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[nononono]

Originally posted by mmm3587
I don't really know very much about you, but I would presume that you are human enough to have at least some empathy for people in situations worse than yours. Even if they deserve where they are, or should have fled, or whatever else. If for no other reason than the fact that many other cities have large urban poor populations, and maybe this could affect you in some other way than you just hearing about it. It's not like, if the situation were right, mob violence couldn't happen in other places.

I'm certainly a big proponent of the whole personal responsibility thing. It's one of the few things I like about today's GOP: personal responsibility above all else (well, except for corporate welfare, but who's counting?). Certainly, the poor in America get a lot more done for them than in many other (mostly third world) countries, and often, they are to blame for their predicaments. There are ways out of/around lots of things: losing one's job, getting sick, having terrible medical bills, having a spouse die, etc. That doesn't mean that everyone is going to be able to find a reasonable way out.

However, I think about how I got to where I am, and I don't think that I would have gotten here had I been raised by parents without jobs, or with drug problems, or without much education. Frankly, I think that it's a pretty sad statement about our society that the best way out for a lot of people is to join the military.

Two comments: 1) you might not be where you are but your kids could be - sometimes it takes a few generations; and 2) the military can be an excellent way to give people otherwise raised without parental figures who make them believe in moving up to get education, experience achievment and develop a work ethic. And the children of people who learn that and who are then taught that have every chance in the world.