I suspect conservatives who get into a moral panic about creating parasitic dependency/welfare queenism etc actually *want* to preserve the humiliation-based culture of community charity (not saying those who give *want* to humiliate, but that’s often the structural effect)
-
Show this thread
-
Venkatesh Rao Retweeted
I know this is sincerely the ideal many people believe to actually be true, but is just wildly psychologically implausible on the receiving end at least, *excelt* where both are part of a religious culture https://twitter.com/unorthodoxxxy/status/1249049542630051841?s=21 … https://t.co/uIJq0SbVPm
Venkatesh Rao added,
This Tweet is unavailable.2 replies 0 retweets 25 likesShow this thread -
The actual effect of being the beneficiary of highly personal charity is often resentment. Beneath the mask of expressed gratitude is often anger, a sense of unwanted burden/obligation, unworthiness, low status in the community etc. It can drive people to leave communities.
3 replies 3 retweets 48 likesShow this thread -
Blanche duBois in A Streetcar Named Desire is of course the best-known American portrayal of the oppressiveness of “kindness of strangers” cultures. Tennessee Williams’ other play Glass Menagerie has similar themes. There was a really good quote by him on dignity I can’t find
1 reply 1 retweet 17 likesShow this thread -
Basically, problems created by industrial scale extraction, negative externalities, or direct cruelty can’t be solved by palliative measures based on family and church scale compassion. Impedance mismatch. You need same responses that rhyme with the causes.
5 replies 6 retweets 51 likesShow this thread -
This Tweet is unavailable.
-
This Tweet is unavailable.
-
Taxes and entitlements *are* responses that rhyme with causes. Entitlements are not a dirty word for me. I expect to rely a bit on social security and Medicare when I retire. I would like single-payer nationalized healthcare with an option to buy extra privately. Etc.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @vgr @unorthodoxxxy
Individual charity is fine and has a place in the scheme of things for those who opt-in to specific webs of mutual community obligations, like joining a religion. It’s just neither the whole solution or one that is even relevant to everybody.
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes -
This Tweet is unavailable.
I’m fine with the law. Culture and religion I am deeply suspicious of. They are powerful primitive forces with great PR operations and closets full of skeletons.
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.