Volcano Criticize the system ADVERTISING I understand why some people get angry at other people who are on welfare. It is because they have been conditioned to believe that poor people are lazy, game the system, and don’t contribute much
Criticize the system
I understand why some people get angry at other people who are on welfare. It is because they have been conditioned to believe that poor people are lazy, game the system, and don’t contribute much to society. They have also been conditioned to blame individuals for being in a welfare situation, instead of actually educating themselves about the systems of inequality that have been normalized in our hierarchical class structure. The fact is, most people on food stamps do work, and the assistance is needed because we as a society have failed in providing living-wage job opportunities to many people.
A person making a living wage does not work harder than someone making minimum wage, so to argue that a person in this situation has less of a right to buy alcohol and tobacco becomes insensitive under this light, especially when making a value judgment on an unknown individual while waiting in line at the supermarket.
Besides, tobacco is predominately a poor- and working-class drug, and since the poor and working class, by virtue of their economic situation, have no political power, our leaders constantly try to increase revenue by raising cigarette taxes. This is known as a regressive tax because the bulk of the tax comes from the poor. This is why a pack costs $8 instead of $2.
The cigarette tax is a good example of applied structural inequality. The next time you find yourself hating on welfare people, simply know that you are making an ignorant value judgment. And to show you what it feels like, here’s my ignorant value judgment: Anyone criticizing a person on welfare without knowing their circumstances are lazy, gaming the system, and definitely does not contribute much to society.
Douglas Suffern
Hilo
The right to choose
Supporters of President Obama’s so-called “contraceptive mandate” would like you to believe that it’s an issue of women’s reproductive rights. However, this is not an issue of ensuring women can access appropriate health care; this is an issue of our right to conscience.
Women currently enjoy ready access to contraceptives without government mandating religious organizations also provide them to employees. Due to Title X and other government subsidies, there are over 4,500 family planning clinics and 8,000 community health center delivery sites nationwide — a majority of which provide contraceptives. Seventy-five percent of all U.S. counties have at least one clinic that provides contraceptives.
What the government does not have the authority to mandate is that both men and women abdicate their First Amendment rights — the government should enact no law restricting the free exercise of religion. Those opposed to the “contraceptive mandate” are not trying to shove their own viewpoints down anyone else’s throats. They are not saying that contraceptives should never be used. They are simply trying to protect their right to exercise what they believe — to have the choice as to whether or not they finance something to which they have religious and/or moral objections
Barbara J. Ferraro
Hawaii director, Concerned Women of America
Don’t judge others
In response to both Mel Holden and A. Yamamoto (Tribune-Herald, Your Views), you need to look before you leap into things you don’t know too much about. Timothy Palmer is right; there are hard-working members in our community who don’t make enough income to make ends meet.
Lucky for us that there are resources available that will TEMPORARILY help those who need it. But it does come at a price: The recipients have to be either in school, working at least part-time, or participating in a job-readiness program. Those who do that have to volunteer a certain amount of hours … to help gain the needed skills and work habits to get and maintain employment. These community members have to comply in order to keep these benefits.
So, if you see a parent purchasing sweets for their children or getting steaks and lobster on their card, leave them and the issue alone. Perhaps there is a good reason, like they got a job so that they can get off (food stamps), or maybe the parents are treating their children for a job well done at school/home.
Nuuana Aguirre
Hilo
‘Arrested’ list trend
This morning’s Tribune-Herald (Feb. 19) contains an especially long list of “citizens arrested and charged” (page A8). Of the 50 people listed, only one has a Japanese surname.
That says a lot about parental upbringing and “family pride” in Hawaii — and a lot about what we all need to think about when raising our kids.
John Lockwood
Volcano
