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[Eighty Deuce]

and what percent would you say abuse it and what amount do you believe is wasted due to the abuse you see

I make around 45 stops per week, at least 3-4 need to be investigated. I'm not going to call the authorities about it, I'm more concerned about giving them proper medical attention.

 

[iMax]

Their paradigm and context of thinking is completely different. I don't think an arguement would go anywhere. Also, I think more likely than not, they'll unfollow you first if you choose to argue with them, like how ink4n3 earlier in this thread who had his racist aunt block him.

Yeah, I guess that's true actually.

Racism is not a legitimate political opinion.

No doubt they probably feel the same way about liberalism.

 

[Spinluck]

Why delete or unfollow them? The salt, narcissism, and ignorance is hilarious.

These are the people that make Facebook worth reading come election time. I guess I understand if you don't like being on FB much, and only have time read stuff from the people you give a shit about.

Frankly, I don't care enough to actually unfollow people.

 

[teruterubozu]

A lot of it is from the older-crowd.

The family members that were sharing the images I showed above...tend to be either upper-middle class or flat-out rich...cynical...in their mid-50s...things like that.

Yup, mine are mostly distant relatives I met at a wedding or reunion, or some old high school friend that I haven't spoken to in decades. They've all been unfollowed.

Why delete or unfollow them? The salt, narcissism, and ignorance is hilarious.

Sometimes I'll take a peek for shits and giggles, but it can get too much when something is in the news - like a school shooting.

 

[Mr_Antimatter]

He said brand new mercedes benz, if hes not actually lying, then any decent person would sell that in order to buy necessities for the family if they hit a bad downturn. Same with the person that stated a 4k TV, neither of those can be that old.

I grew up poor and on feed stamps with 3 siblings, We got by on necessities while my mom worked to get us back off of them. It worked out for us.

Food stamps arent inherently bad, and many people do need and use them properly, but to turn a blind eye to the abuses of the system is just ignorant.

So focus on legit abuse and investigating, rather then the blanket 'food stamps make people slaves / get rich off welfare' stuff you see all the time in the conservative side of things.
Conservatives hate poor people who don't look or act poor. It is a challenge to their superiority complex, and that complex is what drives their ideology.

 

[LaserBuddha]

Ask a gay person or person of color if these views are "just" views. Go ahead and try to tell them that voters who spread and reinforce some of these views are not tangibly harming them.

 

[iMax]

Mind you, these are just as irritating.

 

[makingmusic476]

I do quality control work on public assistance programs and I can attest to the overall error rates and fraud rates, both at our state level, other state levels, and the federal level. However, if you know of actual instances of fraud, you need to report it. Quality control workers exist for a reason. Many states have implemented fraud reporting lines and a part of most QC workers job is to investigate these incidents.

Believe me, although you anecdotally cite this single instance and claim it's widespread, it really isn't and statistics back this up.



I'm kind of biased since I'm on the left spectrum. I don't notice it as much as I do for the right related issues. A lot of it is falsified gun data or cherry picked crime statistics to back up their claim that all guns should be banned. There's the typical oil companies subsidies and corporate welfare screeds. They usually post this stuff in an inflammatory manner that is sure to shut down any argument and just get them blocked by their friends on the right.

My aunt works in social services for the state of Texas, particularly overseeing a department that handles TANF benefits, iirc, and she's said similar.

She's the most left leaning person in my family after me. Though she's also a lesbian, which I'm sure influenced her politics relative to the rest of the family.

 

[CorvoSol]

I've had a few annoyingly liberal ones from friends, too. Like ones that were that kind of militant atheism where any other person would be like "yeeesh." I go to college in Idaho, though, so election years are terrible for the amount of agitating conservative stuff.

Also I'm friends with a lot of Brazilians who post just the most empty stuff, hahaha.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

So focus on legit abuse and investigating, rather then the blanket 'food stamps make people slaves / get rich off welfare' stuff you see all the time in the conservative side of things.
Conservatives hate poor people who don't look or act poor. It is a challenge to their superiority complex, and that complex is what drives their ideology.

