Now, I know what you're thinking. Well, admittedly I don't, I'm not some sort of psychic woman with a shawl and an arsenal of mystic hand gestures. But I can make a guess at what you're thinking, which is something along the lines of: "Why would you feel the need to defend helping poor people? Everyone likes helping poor people! It's like my favourite thing to do!"
The problem is that while the vast majority of first-world dwellers like the abstract idea of throwing money at those in poverty (preferably those who live in Africa or some other such magical faraway place) and making their lives better, a lot of us tend to be much less eager to redistribute wealth to the impoverished in our own country. Especially if it means MORE TAX or GOVERNMENT SPENDING or other such force of evil.
A distressing number of middle-class and upper-class residents of this United Kingdom of ours have handily convinced themselves that people are only ever poor because they aren't working hard enough, and that people are only ever rich because they are working very hard indeed. This is a handy view of the world to have in order to justify dismantling industries in the North and South Wales ("just move somewhere with more jobs!") or flat tax rates ("why should people pay more for working hard?"). Such a viewpoint assures the rich that they have no responsibility whatsoever to help those in need, as if they really wanted to stop being poor, they would get off their backsides and work for money. It also assures them that they and their chums deserve every penny they possess, because they only have so much money because they're just so darned better than all those poorer types.
The truth is vastly different.
In this world, if you are poor, it takes a colossal amount of intelligence and talent to stop being poor. Similarly, if you are rich, you have to be incredibly stupid to stop being rich.
In the UK in particular, a child born to a low-income family is likely to experience inadequate schooling, little chance of getting into a good university, dismal job prospects in their local area, and few employment opportunities in later life as potential employers always want either a) qualifications which they can't get or b) experience which no-one will give them.
By contrast, someone born to middle-to-high income parents (like, say, me) is far more likely to get decent schooling, a good place at uni, a successful job, and they're likely to also have the deep delves of their parents pockets to help them out when the going gets any kind of tough.
This isn't just a class issue, either. There are those who take a similarly contemptuous attitude to any and all unemployed people- "they're only not working because they're lazy blah blah blah". This is a complete lie. The reason so many people aren't working is because there are less jobs in Britain that there are people of working age. All the hard work and dedication in the world isn't going to help you if there simply isn't room for you in the jobs market.
This is why the state needs to commit it's resources to helping those in our nation who are poor. The government needs to dedicate itself to proving work and the opportunity for betterment to impoverished people, families and areas Failing/on top of that, we need a comprehensive welfare state and progressive taxes to provide the unfortunate with basic quality of life. Because we cannot ever simply dismiss the poor as idiots who have brought their situation on themselves. The poor are poor because they are stuck in a system which systematically prevents them from becoming otherwise.
The problem is that while the vast majority of first-world dwellers like the abstract idea of throwing money at those in poverty (preferably those who live in Africa or some other such magical faraway place) and making their lives better, a lot of us tend to be much less eager to redistribute wealth to the impoverished in our own country. Especially if it means MORE TAX or GOVERNMENT SPENDING or other such force of evil.
A distressing number of middle-class and upper-class residents of this United Kingdom of ours have handily convinced themselves that people are only ever poor because they aren't working hard enough, and that people are only ever rich because they are working very hard indeed. This is a handy view of the world to have in order to justify dismantling industries in the North and South Wales ("just move somewhere with more jobs!") or flat tax rates ("why should people pay more for working hard?"). Such a viewpoint assures the rich that they have no responsibility whatsoever to help those in need, as if they really wanted to stop being poor, they would get off their backsides and work for money. It also assures them that they and their chums deserve every penny they possess, because they only have so much money because they're just so darned better than all those poorer types.
The truth is vastly different.
In this world, if you are poor, it takes a colossal amount of intelligence and talent to stop being poor. Similarly, if you are rich, you have to be incredibly stupid to stop being rich.
In the UK in particular, a child born to a low-income family is likely to experience inadequate schooling, little chance of getting into a good university, dismal job prospects in their local area, and few employment opportunities in later life as potential employers always want either a) qualifications which they can't get or b) experience which no-one will give them.
By contrast, someone born to middle-to-high income parents (like, say, me) is far more likely to get decent schooling, a good place at uni, a successful job, and they're likely to also have the deep delves of their parents pockets to help them out when the going gets any kind of tough.
This isn't just a class issue, either. There are those who take a similarly contemptuous attitude to any and all unemployed people- "they're only not working because they're lazy blah blah blah". This is a complete lie. The reason so many people aren't working is because there are less jobs in Britain that there are people of working age. All the hard work and dedication in the world isn't going to help you if there simply isn't room for you in the jobs market.
This is why the state needs to commit it's resources to helping those in our nation who are poor. The government needs to dedicate itself to proving work and the opportunity for betterment to impoverished people, families and areas Failing/on top of that, we need a comprehensive welfare state and progressive taxes to provide the unfortunate with basic quality of life. Because we cannot ever simply dismiss the poor as idiots who have brought their situation on themselves. The poor are poor because they are stuck in a system which systematically prevents them from becoming otherwise.
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