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WaPo: Ben Carson says Poverty Is a 'State of Mind'
- Thread starter Rebel Leader
- Start date
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Even if you agree that a "defeatist" mindset can prevent someone from succeeding, Carson is merely a mouthpiece for right-wing dogma about the poor and minorites. Everything bad that happens to someone is their fault and proves they're just a leech and drain on society and should bootstrap up.
Poor? Bad attitude. Sick? Didn't take care of yourself. Female, brown, gay, trans? Should have been born a straight white man.
Poor? Bad attitude. Sick? Didn't take care of yourself. Female, brown, gay, trans? Should have been born a straight white man.
Saucycarpdog
Member
And you, Mr. Carson, are completely out of your mind!
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
It's bullshit because it completely ignores mental capital, money and possessions are not the grand sum of success. Taking those away don't make a businessman unable to do business.
Baron von Loathsome
Member
What?
Not when said clock is broken because it has no hands...
Ben Carson must've been watching Notorious (2009) with that quote....
Puffy: Nigga, I'm hungry! You can throw me butt-naked in the jungle, and I'll come out with a with a chinchilla coat, a leopard hat and 10 pounds heavier from eating them niggas.
Biggie: Puffy, I don't know about a chinchilla but if you throw me out to the jungle, I'll have them motherfuckers dancing.
See Puffy is essentially telling B.I.G. that success is a state of mind just like Ben! Therein he is articulating that "you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they'll be right back up there,". I see you
son.
Ben Carson is not only street he is street smart. Ben is so far ahead he's about to lap you twice. Shake and bake baby shake and bake.
Puffy: Nigga, I'm hungry! You can throw me butt-naked in the jungle, and I'll come out with a with a chinchilla coat, a leopard hat and 10 pounds heavier from eating them niggas.
Biggie: Puffy, I don't know about a chinchilla but if you throw me out to the jungle, I'll have them motherfuckers dancing.
See Puffy is essentially telling B.I.G. that success is a state of mind just like Ben! Therein he is articulating that "you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they'll be right back up there,". I see you
Car
Ben Carson is not only street he is street smart. Ben is so far ahead he's about to lap you twice. Shake and bake baby shake and bake.
ugaboga232
Member
He's right but he got the causality wrong.
Poverty, discrimination, and other chronic stressors heavily affect your brain and thus your mindset not the other way around.
Given that he's a neurosurgeon this is quite worrisome that he doesn't know how the brain works.
Poverty, discrimination, and other chronic stressors heavily affect your brain and thus your mindset not the other way around.
Given that he's a neurosurgeon this is quite worrisome that he doesn't know how the brain works.
So he isn't right at all then.
Dreams-Visions
Member
I mean, sure Ben. For the cross-section of people for whom the ONLY factor that is keeping them in poverty is MINDSET...you're right. If a man with great opportunities has convinced for some reason himself (or been convinced by outside forces) that he is not worthy of success, he will -- by his very nature -- sabotage his chances of success and fail. That's just a basic truth. It's part of the reason why mental healthcare is so important.
I contend that the cross-section of people for whom that is applicable is relatively small and that him applying it liberally (I assume he's suggesting most poor are there because of mindset) is extremely problematic. People are poor for lots of reasons. Disability, fear, generational poverty, primary employment centers in cities closing/going overseas, lack of opportunities, poor schools, lack of education, inability to manage money, addiction, abusive people in their past, drugs, gentrification, white flight from urban centers, discrimination in all the forms it takes, and everything else I can't think of right now. And mental health as well. All of these are among the reasons (some compounding) for poverty (in America at least).
I contend that the cross-section of people for whom that is applicable is relatively small and that him applying it liberally (I assume he's suggesting most poor are there because of mindset) is extremely problematic. People are poor for lots of reasons. Disability, fear, generational poverty, primary employment centers in cities closing/going overseas, lack of opportunities, poor schools, lack of education, inability to manage money, addiction, abusive people in their past, drugs, gentrification, white flight from urban centers, discrimination in all the forms it takes, and everything else I can't think of right now. And mental health as well. All of these are among the reasons (some compounding) for poverty (in America at least).
