2024 is only a decade away -- are you a gimme, or a dim?

[JirinPanthosa]

We're coming up on 2024. Sanctuaries in every city are just around the corner, anybody who doesn't have money and is in desperate need is about to be herded into a walled off district.

So what side are you on? Are you a gimme, a dim, or are you a privileged person with a good job, thinking all the gimmes and dims belong there?

[Tosk]

Chances are, whichever one you'll be you already are right now.

[robau]

God I can't wait for all the trash to be moved out of my view.

[T'Girl]

JirinPanthosa wrote:

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... or are you a privileged person with a good job ...

Well it not really a matter of being "privileged," having a job and being able to handle your own affairs just makes you a normal everyday person.

My father was a jet engine mechanic and later in management. But he alway maintain a commercial drivers license (truck driver) just in case he ever was out of work in his primary field. That way he would be able to care for his family without taking handouts.

Seattle does not have sanctuaries in the form seen in the episode, but the homeless are encouraged by the city police to stay in certain areas. We have a "tent city" too.

I have worked in church volunteer kitchens and you could alway tell which of the homeless guys were going to get back up on their feet in a short period of time, taking charity made their skins crawl. They would look at the jobs board before coming for the food.

Many of the people in the Trek sanctuaries would have been individuals with substance abuse and psychological problems. And there would be people who simply don't want to provide for themselves. But there would also be people for whom the sanctuary would be a brief stop, a place to catch their breath, before re-entering normal society.

[Phily B]

I was reading a few weeks ago about how the police have made an area where they're going to hide all the drunks and beggars from the tourists every evening. Pretty awesome episodes, especially with the way society is moving.

[R. Star]

I like how the mindset today is that being able to provide for yourself and not mooch off others makes you "privileged"... just shows what direction our society is heading in.

[Deranged Nasat]

R. Star wrote:

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I like how the mindset today is that being able to provide for yourself and not mooch off others makes you "privileged"... just shows what direction our society is heading in.

Sadly, you're indeed quite privileged if you have a dependable job and self-sufficiency. Suddenly losing your job when the company goes under and then being unable to find a new one for months is extremely common, at least over here. After graduation it took me a year to find any work at all; I finally got a job only for the company to go under a few months later. The shop where I performed my voluntary work went under too. The store managers from both took months to find new work, and they (naturally) had far more experience than I. And for the younger generation, living out of the parent's house (council house in my case) is a necessity, not a choice. I don't know if it's different in the US, but from what I've heard I don't think it is. Self sufficiency is, sadly, a distant dream for a lot of people. That said, I consider myself rather fortunate in that my family do receive benefits, I live with my mother so I have guaranteed housing regardless, and there are graduate programs in place that (hopefully) will help me find work, and maybe even work suited to my level of qualification, if I'm lucky. In many cases, people both work and receive benefits, because neither a salary or benefits alone can support them.

Providing for yourself is indeed a "privilege", one many of us look forward to with great anticipation...assuming we ever get there. After all, being from a working class background means you're surrounded by people who never achieved it, despite many of them working hard their entire lives.

[iguana_tonante]

R. Star wrote:

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I like how the mindset today is that being able to provide for yourself and not mooch off others makes you "privileged"... just shows what direction our society is heading in.

You are of course correct. But not in the way you think you are.

Working isn't a privilege. It's a right.

[RandyS]

I'm a dim gimme.

[robau]

T'Girl wrote:

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Seattle does not have sanctuaries in the form seen in the episode, but the homeless are encouraged by the city police to stay in certain areas. We have a "tent city" too.

I recently read about Portland having this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity_Village

[R. Star]

iguana_tonante wrote:

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You are of course correct. But not in the way you think you are.

Working isn't a privilege. It's a right.

Sure it's a right. Everyone has the right to go out and get a job. It gets silly when people start thinking they should have jobs handed to them on a platter.

[junxon]

a decade is 10 years. 2024 is 11 years away.

can we pospone this thread for a year?

[E-DUB]

Well, 2024 is when the ep was set, but the districts were an esablished fact by then. We have a lot of factors at work here, demography and changing economics principally. You have a lot of people who have been working in certain industries all their live that all of a sudden are disappearing. It's not just that their jobs are gone, but that the entire range of jobs for which they're qualified are gone. Any useful retraining program takes longer than unemployment lasts. And then there is the reality of age discrimination. People who are too young to retire but too old to start over. And politicians talk about "raising the retirement age" as if it were no more involved than adjusting the thermostat.

[T'Girl]

Deranged Nasat wrote:

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Providing for yourself is indeed a "privilege"

I would have to disagree, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that providing for yourself is a personal choice, or a personal philosophy. The willingness to do it.

There no "special right or advantage" involved. When I started at a package delivery service, I possessed a drivers license and no experience. I told them I could start immediately and was working there the same day.

About a year and a half ago, in a conversation with a young homeless man, I mention that in the eastern section of the state the harvest was starting. I was curtly informed that such work was beneath him, and that he had a MBA.

Fast food is usually hiring, and (if you're under 26 years) the military is alway recruiting.

It's not about being privileged, it's about not being "picky."

[R. Star]

T'Girl wrote:

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I would have to disagree, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that providing for yourself is a personal choice, or a personal philosophy. The willingness to do it.

There no "special right or advantage" involved. When I started at a package delivery service, I possessed a drivers license and no experience. I told them I could start immediately and was working there the same day.

About a year and a half ago, in a conversation with a young homeless man, I mention that in the eastern section of the state the harvest was starting. I was curtly informed that such work was beneath him, and that he had a MBA.

Fast food is usually hiring, and (if you're under 26 years) the military is alway recruiting.

It's not about being privileged, it's about not being "picky."