Should we blame the poor for being poor? Is it their own fault?

Question

Or are they victims?

Answer 1

No, generally I don't think we should blame them and it's not their fault.

There are a minority of people who might become used to a state of dependance and perpetuate their own poverty, or who find it too difficult to break out of a rut and so don't make the effort; this can happen in a country like the UK where we have a welfare state. Yet I think this is only a minority, and it's certainly no reason to withdraw benefits.

I have distant relatives who live in poverty in another country. Sometimes I'm tempted to blame them for remaining in that state, since they have been given many oppurtunities to improve their lives, but they've somehow messed up every time. However the situation is much more complicated than this - education, their parents, culture, and the psychological and physical environment they grew up in have created barriers to a better way of life. Education is especially important - but this can be affected by many different things. So even when it might seem like their fault, there is a chain of causality to consider.

Also, it is undeniable that capitalism in the West is largely responsible for poverty in many countries. Exploitation is a very real problem, as is war, disease, and the after-effects of Imperialism and Colonialism. It is very easy for the rich to get richer, but conversely it is often very difficult for the poor to escape the poverty that they may have grown up with.

I think the responsibility lies with the wealthy, and with governments. And probably western culture too.

Answer 2

There are as many stories of how they got to be poor as there are poor people. Some are victims, definitely. Some ventured to the spot they are in on their own, for whatever reason, and find it advantageous to stay there, or once there, that they cannot get out when they want to.

I would like to see myths about poor people dispelled. I don't believe a huge percentage of poor people are dumb or lazy, no more than what you find in the general population.

So much in life has to do with luck and being ready when opportunity knocks. I have a pretty good job. But if the call to this job had come 6 months earlier or 6 months later, I would probably have missed out altogether. That would make my life very different right now, economically and in other ways.

My attitude toward poor people is informed by a saying: "There but for the grace of God go I." That's true of nearly everyone on earth. It would be really too smug and ignorant to look at a poor person and say "serves 'em right." It could happen to you.

Answer 3

No, It is not their fault and we shouldn't seek a guilty person for poverty's causes.
The Dilemma between individual responsibility or social responsibility is the bot om line here and I personally think that only the government has the resources, money and power to change the situation in any country. Poor people can do so much as individuals when government vote more and more budget cuts in our social measures to entice and support a capitalist system that will always profit the few on the back of the many. But we can participate as well as criticize our government so we are not just back benches but participants in the law making process that destroy our rights and social measures under us.
None of us have the right to judge anyone more limited. We don't really know why they are poor. It can happen to every one. Don't be so sure that it couldn't touch you one day. Maybe at that moment you would want someone not judging you if at that moment the Republicans succeeded in destroying all social measures we have left....

Answer 4

In some cases it is their fault, at least in part:-

* The people that messed around at school and couldn't be bothered to get an education
* Anyone who smokes, drinks, gambles or takes drugs is spending money on stuff they don't need. They wouldn't be as poor if they didn't buy any of that
* People who buy ready meals and fast food are spending more money on food than people who buy raw ingredients and cook for themselves because they're not paying other people to prepare their food
* Lazy people who can't be bothered to get a job
* People who have 15 kids when they haven't got enough money to feed even themselves

All of this is more "poverty of mind" than anything else - an inability to think and solve their own problems. There are plenty of stories of people born into poor families who make a better life for themselves through effort and hard work.

Other people are poor through no fault of their own - kids whose parents have died of AIDS in Africa, victims of drought,war and famine. People who are the victims of the unfair trade protection policies of rich western governments etc etc

Answer 5

It is NOT my fault that I am poor because I can't get a dignified job. It was not my fault that my parents abused me during my upbringing and by age 21 I waas diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, and it is not my fault that I live in an empathy-impaired society that will not empathize with psychiatric disorders.
And it is also not my fault that in the past year I have been diagnosed with a low testosterone level, most likely the effect of being emasculated by my parents and society, which further limits my ability to work.
But you are all lucky that I am disciplined with my rage or I would take it out on some of you, just like my perpetrators projected their crap on me.

Answer 6

Blaming the poor for being poor..is like praising the rich kids for being born to rich families. As for can folks help there own situations?..sometimes..only a little. other times a lot. Somethings are out of they're control.

Answer 7

Some people are poor because it was there own fault. But there are a lot of people who were just born into the world poor.

Answer 8

Every situation is different. Sometime it is their own fault and sometimes it's not. Some people have kids just to get welfare. Some just have had a lot of bad things happen to them. We live in a very unfair world. Some are born into nothing some are born into everything.

Answer 9

It's not black and white. Some people obviously do make stupid decisions (blowing money on drugs, popping out children when they have no education and no means to financially support them) that causes their poverty. But sometimes it's out of their control. Some people get widowed or are just hit really hard by the bad economy.

Answer 10

Yes.

There are no victims. For instance in
Africa they always say — I mean the men —
"Only women and stupid white men go to work."
They never work. They just sit under the trees and think about a new sex-story. Making another kid. They already have 9 children, but now they have to have 13 kiddies. What for. They cannot feed them. If those men do not change their weird thoughts, they stay poor. Only GOD could help.... Amen.

O please. Do call me a "racist" — but otherwise You could
face the truth. What's about that !!!