This is right, however we also need to better define abuse, and that gets trickier.

Is a healthy man that hasnt had a job in a year and hasn't even applied for one abusing the system. I think so, but how do you actually track that.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Grow thicker skin, you are feeling mad over someones differing political views. That is called freedom, people fought and died so they can have differing opinions like we have today.

This. I have a few hard right friends. I just keep scrolling. Once in a while I'll either agree or disagree with them.

But I guess it's easier for both sides to vilify those they disagree with than actually have a rational discussion.

 

[Bravocado]

Mind you, these are just as irritating.

Oh god I hate these.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Mind you, these are just as irritating.

Hell yeah. Now this I can get behind. I have a friend that constantly posts "inspiration" quotes about dating and women...and hasn't had a girlfriend for about 5 years. They just seem....odd, more than anything.

And this is from a friend after the racist comments were made. This is one of many, many, many....pretty much trying to defend him.

 

[Chumly]

A minority woman I know is registered as a "struggling single mother with two young children" so she gets $800+ in food stamps every month plus other welfare support.

Officially, the father of the children is reported to be "nowhere to be found" but in reality he's living with her most of the time and has enough cash to buy a $40,000+ car on a whim.

I asked them why they continue to do it and they told me "Because we can, and the government has enough money anyway."



I've also known another woman who bribed a doctor to give her a fake note so she can register as "Disabled" and gets a reduced-fare Metrocard among other government support.

You really can't deny that there is a good amount of abuse in the welfare system. The question is how we're supposed to deal with these abuses.

When you create these blatantly false stories you should probably look up what the maximum food stamp limit to make it more believable. Hint: your example is 300 dollars over the maximum limit.

Any other made up stories you would like to share with us?!?

 

[iMax]

Oh yeah, I get way more of this and The Secret-style bullshit on my Facebook feed than the conservative silliness. I see more conservative image macros being made fun of on GAF than turning up legitimately on my feed.

Yeah, same here. Don't inspire me, dammit!

 

[richiek]

And this is from a friend after the racist comments were made. This is one of many, many, many....pretty much trying to defend him.

But... I thought conservatives were opposed to the idea of cultural relativism.

 

[hipbabboom]

The sad thing about those images are they're more thought suppressing and less thought provoking. If you honestly think about those things, it reveals that much of the conservative perspective is from a place were you're being asked to not consider the merits of points being made by the other opponents of the idea and to simply believe in a certain thing blindly. Its amazingly insidious.

 

[Rapstah]

When you create these blatantly false stories you should probably look up what the maximum food stamp limit to make it more believable. Hint: your example is 300 dollars over the maximum limit.

Any other made up stories you would like to share with us?!?

I knew a woman like that and here name was La-a. You wanna know how she pronounced it??

 

[Protein]

I don't get Liberals trying to understate the amount of welfare abuse in this country. Just yesterday I saw a mom with 8 kids driving a Lamborghini Gallardo. I followed her closely in the checkout lane of the local grocery store and saw her pull out a welfare foodstamp card. The checker said she had a balance of $3,000 left. The woman disputed the amount, so she asked one of her barefoot kids for an iPad so she could check her balance online. Apparently the checker was off about $300. Her iPhone rings, apparently her husband answers and I can overhear him talking about that new 4k flat screen he just bought. How can you sit there and tell me welfare abuse doesn't exist?

 

[Paskil]

When you create these blatantly false stories you should probably look up what the maximum food stamp limit to make it more believable. Hint: your example is 300 dollars over the maximum limit.

Any other made up stories you would like to share with us?!?

