Crackheads on Welfare -- Damn 'Em

I stumbled upon an idiot's blog at a moment when I had better things to do. At a moment when I was feeling peaceful and productive. And at a moment when I told myself, don't waste your time reading people's blogs.  I typically only read 3 blogs.  One is a fellow former Iowa girl...one is a writer and good friend of mine, and one is a mom of twins who has battled infertility, loss and the demons that haunt you after that battle. That's it.  That's all I have time for.

But at this moment when my heart is beating in my throat and my mind is swirled with anger towards a southern blogger who stereotyped and condemned women on welfare, I just need to sit and write.  I need to get it out so I may move on with my day.  I am so offended by his judgment and inability to think of what welfare benefits do for children, that I can hardly function.  I ripped out a response to him on his blog, and I think he responded to me, but I don't even have the patience to listen to more of his whining, nor do I particularly care what an inarticulate idiot has to say.  And I doubt I'll ever be able to find his blog again (unless I come back to the below link and decide to click on it).

Short summary. He works. Wife works. They are both able-bodied adults with healthy children -- much to be thankful for, yet he still whines.  They have twins. They can't pay their bills. He thinks he is owed assistance OVER women and children with disadvantaged social histories.  Women, he believes, who do drugs and take advantage of the system.

Well, hot damn.  Who isn't struggling these days?  Maybe we should all get assistance.  Especially people with multiples.

Whatever  

Though I'd caution you from wasting your time on reading the writings of this white man, should you desire to find out what I am talking about, here you go.

See here: Rantings of a Whiney Self-Entitled Ignorant White Man

Poverty is not a reason to take a woman's children away from her. Period.

A woman who is so strung out on drugs or alcohol that she can't take care of her children, though, may well have her children taken away due to neglect, or even abuse if she is using them inappropriately to get access to her fix.

So, would it not stand to reason that it is a much more likely scenario that it is a woman who is deeply entrenched in poverty and a broken system that is collecting benefits than it is that she is a "druggie"?  And, while I realize some people might take advantage of the system, many women and children aren't -- and they NEED it. And the system might be broken, but I hate to think of a day when a woman and her children are homeless, without healthcare, and hungry.

If we don’t take care of mothers, they can’t take care of their babies.” –Jeanne Driscoll

Most women on welfare have very complicated social histories, and to simply say they are "lazy" or "druggies" is inaccurate, judgmental, and shows ignorance on the part of the accuser.

I tend not to tolerate whining or self-entitlement very well.  ESPECIALLY when it comes from a white man, with good health, with a wife with good health, with a family support system in place, with a home, with little empathy for others, with little education in social welfare, with little belief in social justice....

Sigh...

Stupid CSMF.