So, blow me if I'm wrong here... the Libertarian/rightwing/conservative approach to poverty is that relief efforts should be provided privately, rather than as part of the public budget. Yet when private citizen groups step up...
Cruelty is just another flavor of greed. Justice isn't enough, punishment isn't enough, balance isn't enough, the abuse has to be magnified, and dragged out, and preferably never ending. The people you like don't just need to be hurt, they need to be ground, and ground, and ground, and ground....... It's the same mentality that created Christian Hell. And the Spanish Inquisition. And every ghetto. It's anything but new.
The goal is to always keep help just out of reach. It's like when these assholes say "we have people at home who need help!" in response to foreign aid, and so we try to help the people here, at home, and are told "don't do that with my tax money, it should be private!" until private groups act, and then the police are sicced upon them for helping homeless people and poor school children find something to eat. It's especially prevalent in evangelical Christian circles, because thanks to the prosperity gospel, if you're poor, you deserve to be poor, you've wronged god, you'll be known by your fruits (always taken out of context), and so if you're not loaded with money god must be displeased with you, so why should we help you continue displeasing god? So yes, it is definitely 100% about the cruelty.
No one's saying you cant help the poor, liberals. You just have to fill out the proper permits, deal with potential legal liabilities, and do it out of the sight of decent people. Sure, it would probably be easier for the government to eliminate the middleman and just administer a more efficient welfare state. But we all know that the government is inefficient, and anything less than 100 percent efficiency is unacceptable. Do we trust the government to hold onto nuclear warheads and regulate our food and medicine? Of course. That's different, though. It doesn't matter, anyway. Social welfare is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution and is therefore illegal and immoral.
I always thought being known by your fruits was a Biblical reference to Sodom in Evangelical circles.
At least the Ferengi are likable, and they appear quite puzzled by actual religious practices. I can deal with a Ferengi. Evangelical Christians are just douchebags.
I had half my Facebook friend scream and bitch about homeless veterans when Trump enacted his Muslim ban his first week in office, and absolutely none of them ever brought the issue up again the moment that left the news cycles....including and especially the military personnel, most of whom had been stationed in San Diego in their careers and know full well what the homeless situation is here.
ya'd think... but they've been pulling this shit in (905) for a few years now... fining citizens for feeding or supporting the unhoused. Barrie, Ontario for instance... they say that the city will take care of those in need, but they don't... at least not nearly enough to address the problems and obstacles.
In Prosperity Gospel, it refers to how much God favors you. If you're rich, then clearly God likes what you're doing. It's why Evangelicals worship capitalism, and why people like John Hategee, Kenneth Copeland, Jesse DuPlantis, and Jimmy Braggart make money hand over fist while screaming at the gays they're going to burn. Because we live in the Bad Place. Yep. People will use what is convenient at the time to dismiss legitimate concerns, because the goal is to always keep the problem (and the people) at arm's length. Too many people have no principles, they just sway where the political winds take them, and quite often that means contradicting themselves once their favorite people get in power. They don't actually care, they just need a reason to keep criticism away. Let people die en mass, just don't look bad doing it.
@Thoughts and Prayers I know I suck to some people, but sometimes it is better to play along than to play against. You might have noted my sarcasm if you hadn't played against. Just a thought.
