the deposit. One winter, the pipes froze at my dad's house and since he couldn't afford a plumber, we had to wait until the spring thaw before he could fix it himself. I would sneak into the church bathroom at night to wash my hair in the sink. I wanted to go to college too but I didn't think as far ahead as my older brother did, and so was unable to get a scholarship. Only the top three people in a class got full scholarships then. All three of my older brothers made it through college after high school. I know my dad was able to help me some with my first semester but I don't know, maybe he was selling land for that. Anyhow, through no fault of my own, my dad's house burned to the ground and he was injured while I was in my first year of college, so I had to leave college. Things were pretty rough for him, so I sent him money when I could afford to. When people died in my family, rather than inheriting money, we took up a collection in order to pay the funeral expenses. There were times when I was embarrassed about clothes, particularly when I started high school where I was going to school with people I hadn't known my whole life, and certainly I would have liked to have had a new bicycle as a child, but most of my friends had bicycles that were put together by my uncle too, and I got off my butt and found ways to earn the money to buy things that I thought I needed for school. I could have sat around my home town all my life crying about how there were no jobs there, and how I couldn't afford to go to college. I know people, and am related to people who seem to have done that and I don't know; I didn't live their life. But I didn't do that. I moved to California, and I did that by hitchhiking. I lived with friends until I could afford an apartment. Early on, there were times when I wasn't sure I'd be able to pay the rent. Sometimes I had to walk to work because I didn't have a car, and I lived in a run-down hotel for over a year because I couldn't afford first and last month's rent and a security deposit for an apartment, which would have been cheaper monthly. At times, I worked two eight-hour jobs, and otherwise I didn't sit around watching television after work, but went back to school since there were free, or nearly free, community colleges in Southern California. Eventually, I was able to return to college, and became the program chairman of a state college emergency medical technology program, responsible for two campuses. Then again, I didn't get married until I was forty-eight. Of course, I can't second guess someone else's life, so I can't answer your questions.
Yeah, all the above with an addendum: Anytime someone can point and say, "That's the reason I cannot make it" and a race is attached to it then it is a racist remark and probably a rationization of the truth. But, among them come a plethora of comments equally as negative. I cannot get a good math grade because the teacher hates me. I cannot get an advance in pay because the manager doesn't like me. I can't take my final exam because Trump was elected I can't find a job with my liberal arts degree I'm stuck in the ghetto and I'll never get out because that's just the way it is. Only white people get those jobs Only black people work there Only Mexicans do those jobs The reason we are not financially stable is because the Jews have all the money.....Nazi Germany When people affix a blame for their own lack of success it is a rationalization and again, the true definition of that word is "rational lie". Because race and gender are directly in the forefront of the excuses then of course, that's all we're going to hear about. That said, if a fully functioning person can come up with a reason why they cannot make it in the U.S. I and many others can come up with a solution to their problem and it generally has everything to do with personal changes in attitude. Ben Carsen and Condi Rice are two people who made it and had every reason not to and they should stand as an example to everyone of what can happen when a person has some intestinal fortitude along with a will to succeed. In my opinion, there are two books that should be required reading by the time a kid hits the 7th grade: The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale and How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
Very true. The fact of the matter is that everything that happens in life can be a source of power rather than an anchor. If a person knows something....about anything ...............it can serve as a building block to a future. Any excuse, especially concerning race or gender is unexceptable. There is no such thing as a good excuse and when people realize that then there will be no more self proclaimed victims of society. There are only bad decisions and good decisions and how we react when we are confronted by either one.
In military speak, "If you're out of ammo and believe yourself to be out of options but you have not yet promised your sister to the enemy in exchange for more ammo, you're not out of options.".
Even if there are a few errors, I think this basically sums it up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underclass and the 'attitudes and behaviors' have more to do with it than anything else. I've even seen young people from upper-middle-class homes/families take the approach 'Why go to college or why settle for a low-paying job when it's so much easier and financially-rewarding to sell drugs.'