Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 1)

[Tycoon Padre]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/how-do-you-see-and-treat-poor-unemployed-people-do-you-see-them-as-equals-or-lesser-people-and-those-poor-yourselves-whats-your-experience-being.1087161/

(Disclaimer: This thread has nothing to do with my recent ban. While it would still be nice if mods answered to the ticket ban appeal I opened weeks ago, this thread is separate from that. Just clarifying, because it could be seen as related.)


So I'm from Germany. I've been living off welfare for the past couple years due to a mix of physical and mental health issues. Because I studied at university for many years (without finishing due to aforementioned health issues), I never really had a regular salary, so for me welfare is almost acceptable for my lifestyle. I'm not demanding more or anything. But here's the thing that bothers me and bothers me more with time passing: Being poor, being unemployed, doesn't mean I'm less of a human. And yet that's what everybody around me makes me feel. And not just me. Looking at how people talk about poor/unemployed people, a shocking amount of people in Germany has no shame to outright spew hate against them.

To make matters short, welfare in Germany is called "Bürgergeld" (it's more complicated than that, but this is not the thread for that). This welfare is also the so-called "existence minimum", the amount of money that marks the lowest amount someone can live with here in Germany. If you're unemployed , this is what you'll get (ultimately. again, there's some steps before, but this isn't a thread about the intricacies of the German welfare system). So people who cannot work for WHATEVER reason (health reasons, raising children, no luck finding a job, etc.) will receive that welfare. And for some reason, this makes them also receive an enormous amount of hate.

Being called "lazy" and "leeches" are among the milder things poor people get called here. And all that hate, because we cannot work for one reason or another. Statistics and research have recently proven that only a miniscule amount of 16k people are receiving welfare and outrought refusing to work despite being able to. Because those 16k people exist, haters are shitting on the whole of 2.8 million unemployed people. Meanwhile, these hateful people spend a fraction of the same energy to condemn rich people, millionaires and billionaires, who are actually screwing over the system with their wealth and the ongoing corruption. Introduce a wealth tax? Keep the currently active so-called solidarity tax? Reform inheritance taxes? Reform taxes in general so that poor people are paying less, rich people more? NEVER. But let's shit on poor people, because … BECAUSE.

The reason given, of course, is that poor (and for the record, I'm using poor and unemployed together in this thread; talking about the poorest of the poor, really) people are "taking" the tax money of working people and having a "nice" and "easy" life with it. Which is SUCH bs, of course. Taking myself as an example (and I'm probably an unusual example), I'm in the "lucky" position where I can save up some of my welfare money thanks to getting food often for free. But that aside, I still have the REASONS why I'm unemployed to begin with, my shit health. Just the past two months, 2 new health-issues arose that I'm dealing with now (several of my upper teeth started hurting, and there's a weird clicking sound in my left earer whenever I swallow; doctors told me "can't find anything", great …). And those are minor issues compared to the big ones I don't wanna talk about here. The "paradise" I'm living in that society gives me all their hatred for is me spending all day every day in my room in front of a screen. Eating something. Going to bed very late. Then repeating the same. Only broken up by family events, wich isn't exactly the greatest break due to family issues, too. So, just going off my example, on top of having a shitty, lonely life with just enough money to "live", I also have to bear the permanent, daily hate that working people spew in my and people like mine's direction. Which is ironic, because those being the most hateful are those closest to my status: People who work, but don't earn that much. You'd think they'd direct their anger at rich people, but no, nothing gets them going better than some nice hate against poor people.

While the USA have to deal with Trump and Republicans now, it's very likely that Germany will have to deal with Friedrich Merz and the CDU/CSU in only a few months. And him and his party are very stern supporters of abolishing the current welfare system, lowering the amount of money paid to poor people, and raising all sorts of punishment methods against them. And people are celebrating these plans, hence him and his party likely winning the upcoming Election. And that really has me scared. Social welfare has been neglected and shit for many, many years in Germany. Only 2 years ago, it finally got an overdue, slightly more significant push in a better direction. Only to be followed by "omg, that was too much of a money raise! And not enough punishment! We need to instill fear in poor people so they get back to work!!1"-reaction from the general public, I kid you not. Which is funny when there's more than double as many unemployed people than open jobs, so even if you forced people to take any shit job, there'd still be millions without a job who would be punished for no fault of their own.

