[Paleopsych] welfare, freedom

[Michael Christopher]

>>Unlike your example of people working in degrading 
conditions, they felt trapped because they were 
afraid of giving up the dole.<<

--I've known plenty of people who felt trapped in jobs
they couldn't leave because there was less security in
switching. I don't see how there's a difference.
Either way you're leaving the known for an unknown,
and giving up a guaranteed income for a situation that
may or may not work out.

>>People say "Take this job and shove it" all the
time, because they see themselves as free. They can
work elsewhere.<<

--Might depend on your social group. I know tech
workers who can do that, because their skills are
highly valued. I know others who have less freedom and
do NOT feel secure saying "take this job and shove
it".

>>The dole creates an illusion of a lack of freedom. 
It is unearned, and one must placate the welfare
gods.<<

--I'm wondering if people who believe this have
actually been on welfare, or if it's just a cultural
belief extended into the political realm. I've been on
disability, and I felt quite free. I spent my time
learning, developing the web design skills I now use
to make money, and never felt I had to placate anyone.
I did feel a little guilt about relying on money
someone else might need more, but I'd feel just as
guilty taking a job someone else might need more. I've
known several others who were on disability or
welfare, and if they were "stuck" it was in the same
way others were stuck in low paying service jobs. I
appreciate theory as much as any intellectual, and on
that level I can see how eliminating welfare or the
minimum wage *might* produce eventual positives, but I
try not to let abstractions become so powerful that I
ignore what's really happening, in real time, on the
ground.

Michael 


		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. 
http://mobile.yahoo.com/maildemo