Your excuses aside, you seem to think because there are some things you CAN get past that everyone has the capacity to get past anything.
Did I say that? Why make such an inaccurate assumption when my views have generally been very realistic. I never claimed, or hinted, that everyone can be successful. That would ignore the millions of stillborn births, and severy mentally challenged individuals. Of course not EVERYONE can do it. EVERYONE is a favorite word for liberals and utopian socialists. They think that we can provide EVERYONE with a job, an education, three square meals a day, shelter, healthcare, daycare, etc, etc, etc. Not everyone can succeed. But the average person can succeed if he or she so wishes to do so. It's all about setting goals and committing to them.
As an example, I have bad knees and a bad back. I was injured when I was younger and years of limping have wrecked both my knees and my back. This means that any job where I have to stand for long periods of time causes excruciating pain and, over time, will cause more long-term damage to my joints.
And what is your point, besides to conjure up sympathy for the disabled? My uncle is disabled and is living with his mommy. Lived with his mommy his whole life. Never took responsibility for anything, including the mountain of debt he left my grandmother to get a B.A. That's right! He got his B.A. in some sort of computer science at ITT with a hefty school loan that my grandmother is paying. He completed it just four or five years ago. Hasn't gotten a job, and hasn't shown anyone his attempts at getting a job. What is his condition? Kidney failure. Painful dialysis three times a week. It's hell, no doubt about that. I doubt my own capabilities to handle ou'
My options for treatment are basically surgery (expensive for someone who just applied for foodstamps) so until I get a better job with benefits or a bigger paycheck, any job that requires standing is not a good idea. This is not something I can just "work through" or pop a few aspirin and ignore for a few hours.
You have options. I'm sure your life isn't easy. But what is your solution? Force other individuals to pay for the lifestyle that you wish to live? That so often is the solution in this debate. If you want to disabled and full of shame, you have the freedom to do so. But we shouldn't look to force to get the charity we want.
Everyone's situation is different and you CANNOT make sweeping generalizations about health issues with regards to people's ability to work.
You're confusing two parts of my argument. On the one hand, I claimed that average people can avoid a life of misery if they so wish to make the right decisions. That is, in essence, a generalization but a pretty accurate one. The average person is not living below the poverty line, so I guess you could say the statistics are behind me (yet people in this threat keep distorting my statements as I've been arguing about the average homeless person). In another regard, I've gone out of my way to illustrate the people with the most excruciating conditions who still manage to get up in the morning and enjoy their life. The American Dream means a heck of a lot more than the car that you drive or how many dollars are in your bank account. It's the freedom to live your life the way you see fit. If you're not happy with your life, there are a number of things you can do about it, or you can do nothing about it and expect others to always help you. In this society, someone will aways be there to help you. And there are plenty of clerical jobs you could take if standing is such a problem. 
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Lectures are not helpful to people who are already in a circumstance where they have children. Maybe it was an accident, maybe it was due to stupidity, frankly it's none of our business as to why but it's a factor that needs to be considered.
The reason to getting pregnant is sex. And unless we're talking about the microscopic minority of women who have children through rape, the bigger picture illustrates that one's own judgement ended up causing one's own lifestyle. And if a person is unhappy with the lifestyle they've created, they can always do something about it.
Not really sure if there is anything to say about this because it's basically ranting about the education system.
Which is a fair debate to have. Don't you think we have some problems with our education system? Go check out my thread regarding private education in the developing world (Book Nook - Academia Forum) and tell me what you think.
Because it's a hell of a lot harder to get up from that situation.
But it's never impossible, and forcing others to help is not the solution.
So...what? **** drug addicts? They dont deserve help?
Sure they do. There are numerous avenues a drug addict can take that will help him or her ween off of drugs. Drugs are not easy to overcome, this is true. But it's not impossible, either. And most importantly, it's not my responsibility to pay for your housing if you choose to be addicted.
It doesn't matter. My point is that the kid in the OP had an optimum starting position to accomplish his goal. He isnt a very good representation of the working poor.
I never said he represented the working poor. I said he represented an average American kid. The poor who continue to remain poor are there for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons are beyond their control. Most of the reasons stem from their own personal decisions. The kid showed his readers what it's like when you just go out there and try.
Economic circumstances are different everywhere. LA county has an unemployment rate of 13%, the national average is 9%. There are fewer jobs available for a large number of people. Availability of jobs is something that will hurt you regardless of your circumstances and to say "Well this kid did fine in South Carolina so the poor should do fine anywhere" is a gross over-generalization. His city of choice, by the way, has an unemployment rate of only 8.6%.
This experiment also took place in 2006, before the recession hit. I'm sure overall economic factors have great effects on the ability of individuals to find work. But again, their options are always open. They always have choices. It's not fair to generalize the entire working poor as either mentally disabled or completely hopeless. It's also not accurate to blame their conditions on the broader economy. Certainly there is room for sympathy, but nothing is absolute.
Collective society is a huge factor in one's SES. If you are a person with qualities and skills society has deemed to be valuable, you have a far easier time getting a job than someone whom society has decided is not as valuable. As it is, the kid is a white, young, healthy, college-educated male. This is a group that does statistically better with employment and wealth than almost any other group.
"White" skin is not a skill. "Young" is not a skill. "Healthy," by itself, is not a skill. "college-educated" is the closest thing you've said that resembles a skill. But I'm assuming you're just blaming everything on the color of one's skin, as if all "black" babies are born to fail.
Get used to it, the world is a ****ing pessimistic place and the second you think that a smile and a can-do attitude is all you need to make it, reality is going to come along like a Greyhound and smear that idea across the pavement.
In that case, you should have the freedom to end your life, if nothing else will ever give you satisfaction. I hope that's not the case, but your dark pessimism leaves me with no other thoughts.[/B]
My basic point with his goal being too low is all he really proved is you can go from ****ty to slightly less ****ty. We knew that, no one disputes that. What I want to see is him go from ****ty to successful, not rich, but successful. What you dont get is $2,500 and a fully furnished apartment are not difficult goals to attain in a year, or even six months. Especially for a guy like him. You are patting a guy on the back for something that isnt very impressive and using it to justify an attack on the working poor, criticizing them for being too lazy.
I think it is you and others in this thread who continue to paint all the working class individuals as completely hopeless and claiming that nothing is admirable unless it's a rags-to-riches story. Think with the head instead of the heart and consider the alternatives. Life is not so black and white, and it's generally a good life (though NEVER FAIR)