Hahaha, yeah I totally missed that. Here are the FNS allotments through 9/30/2014. As you state, the maximum allotment is $497 (unless Aqua lives in Alaska or Hawaii).

http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/em/fsh/allotments/ffy-2013-allotment-tables.pdf

 

[OldAsUrSock]

We should have a thread dedicated to bad image macros.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

I don't get Liberals trying to understate the amount of welfare abuse in this country. Just yesterday I saw a mom with 8 kids driving a Lamborghini Gallardo. I followed her closely in the checkout lane of the local grocery store and saw her pull out a welfare foodstamp card. The checker said she had a balance of $3,000 left. The woman disputed the amount, so she asked one of her barefoot kids for an iPad so she could check her balance online. Apparently the checker was off about $300. Her iPhone rings, apparently her husband answers and I can overhear him talking about that new 4k flat screen he just bought. How can you sit there and tell me welfare abuse doesn't exist?

Well-played, my good woman or sir

When you create these blatantly false stories you should probably look up what the maximum food stamp limit to make it more believable. Hint: your example is 300 dollars over the maximum limit.

Any other made up stories you would like to share with us?!?

It could be a real story, but the numbers weren't big enough to make a strong point so they were bumped a bit. Or he has shit memory and couldn't remember the right number. Or the whole thing is made up.

 

[TwEE-N-Toast]

How do you not have fun with this and post your own but taken to even more extreme "A Modest Proposal" type levels?

 

[Chuckie]

Well you have to admit...we do live in toubled times.

 

[magnetic]

By Shmorky:

 

[Enzom21]

My father in law sent my wife an email that showed a picture of the rapper The Game (who is quite muscular and has tons of tattoos, including on his face) and claimed that it was Trayvon Martin.

Sigh.

Is your father in law a racist? Sounds like he is.

I make around 45 stops per week, at least 3-4 need to be investigated. I'm not going to call the authorities about it, I'm more concerned about giving them proper medical attention.

I think Welfare fraud is like 3% which is tiny, plus the amount of money that the average citizen pays for welfare is like $36 a year so... eh.

 

[BobbyRobby]

I find it ironic that you are complaining about people's political leanings on facebook and their use of annoying memes, but at the same time generalize an entire half of the country as awful on a predominantly liberal forum.

He feels like he is in his team's camp now, and assumes everyone is as entrenched in this partisan war as much as him.

 

[googleplex]

When this shit pops up on my Facebook I don't run from it. I shame the fuck out of the subtle racist bullshit.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I don't get Liberals trying to understate the amount of welfare abuse in this country. Just yesterday I saw a mom with 8 kids driving a Lamborghini Gallardo. I followed her closely in the checkout lane of the local grocery store and saw her pull out a welfare foodstamp card. The checker said she had a balance of $3,000 left. The woman disputed the amount, so she asked one of her barefoot kids for an iPad so she could check her balance online. Apparently the checker was off about $300. Her iPhone rings, apparently her husband answers and I can overhear him talking about that new 4k flat screen he just bought. How can you sit there and tell me welfare abuse doesn't exist?

And as she was buying her 100lbs of steak and lobster, an elderly black man walked up and said "I fought in twelve wars and defended my country's freedom and you are a shame to your race. You can't attack me, a real person, by saying I'm racist, either, because I'm black. Martin Luther King was a Republican."

At this the large woman pushed the old man down. (He shouted about how black-on-black crime was the real issue as this happened) It looked like a race riot was about to happen when a liberal atheist Marxist college professor named Dr. Jewenstein showed up and began to blame George W. Bush for this, and that it was proof that God wasn't real.

Luckily, a bear decorated in full Marine uniform came up and punched the professor in the face.

"God was busy protecting our police officers in Ferguson, so he sent me," he growled in beartongue.




And that bear's name? Albert Einstein.

 

[Carnby]

it's really amazing how outwardly racist so many conservatives are... the new one floating around is my favorite

ISIS IS BEHEADING AMERICANS AND OBAMA IS PLAYING GOLF

and i'm like, "classic black people! all they want to do is golf instead of work."

and i just hope, i pray, that it causes them to think about what i wrote.

i also like GAFs secret conservatives poking in here... i see u

That same argument was leveled against Bush when he was in office. Not exactly the best example of the overt racism from some on the right.

Do you remember that clip in Fahrenheit 9/11 where Bush talks about getting the terrorists and then immediately says "now watch me hit this shot" and swings a golf club? I don't see anything wrong with holding it against Obama too.