And then I look around online and I feel that … there's a lot of the same sentiment. Whether it's irl when people ask you "so what are you doing?" and then it gets all awkward when they cannot handle "Nothing. I'm unemployed" for an answer, on instagram where women say "I wouldn't date a man who doesn't make at least 6 digits", Twitter where people literally dehumanize poor people, or even sometimes Resetera where it feels like a lot of people have lost touch with reality when it comes to money (I want to add that my issues with Resetera in this regard absolutely pale in comparison with the other examples! Just sometimes … ). It really feels like a lot of people out there see poor people as some sort of different species to themselves. At least that's how it feels to me. Everybody has a lobby that fights for its cause. Except poor people. Sure, there are some social organizations, but they're so powerless compared to pretty much anything else that's fighting for a cause.

READ AT LEAST THE FOLLOWING 2 PARAGRAPHS PLS IF THE ABOVE WAS TOO MUCH WALL OF TEXT. THX:

So that's what I wanted to ask you guys, how it's for you. Whether you're poor/unemployed yourselves. And more interestingly, if you're not poor, how do you see and treat the poor people you meet irl and online? Do you see them as "lesser"? Will you still be friends with them or would you rather stay away from them? Would you date an unemployed person? Would you demand conditions a la "I will only interact with poor people who try to find a job"? I guess it all comes down to: Are poor people equals to you (assuming you're not poor) or do you think you're (ever so slightly) better than them?

I'd like to ask everyone (myself included) to keep any replies in this thread polite and civil. It's probably a touchy topic for some, but as someone who's afflicted, I'm interested to hear some real people's opinion on the matter. People who, by way of being part of Resetera, probably are generally less hateful people than elsewhere. Thanks for any feedback and please realize: This thread is not about me, it's about the general topic of poor/unemployed people and how you see them or what experience you've made as one of them. I just wanted to give a concrete example by telling about my situation here in Germany.

What kind of psychopath would view poor people as lesser or leeches? Did Ayn Rand write this OP?

You posted less than a minute after me posting the lengthy OP, calling me a psychopath for sharing my own experience. Thx.

THE SAME AFTERNOON that he posted this he was the Nvidia 50-series thread wondering whether or not he should save up his gibs to upgrade his 4070 Ti to a 5070 Ti 

https://www.resetera.com/threads/nvidia-announces-the-rtx-50-series-availability-starts-in-january-5090-1999-5080-999-99-5070-ti-749-5070-549.1075542/page-50#post-134593395

I can only find talk about the 5080 and 5090. Have there been any good video reviews about the 5070 Ti? Especially how it compares to the 4070 Ti Super?

https://www.resetera.com/threads/nvidia-announces-the-rtx-50-series-availability-starts-in-january-5090-1999-5080-999-99-5070-ti-749-5070-549.1075542/page-50#post-134593491

Oh, thanks, everyone. I thought all 4 models release day 1 and NVIDIA just chose to focus on 5080/5090 for marketing purposes. Oh well, that's ... good to know then. More time to save up money :o

This is after he was banned earlier this month for complaining that it was unethical for people to be buying 5090s SPECIFICALLY

https://www.resetera.com/threads/nvidia-teases-geforce-rtx-5000-at-ces-2025-on-1-6-25.1060764/page-30#post-133893648

A lot of the postings in this thread really have me on the edge of making an OT-thread about "When is wealth unethical?". So many people casually spending 2000 bucks on a GPU, talking about upper limits of 2500 or 3000 bucks. And meanwhile so many people in the world are starving. Yes, I know that's always true, but at these prices for what's supposed to be a mainstream product, I can't help but have these thoughts.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/nvidia-teases-geforce-rtx-5000-at-ces-2025-on-1-6-25.1060764/page-30#post-133894086

See, I'm not jealous of those getting a 5090, I wouldn't get it for the absurd power consumption alone. But: Anybody who's got 3000 dollars to buy a gpu is wealthy. Saying otherwise means you have no grasp of the rest of the world. But this is probably getting offtopic, so if there's interest in such debate, me or someone else can make an OT-thread later.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/nvidia-teases-geforce-rtx-5000-at-ces-2025-on-1-6-25.1060764/page-30#post-133894821

Sorry, but yours and the other replies to me just come off as so incredibly "weltfremd". Saving money for 2-3 months for a 3000 dollar-gpu doesn't make you "disciplined". Most people are permanently disciplined and can never afford such gpu.

These replies remind me of an older thread I read here in the OT where the majority of rich-era was upset that they were being called rich for making more than 100k dollars a year.

You're wealthy. If being called wealthy is now considered an insult, then we REALLY need to protect the rich less ...

Having a job and spending your own money to buy the best GPU you can: bad!

Being a dolehead and having the government buy you the third best GPU, which only costs about 1000 Euro after all: quite good actually, really a basic human right if we're being honest.