know what annoys me lately?
well, lots of things lately, thanks for asking. but specifically right now i'm annoyed that i keep seeing that everybody and their mother has joined that facebook group "i support drug tests for welfare recipients". i think they should re-name their group "let's treat poor people like the scumbag drug addicts we all know they are."
i've wasted my time arguing about it with people, which is pointless i realize because once people are in that place where they want to accuse the poor of a crime, any crime, they probably aren't going to come out of that place just because i argue with them. most of the reasons i hear from people are indignant "why should government money be used to buy drugs?!" which has led me to ask "so you supports drug testing for people in the military, military veterans, government employees, and people receiving unemployment benefits too, right?" and then they get all dicey about it, like "weeeeell, not exactly."
but of course! because we all know war veterans and government employees aren't drug-addled losers, right? they can spend their government money on whatever they want! and then i wonder, how can a drug test prove that someone is spending their "free government handout" on drugs, anyway? if i go out and take a hit of a friend's joint at a party and then fail my drug test, does that mean my daughter's health insurance should be cancelled, and that our food stamps should be taken away?
everyone loves to imagine that people only go on any kind of welfare benefits so they can work the system and spend everyone's hard-earned tax dollars on crack and 40s of Colt, but perpetuating this myth of the drug addicted welfare queen benefits NOBODY. if we get pissed off imagining these welfare queens driving around in their fancy cars with their fancy purses and shoes and top secret easy-access rings full of blow it's because we like to think of ourselves as BETTER than people with less money than us. it's because we think our choices are worth more than theirs, because we make GOOD ones that have kept us from being poor, and they've made BAD ones that have led them to become the losers they are. they must be ingrates, scam artists, immoral heathens floating around aimlessly waiting to pick-pocket the hard-working american people. they MUST be, to have ended up poor, right?
so yeah, fuck that stupid facebook group and all the sheeple that keep joining it to prove that they're better than everyone else with less money.
it's so gross.
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It's a continual ploy by the power elite to
1) not give any money at all to poor people and
2) keep poor people divided and thinking that "we" are not poor because "we" are not criminals or dirty or whatever label. But "we" are just as poor as people on welfare, in comparison to the super wealthy.
And the superwealthy power elite folks don't think of us as people anyway.
So, love your fellow unknowingly poverty-stricken facebook users. Love them because we are all in the same boat, whether they know it or not.
"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius"--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Let's start a counter Facebook Group - "I support privacy for welfare recipients." Or something like that, anyway. Who's with me on this???
"Good manners and bad breath will get you nowhere" (Elvis Costello)
Bad manners and varying breath:Exponential Detritus For Feeble Minds...
This is exactly why the 'powers that be' perpetuate the thinking behind the groups like the facebook one.
These myths will continue to be perpetuated.
It has stemmed in part from simply trying to understand 'the poor' -understanding and explaining the reasons WHY (low morals, bad choices).
It all does sound like bullshit too though. I remember learning about these reasonings and arguments in sociology class. Giving ourselves something worse off to compare to so we feel good about the 'choices' we have made.
Things are shifting though, people are becoming much more aware of Energies...
A new way of thinking / being means looking at one another and saying "It is one or two circumstances or choices that keeps me from being exactly that person.....Every woman is a mirror of myself, and i do not judge because I could so easily be here if not for a slight turn of the hand"
Not that I am so priviliged, far from it, but it's helped me in my healing and growing to remember those words.
Some of the things you say here are exactly what has been fed to us for centuries, you could be a sociology professor, you pose some good arguments.
--"it's because we like to think of ourselves as BETTER than people with less money than us. it's because we think our choices are worth more than theirs, because we make GOOD ones that have kept us from being poor, and they've made BAD ones that have led them to become the losers they are. they must be ingrates, scam artists, immoral heathens floating around aimlessly waiting to pick-pocket the hard-working american people. they MUST be, to have ended up poor, right?"
**Breathe**
This is an interesting post because I just hours ago had to agree to drug testing to get a job. I would not have been hired without a drug test, nor if the test came back positive.
Was that a violation of my human rights? No sarc here, genuinely curious.