Spring-Loaded
Member
The Last Wizard
Member
Some people just don't deserve to live.
yanipheonu
Member
I'm sure letting the proletariat get discontent won't lead to any problem.
Baron von Loathsome
Member
Goddamn.
MetalGearZed
Member
I'm starting to think that Ben Carson gave up a piece of his own brain to save those siamese twins.
What a nice man
What a nice man
The part about government assistance being a giant net positive for the country is. (the second quoted paragraph in the OP)
He's just completely not understanding just how bad the effects of not having assistance are and how those shadow people the rest of their lives.
Soapbox Killer
Grand Nagus
He ain't wrong. But no matter what He says folks will find folly (with good reason too).
How is saying that poverty is a state of mind not wrong?
Lord Frieza
Member
Goddamn, defense for everything lol
I immediately thought of this.
Emperor_EL
Member
Get your boy, Elizabeth...
Different types of intelligences though
The Last Wizard
Member
I don't understand the disdain for poor people, even if you love corps so much.
Ghost Rider
Member
Exactly what I was thinking. Damn my mom for not thinking the right way, might have had a few less cold winters and hungry nights.
he's actually pretty wrong. the way things are set up in the US, you get your steps pulled from under you as you try to climb up, and if you're above a certain point, you get a rocket strapped to your back from having to barely pay for the resources you use to make your money + people wanting access to you and your money so they give you even more money in hopes of making money.
shit, if you're rich enough you can have bad decisions reversed for you. one time a stock company screwed up and had hundreds of thousands of dollars of a bad trade reversed due to "but it was our computers". If you're poor and someone screws you out of your 400$ rental deposit, SHOULD AKNOWN BETTA BACK TO THE STREET WITH YOU
Psychoward
Banned
As terrible as that is, the funny thing is a lot of current R's wouldn't even agree with this
Mr. Giggles
Member
Can we still eat avacado toast though?
Holy Order Sol
Member
gootecks pls
He's 100% right about it. I know so many people who could do so much but have this defeatist attitude. They don't even have anything to be defeated about, they're just starting out and yet they just act as though they can't do anything to help themselves.
I think what he is saying and his reason for doing so are completely different however. I highly doubt he is talking about the same kinds of people as I am.
I think what he is saying and his reason for doing so are completely different however. I highly doubt he is talking about the same kinds of people as I am.
Unknown Soldier
Member
I need to see video of this. The facial expression is incredible.
Forerunner
Member
I'm rich because I think rich.
It's incredibly easy to be defeated though. I've been applying for jobs for the past year, keep in mind I already have two jobs, yet I still have that defeated mindset, because I'm not seeing myself moving up. I'm even living with my parents rent-free right now, saving up for a new car and place of my own, but because I'm not where I want to be right now, I'm not happy.
I understand that. The people I know specifically and think this applies to haven't even tried that much.
They won't even try to apply for jobs and that's why they don't have anything to be defeated about.
I think the climate in the US especially is terrible for people trying to start out in life. There's a difference between the people like you who have tried and the people who don't even bother though.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
If they don't have anything to be defeated it's hard to imagine they are in poverty. Poverty means not having enough income to feed yourselves and your family adequately as well as afford basic goods.
I don't understand why people think that free market capitalism in the US is some fair, benevolent system when it's been shown time and time again that upward class mobility is a farce (especially so for minorities).
It's great and all to tell people to just pull up their bootstraps and everything will be okay, but that's not how the real world works
It's great and all to tell people to just pull up their bootstraps and everything will be okay, but that's not how the real world works
That's how they are but they haven't tried to begin with. It's a vicious circle of "My family was poor and therefore I will be poor". That despite going to a decent university and having the same opportunities as other people who went on to do much more.
They never finished University because they didn't want to do the work and then never got more than a minimum wage job because, and this is a direct quote, "They wanted me to do an interview and I don't want to do an interview for a job".
It's a different mindset and it puts them in that position before they've even started.
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