Comment of the year so far at PZ Meyer's place

This is about right

I may get slammed for saying this but...

After seeing the way things work first-hand, I think the only RESPONSIBLE thing a person on any kind of assistance can do is cheat.

I said it, cheat. Break the rules. Become an "abuser." You HAVE to.

Not by buying a beer (though fine by me if you do.) Rather, by HIDING MONEY.

They take away your benefits if you have a dime to your name - yet you can't escape that without scrimping and saving. You HAVE to cheat. You HAVE to have a secret stash of cash, somehow, somewhere. If you have ANY hope for your future, if you have ANY dreams of getting out of the hole - YOU HAVE TO CHEAT THE SYSTEM.

Because the system is rigged to be against you. The system is immoral.

I know a few people who managed to better their lives, get out of some of the worst slums around (while the slumlords, with literally THOUSANDS of violations in their properties, with people house in condemned buildings, got paid tens of millions of dollars for their property as a solution to end the blight they caused.

You got it - slumlord with literally thousands of legal violations? The way to fix that is give him millions. His VICTIMS try to save a few bucks in hope of getting the hell out? CUT OFF THEIR BENEFITS!

These few people who managed to escape this escaped because they "cheated." They hid money, money they weren't "allowed" to have, until they gathered up enough to GET THE HELL OUT.

FUCK you people that think that the only thing a poor person deserves is JUST enough to keep them alive and dreading their life, dreading each day. Who think that the life of a child born into poverty must be spent not only sitting around hopeless with nothing but the clothes on their back, waiting for the decades to pass before they die, but that they also have to feel GRATEFUL to you for allowing them your spare bread crumbs.

They don't get to have hopes and dreams, or a chance to socialize, have a moment's peace or pleasure, or a chance to participate in a culture that has been deliberately stolen, privatized and turned into a pay-per-view event.

The WISE thing, the RESPONSIBLE thing for a person on any assistance to do is to break the rules not with the hope to defraud, but with the hope of ESCAPE.

And if they are mentally ill, too physically ill, or too old to fight their way out and escape by saving, maybe their only way to escape is that beer. That joint. That TV to stare at. Not an optimal situation, but let's get clear here - for many THAT'S ALL that they have to hope for. They will NOT be getting a job at Google or even McDonald's. They're too old or ill.

They have no choice but to sit around.

Health programs to get them off booze if they're addicted, absolutely.

But if that 68 year old disabled guy in a section 8 room with a toilet down the hall and screaming neighbors and noise and stink in the hallways who will NEVER have a better chance (that isn't handed to him?) LET HIM HAVE A FUCKING BEER.

Put it on MY tab if you're too fucking selfish to have a fraction of a cent of your precious tax money go to him.