Log In

Home
    - Create Journal
    - Update
    - Download

LiveJournal
    - News
    - Paid Accounts
    - Contributors

Customize
    - Customize Journal
    - Create Style
    - Edit Style

Find Users
    - Random!
    - By Region
    - By Interest
    - Search

Edit ...
    - Personal Info &
      Settings
    - Your Friends
    - Old Entries
    - Your Pictures
    - Your Password

Developer Area

Need Help?
    - Lost Password?
    - Freq. Asked
      Questions
    - Support Area



Kah Roh Seh ([info]kahrohseh) wrote in [info]otf_wank,
@ 2006-10-18 21:51:00


Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Parenthood, Like Homosexuality, Is Not A Choice
Or so sayeth a wanker in Poor Skills, anyway, LJ's dominant source for incredibly tedious whiny advice posts, stupid food spoilage questions, and the occasional, very rare speck of useful information.

This is not one of these.

It starts when someone posts the following, which has since been deleted:

Poor Skills & Children
Let me preface this post by saying that it will probably offend someone. However, it's really not my intention to offend anyone, I'd just like some honest answers/opinions.

Okay, so we talk about poor skills in this community, ways to cook cheaply, rent cheaply, repair credit and old cars, etc. However, never in this community have I seen much reference to the one poor skill that can save you more money than any other, which is choosing to not have children or at least to not have them until you're financially stable enough to do so (kids are REALLY expensive). I've seen online articles saying that children cost roughly $100,000 (not sure if that figure is accurate) to raise. That's PER child. So why, if you can't even support yourself financially are you bringing a child into this world? I understand that s*** happens and so do accidents, but with modern birth control, there is absolutely no reason for accidents to happen (unless of course you're part of the 0.03% that had The Pill fail). Answers/opinions? Again, I'm not a troll, nor am I looking to start a huge debate.

(Taken from the mouse on Wank Report)

Then, tonight, Danaseilhan makes this statement: No poor-bashing! And btw, if you guys don't cut it out, I'm making my own comm where I can BAN j00. Also, hear my tragic tale.

To which I thought, meh, because I sort of have a midterm to write here, but then I noticed the ~250 comments and decided to investigate.

OMG SO OFFENDED bitching spawned from bad wording and some people quick to up-hackle? You don't say.

Random flaming disguised as civil discourse? You bet.

My fav, though? Apparently, parenthood, like homosexuality, is not a choice omg.

That's as far as I got before realising I reeeeally needed to back away and go do my homework. However, I do encourage you all to enjoy.

(And yes, the childfree are mightily in abundance, as are their many detractors. There's no sense to link because, really. Just click randomly and you'll get a face full of their spooge. Salty.)

ETA: Danaseilhan has gone and made her comm.

ETA2: Noooo! Bahleeted! Original mouse saved the text of the comm advert post, but does anyone have stuff from the main spooge post?


(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)


(Anonymous)
2006-10-19 10:56 am UTC (link)
Say what you like, anyone who can afford a PC and internet access is not what I would consider truly poor.
~ joolsmd

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]snarkbunny
2006-10-19 11:23 am UTC (link)
Hahah, yeah. Someone on my friends list the other day was talking about some guy he saw outside in the freezing cold weather with his laptop, leaning up against the wall to use the free wireless access from the tenants upstairs. He said something like "I felt sorry for him..."

I was thinking "SORRY for him? He's got a laptop with wireless!"

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]atalantapendrag
2006-10-19 11:45 am UTC (link)
...because, of course, no libraries or community centers provide free internet access.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]big_bad_wolf
2006-10-19 12:35 pm UTC (link)
I think it was more a "dude, people are starving in Africa" comment, myself.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


iwanttobeasleep
2006-10-19 12:08 pm UTC (link)
You can get a computer for $300, and on a payment plan, and access for $10 a month, it's not that hard to afford.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]atalantapendrag
2006-10-19 01:09 pm UTC (link)
Or you can get a used computer for even less; there's a Goodwill Computer Works store in my city, I got my monitor there for under $20. Or you could have a computer that you'd acquired when you were in better circumstances. Or a friend or relative could upgrade or give you their old one. Or they might have gotten one through a barter arrangement (that's how I got my laptop). Hell, I saw flyers for a free computer (I'm guessing refurbished) if you took a (free) computer job skills course.

Um, basically just agreeing here. It's been a long time since personal computers were the exclusive domain of the wealthy.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]semirecluse
2006-10-19 05:42 pm UTC (link)
I dunno; something like 90% of the world's population has no computer access. Many of them are too busy working on the basic drinking water and medical supplies.

Obviously flinging around stats is always risky, but I'd say that personal computers are still the exclusive domain of the wealthy, if one thinks of "wealthy" on a global scale.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]frequentmouse
2006-10-19 08:34 pm UTC (link)
The internet may be global, but individuals live locally, and are rich or poor compared to their time and place.

