Re:An Ode to a 'Poor Black Kid' I Never Knew: How Forbes Get...
by meric on Wednesday December 14, 2011 @10:38AM
(#3352187)
>>>> We're descended from people who had really miserable
>>>> lives: sleep in a cave, hope you can hunt or gather enough
>>>> food to stay alive, go to sleep hungry more often than
>>>> not
>> This is pure conjecture.
When my grandmother was young, she ate 1 bowl of rice a day (max), and had to spend her entire salary on food. Though she did sometimes get a few drops of pig fat to eat with her rice. Her job was carrying sand and rocks away from where the hill was demolished.
When my mother was young, she ate 2 bowl of rice, and vegetables, plus chicken on chinese new years. Her job was nursing.
Today, I eat cereal in the morning, rice and meat and vegetables for lunch and dinner. I'm a student.
Anecdotes are anecdotes but it is not a pure conjecture.
Re:An Ode to a 'Poor Black Kid' I Never Knew: How Forbes Get...
by white_devil on Wednesday December 14, 2011 @05:53AM
(#3351382)
I believe his point was that it should be possible for <hardship-experiencing-people> to gradually improve their living conditions even despite their hardships.
Re:An Ode to a 'Poor Black Kid' I Never Knew: How Forbes Get...
by triclosan on Wednesday December 14, 2011 @07:44AM
(#3351589)
I think he(and maybe you) underestimate how bad it is. Just because your shitty situation gradually improves, it doesn't make it a good situation, it makes it a slightly better shitty situation.
Re:An Ode to a 'Poor Black Kid' I Never Knew: How Forbes Get...
by white_devil on Wednesday December 14, 2011 @08:20AM
(#3351694)
Yes, but the gradual improvement might have been happening over a long period already, and as a result, the situation wouldn't be bad anymore.
This is pure conjecture.
risk death by infection every time you get a cut that's more than skin deep
Reasonable point, but nothing to hang your hat on - it's the same for many poor people today that have poor access to medicine
and reproduce through what any modern person would call serial rape.
And we're back to just making stuff up again to make it sound like people in poverty have it easy.
The poor black kid in the story doesn't have access to self-sufficiency that your hunter-gatherers had. Where are the animals he can hunt? Where is the food he can simply gather? He has markedly different restrictions on his life, but you're ignoring all that to try and paint him as wealthy compared to "ye olde ignorant savage"