Glamorous
Memory is a crazy woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food. ~Austin O'Malley
did they sign a binding contract not to test you for anything but drugs, and tell you which drugs tehy're looking for? if you have say, an antibody for a chronic illness like epstein barr, did they promise to hire you anyway? did they sign an agreement promising to give you the full report of the results in writing?
and no. No. No.
This discussion brings up a lot that makes me curious. I wonder if the potential employer tested only for illegal substances, or if they just did a shot-gun spectrum screening for all manner of things.
I do know that programs (like AFDC and food stamps) can discontinue benefits for any criminal activity. Is the drug test a form of entrapment?
but i really think that if there is a larger design to it at all, it's to discourage people from applying for benefits.
i got a human services job once that required a medical screening. i was given a sheet of paper where diseases were checked off, based on the position i would be holding there, what they woudl be testing for. they also gave me a sheet of paper explaining that i had no right to the results, but that they would allow me to view them. the results would be their property. i agreed to take the test (the only time i have ever submitted a bodily fluid for work, and i never will again) but then refused the job because after all that they handed me a sheet of paper stating that while i was on the job any injuries to myself or the clients would be covered under MY OWN AUTO insurance! they required that i provide proof of insurance and let me know that even if i am in their vehicle, i am to insure myself. i was like, you ask me for BLOOD and now this? you know what? never mind. i'll deliver pizzas.
a bit of a tangent there. my answer to your question is no. drug testing for employment is NOT ok. it's my opinion that they're really screening for medical conditions and/or prescription drugs that would indicate you have one disorder or another. it's legal, but it ain't ok. it's a medical situation in which we the patients are not given informed consent. it's presented like, "if you want teh job, don't ask questions."
that's pretty much the gist, yeah. and the same thing would happen with drug tests for people getting TANF or food stamps (or whatever): "you want us to help you? shutup about your 'rights' and just do what we tell you to or you (and your kids) can starve on the streets for all we care."
blech.
like madame filth pointed out, giving blood or urine to an employer means they can do pretty much whatever they want with it. it's pretty fucked up to think they could find, say, lexapro that someone takes because they're bipolar, and they could find a reason to fire/not hire because of that.
even assuming they really do use your blood/urine for a simple drug test, it's arguable whether the results are actually relevant. like in my example in my post, if i were to smoke some weed on weekends when i'm not working, does it really have anything to do with my job? yeah it's illegal, but so is child pornography, and how often do prospective employers insist on searching your PC for questionable material?
i understand that drug addiction can be a liability for employers, and that in theory people with serious addiction problems don't make the most ideal employees. but i don't think that drug tests actually help companies learn anything about employees that really matters.
God, I thought I was the only one irritated by that! Even friends of mine who would label themselves as liberal are joining up. So effing classist and elitist.
people that are normally 100% in support of basic civil liberties seem to somehow hedge on this issue. it's like they find it a "middle ground" or something; they support social programs to help the poor, but they still kind of streotype "the poor" as scammers and crackheads, so the logical conclusion in their mind is "okay, let's not cut out welfare programs, but let's make those people PROVE they DESERVE it!"
it's about finding a reason -- any reason -- to take the "entitlements" away from people in need. drugs happen to be our little sin du jour, so people do go on some witchhunts so to speak for people who use them. but the truth is, people use them everywhere. do they screen stock brokers? nah.... we want them on coke, right? cops? of course not. they ARE the government. it's people whom government serves who have to jump through hoops to get the services they pay for.
but thanks for reason #754768745 not to be on facebook, like i needed it. i really hate when i see that mob mentality shit. it's like newspapers with comment sections at teh bottom of articles. i hate reading people's true reactions to tragic stories. i.e. mockery of parents who lost a child, being happy someone else is getting fucked over, and the always popular racism. i prefer to think people are better than that, so i hate it when i'm proven wrong. facebook is a great place to see that.
the comment sections of news articles! i'm *always* curious about peoples' take on particularly thorny issues, but every time i scroll down and read them i end up wanting to throw up. invariably it ends up being used as a dumping ground for the stupidest things a person could ever think/say. for every comment that's actually worthwhile, nine of them are drivel.
i NEED to have more self-control and vow not to read beyond the actual information in the articles.
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