this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago (3 children)

They got me! I have to admit, "welfare" leaves a bad taste in my mouth where "helping the poor" sounds fair enough. I grew up under Reagan, heard the bullshit, know it's bullshit, I get it.

And you know damned well what those words really mean. Welfare = black, poor people = whites. (That's from a GenX perspective.)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

So weird. As a Scandinavian, "welfare" to me means schools, healthcare, elderly care, sick pay, paid parental leave etc., paid for by the shared burden of taxes for the benefit of everyone.

It is a word with entirely positive connotations for me.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago

Our famous and revered constitution actually says in its thesis statement that one of the purposes of our government is to provide for the general welfare

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago (2 children)

To me the negative connotation of "welfare" is, Kafkaesque bureaucracy used to gate access. Actually being on it feels more like you are playing a fucked up game than receiving assistance.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

People acting like gaming welfare is easy. Fuck me, it's a full-time job getting anything at all.

For example: Been thinking about trying to get some food stamps. Wife works, I'm unemployed, maybe get a little of the tax money back from when I was making bank? Maybe get a pittance of unemployment? I can scarcely imagine navigating all the bullshit if I wasn't technically capable. Kafkaesque bureaucracy indeed.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I got fired from a job, rather unjustly, and attempted to file for unemployment.

It made no sense, I could not navigate my states website (which didn’t want to play well with Linux anyway), so I gave up. Which is the point.

One time an employer fired me and refused to pay me after discovering I was trans, and it literally took 6 months to get that check. The system is designed to fuck people.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago

I hear this, and also some flavor of people gaming the system.

I don't like that I hear these things. But something definitely weaseled its way in.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago

Welfare = black, poor people = whites.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner.