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nor do I believe my tone is responsible for some how taking this thread down the road it went, somehow making people say assholish things.
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I think your early comment about how people need to remove heads from anuses before they judge is by far the most assholish thing said on the whole thread -- in the attitude sense, not just the literal sense. Lots of people posting comments to the original article have said horrible (often racist) things about poor people, but no one on this thread has done that.
Damn straight, I'm judging, and I don't believe my head is anywhere near my butt. I'm judging everyone who spends beyond their means and expects others to help pay for the consequences. When that happens, I will offer both help and my thoughts about the situation. You can disagree with my thoughts, but telling me to get my head out of my butt is a personal insult. You ought to be able to focus on the substance of the disagreement instead.
We don't know the whole story about this one individual, but we know there are a lot of people out there, rich and poor, making stupid and careless financial choices that end up costing careful people money. (Wall Street, I'm looking at you.) I care about that. It IS my business when it costs me money.
Those of us from whichever party who support both government and charitable support for the needy ought to be concerned about publicity given to people with giant flat screens and XBoxes who can't pay for basic necessities. Why? Because it LOOKS terrible. Photos like this convince people to vote against government aid and withhold charity aid. So what's the story behind the picture? Is this woman typical of those who seek heating subsidies in Macon? Or is she exceptional, and the editors decided to use the picture to send a message to the contrary and undermine the subsidy program? That's what I'm more worried about. My guess, based on my own community work, is that this particular woman may well be irresponsible and wasteful, but that most of the recipients aren't, and thanks to the photo, they will all be tarred with the same brush. That's why I don't think it's a full response to say, "It's none of our business whether people taking government assistance have expensive luxuries in their home!" The response has to consider, knowing that lots of readers DO think that it's their business, why was this photo selected?
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