I am infinitely wealthy compared to my Grandmother who lived in a three bedroom house with her twelve kids and her husband's parent's and random neighbor kids who needed sheltering, but this isn't 1933.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]semirecluse
2006-10-19 09:48 pm UTC (link)
Mmph, I'm afraid that I agree with the original mouse. But it's not imperative to me that you do so : )

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]frequentmouse, 2006-10-19 10:19 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]semirecluse, 2006-10-19 10:52 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]frequentmouse, 2006-10-19 11:33 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]semirecluse, 2006-10-20 06:40 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]ladybirdsleeps, 2006-10-20 02:29 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]semirecluse, 2006-10-20 06:46 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]ladybirdsleeps, 2006-10-21 10:29 pm UTC
(no subject) - (Anonymous), 2006-10-20 01:58 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]puipui, 2006-10-20 11:39 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]semirecluse, 2006-10-21 08:17 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]puipui, 2006-10-21 08:31 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]puipui, 2006-10-20 11:37 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]semirecluse, 2006-10-21 08:37 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]puipui, 2006-10-21 05:52 pm UTC
Totally done with this! Except not. - [info]semirecluse, 2006-10-22 07:41 pm UTC
your punishment is my thoughts on yaoi - [info]gun, 2006-10-22 01:17 am UTC

[info]puipui
2006-10-19 10:17 pm UTC (link)
No.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]mookie
2006-10-21 11:51 am UTC (link)
Or you could have a computer that you'd acquired when you were in better circumstances.

Thank you for recognizing that.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]atalantapendrag
2006-10-21 12:05 pm UTC (link)
Firsthand experience. There are quite a few nice things I've owned for years (bought back when my economic situation was better) that I'd have no way of affording now.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]mookie, 2006-10-22 04:44 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]atalantapendrag, 2006-10-22 05:54 pm UTC

[info]onaga
2006-10-19 01:53 pm UTC (link)
Because of course people's economic circumstances never change.

I have a computer because it was a graduation present from my parents. If I suddenly got kicked out of school and had to take on a soul-crushing minimum-wage job? I would still have the computer. And nobody's going to buy a four-year-old creaky laptop that weighs about 30 pounds.

And for a lot of people the cable is what makes it possible for them to interact with people and not submit to crushing despair. I would live on ramen and frozen peas if I had to so that I could afford the internet. Priorities. Not everybody has the same ones!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


(Anonymous)
2006-10-19 06:44 pm UTC (link)
Hmmm... but you know, many people do not have the chance to priorize. Because their priotity is food. I think that was what the other mouse was trying to say.
Poverty is different everywhere and, really, what I -and my fellow countrymen- consider poor not only excludes Internet: it excludes housing, health, education... and half my country is poor by that definition. By your definition... 80% is poor.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


(Anonymous)
2006-10-19 02:19 pm UTC (link)
My city just arranged a computer with internet access for the local homeless people (at the shelter). Just saying. They are kind of poor.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]amyheartssiroc
2006-10-19 02:32 pm UTC (link)
There are plenty of ways to get free internet access. But thanks for playing!

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]frequentmouse
2006-10-19 05:25 pm UTC (link)
That wasn't even a valid observation when I first say it online in 1990; it is even less true now, when the world is full of Millenial Generation kids who have had computers since grade school, free wireless hotspots, and libraries and colleges with free computer access.

In other words, grow some observational and analytical skills.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]seiberwing
2006-10-19 09:52 pm UTC (link)
I think we had a wank on this a while back.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]puipui
2006-10-19 10:18 pm UTC (link)
Fuck off.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]ladybirdsleeps
2006-10-20 02:33 am UTC (link)
Saying "you're not poor because there are people who are poorer" makes about as much sense as saying, "you're not sick because you only have the flu; to be truly sick you have to have cancer."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]rimrunner
2006-10-20 05:12 am UTC (link)
Yeah, that about sums it up.

When I got a new computer for graduation, back in 19-*mumble*, I gave my previous one to a guy who refurbished old computers and sold them for cheap to low-income customers.

And there are always libraries and community centers.

This is all kinda ironic, because it seems to me that what really caused the original wank to 'splode was participants insisting that no one else could possibly know what it was LIKE, and I'm poorer than you so my argument has more validity, and so on and so on.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]vigilanterodent
2006-10-20 05:13 am UTC (link)
Do you think that no one who has a car can be considered poor, too? Because it's more or less an equal statement in today's day and age.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]exdee
2006-10-20 03:08 pm UTC (link)
Wait, so if I have a computer and no car... what the hell does that mean? Am I half poor or something?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]vigilanterodent
2006-10-20 04:11 pm UTC (link)
God only knows. I just know I've heard people say that you're not really poor if you can afford a car, even though that position is both completely at odds with reality and just plain fucking stupid.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]mookie
2006-10-21 11:44 am UTC (link)
Having a car is a luxury! Every place in the country (no matter which country it is) has public transportation that is easily accessible, so if you're truly poor then you're either walking (ten miles, uphill, in the snow...) or taking the bus/train/tube.

If you have money for gas and car insurance, then obviously you have money for food, health insurance, and that hooker the other night.

*cough* Sorry, and yes, I agree.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


(Read comments) -

 
   
Privacy Policy - COPPA
Legal Disclaimer - Site Map