As the economic crisis grinds into its fourth year, it is clear that many people are struggling through no fault of their own. Whether it’s from long-term unemployment or from having to settle for a new job at a fraction of their old pay, a lot of undeserving people are slipping from the middle class into poverty or near-poverty situations.
Nonetheless, despite the clear systemic reasons for these struggles, many conservatives are maintaining a “blame the poor” attitude that has been prevalent for decades. Since the Reagan years, we have been fed the inflammatory stories of the welfare queens, shamelessly driving their Cadillacs to pick up their monthly government checks. This false image has been used to portray the poor as lazy and unwilling to work, and it has helped justify numerous cuts in social spending.
“The poor have no work ethic” was an inaccurate, un-compassionate, and self-serving attitude back then. These days, with so many more suffering unjustly, the “blame the poor” attitude is downright despicable. Anyone who has worked with outreach agencies or ministries to the poor knows how much of a gross generalization it represents.
When I helped start a food pantry and assistance ministry in my former town in South Carolina, I learned how difficult it is to make blanket statements about the poor. They are as diverse in their attitudes and work habits as the rest of the population.
Some of the people we served do fit the conservative’s stereotype. They acted very entitled. They never said, “Thank you.” Every week, they were back with a different sob story and a different need. They were only interested in hand-outs, never in any opportunities to improve their education or job skills. One even pulled up in a Cadillac and yakked away on a cell phone as she stood in line for her food box.
But that does not describe the majority of the people. Most were very humble and grateful for what they received. Their needs were genuine, and they took advantage of any opportunities that they could to improve their situation - but many were limited by age, medical issues, or handicaps. A surprising number were not lifelong welfare recipients who had no intention of working for a living. Instead, they were honest, hard-working people who had fallen on a temporary hardship. Our ministry, as well as the government programs such as unemployment benefits, played a large part in getting them through that time.
If I had to guess, I’d say that about two-thirds of the people were genuine hard-workers who were being held down by circumstances beyond their control. Only a third fell into the “lazy, no work ethic” category – a reality that I have witnessed in many agencies in many different contexts. Nowadays, with so many more people applying for unemployment and coming to outreach agencies for help, it is likely much fewer than one in three who match the conservative’s stereotype.
Which makes it all the more despicable that Fox News and others are waging a campaign to blame the poor for their difficult situations. At a time when they’re trying to pin the economic crisis on their political opponents, it doesn’t make much sense to harp on about the personal failings of those who are struggling. Shouldn’t they be saying that it’s all Obama’s fault, not the fault of the poor? Wouldn’t it be better to cast the lower classes as victims instead of villains?
As we continue this series on misconceptions about poverty, we’ll see why this and other falsehoods are proclaimed so religiously, often in ways that seem politically unwise and logically inconsistent. They’re all part of a long-term campaign, going back to the early 1980’s, to shift the basic attitudes of Americans toward the “least of these” and to reorient the way we live together as a society.
(Please click here and here for the first two installments in this series.)
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