We Americans always like to provide a positive point at the end of anything. Whether it's during a job interview or at the bar (unless you're one of them types who end up fightin' at the end of an evening). I like this custom, so let's begin with the wretched comment first.
In my paper, "The Plight of Current Borrowers: An Appeal For Immediate Relief," I wrote about a woman who was attacked in court for having children, the full details of which can be read here. She was grilled by the creditor's counsel about her choice to have children. At one point she explained that she was Catholic, and therefore the children were not planned. In the closing argument counsel returned to her answer, and stated, “you have to make the decision to have a family in light of what you can afford.”
A reader made this comment:
No matter how insensitive it is to question having kids you can't afford, it is completely warranted. "Can't feed 'em, don't breed 'em..." Religion is no excuse.
This reader receives the most wretched comment award for this week. There are two striking things about this remark. First, the person is admitting that they're insensitive. But then they quickly argue that they're point is fair. Then they go on to equate a woman to an animal (i.e., "can't feed 'em, don't breed 'em). The levels of insensitivity are absurd and more than just callous. This individual could also serve to reflect upon the meaning of spirituality to other people. It's fine if you do not subscribe to religion (I refuse to use the term "organized religion," because religions like Christianity are organic in nature, and this term is painfully modern and inappropriate when describing the history of this religion or any other one that date backs centuries and centuries). This attorney had no right to go after her decision to have children. This reader is also being presumptuous in his/her assumption about the woman's finances. Like homeowners who lost their homes or who are currently underwater, many Americans who took out loans for education did so because they've been told that it was worth it. Unlike homeowners, they can't simply walk away from their debt. So now many people who have degrees feel that their education is useless. This woman probably thought the debt she was taking on for a college degree would mean that in the future she'd have a decent paying job. In turn, that would mean that she could have children and not have to worry about her student loan debt. Sadly, that's not the case, and she is just one of millions of people who are in this situation.
Enough with critiquing the wretched remark. I could go on and on about how out of touch this reader is, and how I think it's quite sad that there are so many Americans that have such uncaring opinions toward their fellow citizens. Luckily, there are Americans who do care and who are sympathetic. One such person is "Frank the Underemployed Professional." Frank is a superb blogger over at Fluster Cucked (he writes about the law school scam(s) in the U.S.) He responded to my own piece about myself, "Cryn's Story As A Student Loan Refugee And An Indentured Educated Citizen." (I'd also like to give a shout out to Edububble for mentioning this recent piece). Frank wrote:
"Neither my readers nor I feel entitled to enormous creature comforts (we've all been unjustly accused of that on hundreds and hundreds of walls about student loan debt)."
I have been debating politics and philosophy electronically since the birth of the Internet and I think that people's standards with regards to what is acceptable for our nation, economically, have really decreased. We are slowly starting to accept widespread poverty as a way of life. Years ago it wouldn't have been regarded as being unreasonable for college-educated people to expect to be able to obtain middle class jobs and earn a middle class living without much difficulty. Today being able to earn a middle class income is almost seen as a great prize that people need to desperately struggle for. Today it seems like being working poor is the standard from which people try to rise up. It is "the new normal".
I believe that we are witnessing an epic transformation of our country from that of a first world middle class nation to that of an overpopulated second class nation with widespread poverty. This is being driven by an economic force that few people understand called Global Labor Arbitrage. It is also the reason why so many people feel compelled to flood into the universities, making it easier for schools to jack up the tuition. (Since people perceive that it is difficult to attain a middle class standard of living without a college degree today, people are attending college in droves.)
Poignantly put, Frank the Underemployed. We are witnessing a frightening transformation in U.S. culture. Just the other day someone told me that these changes are simply necessary. But my question is this: are they really? Why do we think these cataclysmic changes in, say, employment are acceptable, especially when the Fat Cats on Wall Street are doing just fine? Even worse, we now have one of the worst oil spill disasters in U.S. history. Who's paying for it? BP? I think not. It's the same as student loan debtors. The lenders are fine. They'll be fine. The more I read about politics and how there really seems that little is being done to fight on behalf of American citizens on so many levels (health care, the environment, jobs, student loan reform), the grimmer I become. Sadly, many of my readers have already given up hope. I'm not there yet, but I ain't far behind.
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