 

[jon bones]

you've all missed the point but yeah i remember that

 

[Vincent Alexander]

And that bear's name? Albert Einstein.

This bear sounds like a true American patriot.

 

[LaserBuddha]

Do you remember that clip in Fahrenheit 9/11 where Bush talks about getting the terrorists and then immediately says "now watch me hit this shot" and swings a golf club? I don't see anything wrong with holding it against Obama too.

In the real world, we don't expect presidents to refrain from all personal leisure activity because there is something bad going on in the world. There is always something bad going on. People that don't know anything about politics or the world or have an agenda against the president are the kind to worry about empty symbolic points like this.

 

[DurielBlack]

Is "the opposite of what America does" some sort of popular conservative meme? I have a crazy racist tea-partier friend who has a ton of those plastered on his page. Most of them make no sense and the ones that are intelligible can be easily debunked. Never seen them anywhere else though.

 

[Omegasquash]

I don't get Liberals trying to understate the amount of welfare abuse in this country. Just yesterday I saw a mom with 8 kids driving a Lamborghini Gallardo. I followed her closely in the checkout lane of the local grocery store and saw her pull out a welfare foodstamp card. The checker said she had a balance of $3,000 left. The woman disputed the amount, so she asked one of her barefoot kids for an iPad so she could check her balance online. Apparently the checker was off about $300. Her iPhone rings, apparently her husband answers and I can overhear him talking about that new 4k flat screen he just bought. How can you sit there and tell me welfare abuse doesn't exist?

Well done. I particularly like "welfare foodstamp card."

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

What are people who claim to be "in the middle" even in the middle of? Do you not pick sides on any issue? Seems like a convenient way of just saying "I'm above it all on every issue," without having to take a stand on anything.

The "in the middle" (or "independent") people I know seem like conservatives who don't want to call themselves Republicans. But maybe that's not the case for most who self-identify as such.

They are mostly people who reject the deep polarization in politics right now. They vote for individual politicians on a stance by stance basis. They may be socially liberal and economically conservative. Mostly they are just moderate in a political system that seems to have rejected the entire notion of moderation.

 

[flyover]

My dad used to be pretty conservative, but has gotten more liberal with age. However, he still gets tons of these forwarded, bogus/racist/faux-patriotic conservative emails from his old buddies.

Knowing my brother and I are both bleeding hearts (heck, my brother's a lawyer for AFL-CIO), my dad then passes on the emails to us, saying things like "I found this really interesting. Did you know this?" I have to admit it's pretty great, if only because it drives my brother freaking crazy.

 

[CharminUltra]

And as she was buying her 100lbs of steak and lobster, an elderly black man walked up and said "I fought in twelve wars and defended my country's freedom and you are a shame to your race. You can't attack me, a real person, by saying I'm racist, either, because I'm black. Martin Luther King was a Republican."

At this the large woman pushed the old man down. (He shouted about how black-on-black crime was the real issue as this happened) It looked like a race riot was about to happen when a liberal atheist Marxist college professor named Dr. Jewenstein showed up and began to blame George W. Bush for this, and that it was proof that God wasn't real.

Luckily, a bear decorated in full Marine uniform came up and punched the professor in the face.

"God was busy protecting our police officers in Ferguson, so he sent me," he growled in beartongue.




And that bear's name? Albert Einstein.

This was unbearably cheesy. I would like you to paws fur a moment and think about what you've done.

 

[Omegasquash]

Oh yeah and to the actual thread topic, I just defriend them unless they're family, in which case I just unfollow them. I'm too old to give a shit about hanging on to a friend that I never talk to and that just irks me every time I see 'em post something.

 

[kvk1]

I had a friend post this one, last election. Even though it's so obviously making fun of the fringe right.

B-ROCK "THE ISLAMIC SHOCK" HUSSEIN SUPERALLAH OBAMA

lmao

 

[KingGondo]

Is your father in law a racist? Sounds like he is.

Yes. His other favorite topic to rant about is the influx of Somalian immigrants in his area.

