Faking Poverty

Published by

Clarissa

June 13, 2015

I’m hearing that Hillary Clinton will be mentioning the poverty experienced by her mother when the mother was a child in her speech today. She’ll do it to let the voters know she understands what economic hardship is like.

Soon, we’ll have politicians breathlessly inform us that they know all about poverty because they once talked to somebody who once stood next to somebody who had heard of somebody who might have been poor.

I don’t blame Hillary for this pathetic effort to pretend she’s not who she actually is. If people voted on issues and not on soppy “human interest” stories, nobody would have to contort themselves into weird shapes and fake non-existent suffering.

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15 responses to “Faking Poverty”

bwcarey

June 13, 2015

when Mrs Clinton was secretary of state she raised the issue of women’s rights throughout the middle east, encouraged change, tried to change a health system weighted against those in society who could not afford health care, and so it’s rather unfair to fault her for raising the issue of hunger, if we become cynical about everything, what good are we, enjoyed your post

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1. Clarissa
  
  June 13, 2015
  
  Hey, I’m all for Clinton in this election but you know me, I will be poking gentle fun regardless.
  
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cdw 100

June 13, 2015

I grew up in poverty in Canada during the 1960’s. I know what it is to be poor, but my mother kept her grace and sought out work and became successful. I took her advice on education and dedication to one’s work. I am not poor, we left poverty in the 1970’s, and have never looked back.

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Shakti

June 13, 2015

I’m hearing that Hillary Clinton will be mentioning the poverty experienced by her mother when the mother was a child in her speech today… I don’t blame Hillary for this pathetic effort to pretend she’s not who she actually is.

That’s not claiming to be poor, that’s claiming to empathize with people who are poor because someone she was close to was once poor. That’s different.
I do agree that there’s a generational limit though to claiming knowledge of this kind of experience, even second hand.

For example, I accord no credence to anyone talking about how they understand immigrants unless they are actually immigrants or the children of immigrants. If you’re talking about your grandparents and up, I laugh. These people have never grown up around immigrants and are never close to any, especially if they’re from communities where most people are past the 3rd generation. There’s no living memory.
By design, you can’t be an immigrant and run for president.

She might have heard stories from her mother, and seen the effects on her, but Hillary grew up upper middle class. If Chelsea started claiming empathy based on grandma, I’d laugh her off the stage.

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1. Clarissa
  
  June 13, 2015
  
  For me, it’s only immigrants, not children of immigrants. I only believe in personal experience because stories people tell are always just thst, stories
  
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  1. el
    
    June 13, 2015
    
    // For me, it’s only immigrants, not children of immigrants.
    
    How do you define “children of immigrants”? If somebody goes to another country with his family at the age of six, is he an immigrant or a child of? What about the age of 12, when parents are the ones who decided to immigrate?
    
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2. Clarissa
  
  June 13, 2015
  
  I mean, children of immigrants have their own unique experience that nobody can reach without being one of them. But it’s not the same as an immigrant experience.
  
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  1. Shakti
    
    June 13, 2015
    
    I agree that they are distinct experiences.
    
    When I talk to immigrants people who’ve immigrated as adults, I often feel like I’m talking to a time shifted version of my parents, even if they’re my peers. I don’t have this feeling talking to children of immigrants, or people who immigrated as children, regardless of whether they remember or not.
    
    Politically I notice that after the second generation, people have less sensitivity or awareness of immigrant issues, in general or country specific.
    
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The Dark Avenger

June 13, 2015

A mother’s childhood inevitably shapes those of her children in one way or another. My mother was an American civilian imprisoned by the Japanese with the rest of her family in China during WWII. The stories she told us of her life in the camp, smuggling food in the camp by crawling under barbed wire and keeping silent even as the barbs raked her skin.

I think this post is a little beneath you. But then, I forget, Ukrainians have cornered the market on human suffering, haven’t they?

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1. Clarissa
  
  June 13, 2015
  “A mother’s childhood inevitably shapes those of her children in one way or another.”
  
  Together with Freud, I completely agree. 🙂
  
  “I think this post is a little beneath you. But then, I forget, Ukrainians have cornered the market on human suffering, haven’t they?”
  
  It’s OK to support Hillary. But it’s also important not to turn into a gushing little groupie, wouldn’t you agree? Let’s still preserve our capacity to have opinions of our own even as we collectively get Hillary elected.
  
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  1. The Dark Avenger
    
    June 13, 2015
    
    I think that you should leave the Hillary bashing to the experts at the NYT and other media outlets. I’m not of the Boost, Don’t Knock, but as someone who has worked in sales, I’m often struck by the attitude that using an emotional appeal is somehow infra dig, that putting a sizzle to the steak of policy Simply Isn’t Done.
    
    Let me illustrate it with a story from my sordid past:
    
    30 years ago, I was working for Tom Hayden’s political group, and there was a conference in LA that was attended, by among others, Margo Kidder, so it was a fairly serious affair.
    
    Because the fees charged attendees didn’t cover all the costs, raffle tickets were sold to make up the difference, the first prize being a weekend for two in San Francisco.
    
    One of my fellow staff members, a young lady about my age was trying to sell tickets, asking people to purchase them in order to make up the deficit. She had no takers.
    
    I grabbed the tickets from her, and said in a loud but not overbearing tone, “Step right up folks! For a mere 10$, you can have a chance to win a weekend for 2 in Baghdad by the Bay.”
    
    There were then two almost simultaneous responses to my pitch. The young lady gasped in indignation, and one of the older attendees spoke up, “I’ll take two of them.”
    
    Have a sizzle to sell the steak. Is that so hard a concept to grasp?
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      June 13, 2015
      
      “I’m often struck by the attitude that using an emotional appeal is somehow infra dig, that putting a sizzle to the steak of policy Simply Isn’t Done.”
      
      Oh, come on. These days, there is no steak any longer, only sizzle. All that is ever discussed any longer is the cuteness of the puppies a candidate bought, or the way another candidate transported his dog 30 years ago, or the experiences of a candidates grandma, or other silly crap like that. There is no policy any more because all that anybody ever talks about is tabloid gossip.
      
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      1. The Dark Avenger
        
        June 14, 2015
        
        Nothing screams serious analysis like a headline “Fake poverty”.
        
        I’m reminded of a certain Biblical verse about moats and beams…………..
        
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Anielle

June 13, 2015

I dislike the post too. Is it really necessary to attack Hillary before she has had the chance to officially kick off the campaign? She doesn’t desearve this kind of attack and especially not over something so trivial.

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1. Clarissa
  
  June 13, 2015
  
  God, what is it with you, people, today?
  
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