 

[Eighty Deuce]

Honestly, though, why not? After you give them medical attention, then spend maybe 15 minutes documenting this and sending it through.

At least you're doing your part, and then can complain about it? It doesn't make sense to say, well this sucks, and not try to change it, right?
.

If I start reporting them they will stop getting medical attention from us. I rather not contribute to human suffering.

 

[Plywood]

I had a friend post this one, last election. Even though it's so obviously making fun of the fringe right.

lmao

Superallah Obama, had I been drinking milk it would've rocketed out of my nose.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

I had a friend post this one, last election. Even though it's so obviously making fun of the fringe right.

B-Rock, The Islamic Shock!

Sounds like a wrestling name.

 

[CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls]

And as she was buying her 100lbs of steak and lobster, an elderly black man walked up and said "I fought in twelve wars and defended my country's freedom and you are a shame to your race. You can't attack me, a real person, by saying I'm racist, either, because I'm black. Martin Luther King was a Republican."

At this the large woman pushed the old man down. (He shouted about how black-on-black crime was the real issue as this happened) It looked like a race riot was about to happen when a liberal atheist Marxist college professor named Dr. Jewenstein showed up and began to blame George W. Bush for this, and that it was proof that God wasn't real.

Luckily, a bear decorated in full Marine uniform came up and punched the professor in the face.

"God was busy protecting our police officers in Ferguson, so he sent me," he growled in beartongue.




And that bear's name? Albert Einstein.

/r/thathappened

$100% true. Am Marine uniform.

 

[YoungHav]

This. The other side of the spectrum can be just as annoying.

Most of my friends are liberal, but a few are pretty far on the left. I had a friend who posted this the other day.

Yes. Because pointing out the truth about Columbus being a genocidal sex trafficker and enslaver that does not deserve a holiday is the same as Obamacare killing our poor white grandmothers.

Personally, I'd say I identify as centre-left but I'm intrigued as to why so many people 'unfollow' or 'unfriend' people with differing political views. Generally I just feel inclined to spark a discussion with them. There's nothing worse than an online echo-chamber.

There's a difference between differing political views and stupid ones. A lot of the shit posted by the right is based on bigotry and a lack of critical thinking skills.

 

[Loxley]

My dad - who is a wealthy, white, christian, republican, baby-boomer, VP of his company which he's worked at for 40+ years - occasionally sends me those ludicrous right-wing chain-emails that come off as Onion articles. The most recent one went on about how Obama clearly has a mental illness like Down syndrome which explains his poor decision making abilities.

 

[NekoFever]

I travel to Thailand a lot and usually meet British holidaymakers there when I go out for a drink. Sometimes friendships are formed over a day or two, and the inevitable Facebook linkup happens.

Jesus.. some of these dudes are really racist. My facebook feed was full of anti-Islam, anti-Muslim memes, pictures and rants. Some of them were kind of funny at first because they were so poorly made, and obviously created by someone with a pretty low IQ..

But after a while some of the posts became more and more hateful, so I went through and did a massive cull.

There's a whole genre of memes making fun of right-wing British anti-Islam images.

https://twitter.com/BritainFurst

 

[The Albatross]

Thank god I've weeded my FB feed down and basically don't see any of these. My feed, for the last 3 months, has been ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and #PicADaySummerVacay because like 70% of my FB friends are teachers who just drink all summer.

I did have one guy I went to high school with, who I recently became friends with again through a sports league, and all he does is post batshit crazy conspiracy theories about Republicans funding ISIS to make Obama look bad, and then general anti-Israel propaganda.

I blocked him after the "Real Jews believe X, Y, Z" post because I found it ignorant.

But, there's probably a handful of people here who might agree with this and would be upset that somebody else would put this into the same category as th eother garbage in this thread (obviously, there's some that's crazier). He has other posts that are generally conspiracy theory ideas, I'd wager he's a 9/11 truther or at least sympathizes with the truther movement.

 

[Protein]

Here's the original chain email that the Liberal Homosexual Muslim ACLU Lawyer Professor 4chan post came from: