let them eat cake

[winterbadger]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A campaign worker for President Bush (news - web sites) said on Thursday American workers unhappy with low-quality jobs should find new ones -- or pop a Prozac to make themselves feel better.

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?" said Susan Sheybani, an assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt.

more at
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&ncid=696&e=4&u=/nm/20040729/pl_nm/campaign_jobs_dc

Comments

[puabi.livejournal.com]

I agree with her.

Why should it be a national crisis if they are unhappy with their jobs?

[winterbadger]

Because the reason so many people are unhappy with their jobs is that they are crappy jobs that pay poorly in return for a whole lot of work. Because many people have to work several of these poor jobs in order to support their families. Because some of us believe that in one of the richest countries of the world, people should have more and better opportunities, and that government and those who run it should be helping make that possible, instead of sneering.

It was an incredibly insensitive and thoughtless remark, from someone who has, I can only assume, never tried to wrestle with economic adversity. It's also mind-bendingly ironic, because the ditz seems not to realize that the whole reason people are unhappy with demanding, low-wage jobs is that those are the only ones they can get; saying "Oh, why don't they just get other ones, then?" is like responding to someone whose hand has been cut off by saying, "Oh, that's OK, it'll grow back." Not only callous, but without a clear understanding of reality.

And the Prozac remark really tops it off. First of all, it's a pretty sick reaction on any level; "Serious problem with your life? Just take a drug--it'll get better." That bespeaks a shallow and deeply flawed outlook on life, to me. It has it's own intrinsic irony, too. I mean, isn't that what all the people wanted to do who we're throwing into jail for taking cocaine and heroin? Induce a little palliative narcosis to temporarily relieve their fear, anxierty, and frustration, so they could wake up with a hangover, less money, and still no solution to their problem? Aren't we (fruitlessly) spending millions of dollars every year to stop behavior like that? And, lastly, it just fails a simple rationality test. If someone has a poor, low-wage job, is it very likely that they can just pop off to the store and buy tranqs every time they feel blue?

[puabi.livejournal.com]

I agree that some of what what she said was insensitive and stupid -- especially the Prozac part. But there are plenty of opportunities in this country for people to attain skills and move on to better jobs. It's never so hopeless that they need the federal government to haul them out. I know you may well think this is a naive remark, and so it may be, but I still hold to it.

[winterbadger]

But there are plenty of opportunities in this country for people to attain skills and move on to better jobs.

Could you describe for me what the opportunities to attain better skills are that exist for a single mother of three in Detroit who has only a high-school education?

Could you tell me what the better job prospects are for a coalminer in rural West Virginia?

Would you point me to the private-sector programs that are going to retrain a 50-year-old steel worker in Pennsylvania who's just been laid off?

Can you describe for me how the guys I see in the morning at the 7-11 waiting for a building contractor to come pick them up for a day's work at $9 an hour, who speak little or no English are going to acquire the capital and training to start their own building comapny?

Glib, I know

[puabi.livejournal.com]

I'm going to assume the single mother of 3 doesn't live in a vacuum. She has a family, friends, maybe a church. She can borrow money from these people; she can study at her local community college, take night classes. I am assuming she has skills for something. Maybe she is good with numbers; maybe she interracts well with people. Failing that: for all wounds, the ointment of time. Her kids will grow up, one way or another. Little Bobby, 14, can get a job cleaning pools or making french fries for fat greasy Americans. If Ms. Mother-of-3 can embroider nice handkerchiefs she can start her own internet business!

I know so little of Mr. Coalminer's situation...but let me assume that he doesn't live in a vacuum, either. He can quit his job. His wife can struggle to work for their upkeep while he tries to get skills for another job. Maybe he can apply for a job at the local DMV. Then he can stamp papers, straighten papers, make things difficult for poor people who only want to get their drivers' licenses.

Mr. Steel Worker... I don't know of any private sector programs that could help him the way you say... I know so little of his specific situation... I am quite ashamed. You win. But what will Sen--er, President Kerry do for him?

I am pretty unfamiliar with all of the situations you have listed, except for this last one: the non-English speaking workers. I see them everywhere. The kids at my church sometimes go around and give them donuts and coffee. I am sure that if they came to my church we might try to help them somehow. True, we would use this opportunity to ingratiate our religion with them. But we might also give them a place to live, offer them some work maybe; meet their family, offer babysitting. Most of the people at my church are rich people glutted on the fruits of their labor, but they have consciences.

I'm sorry for the subjectivity of my answers, but that's all I have to say for now.

Re: Glib, I know

[selki.livejournal.com]

Single-mother-of-three's family and friends probably don't have any resources to help her. If she goes to a church, it's probably strained to the breaking point. She doesn't have good enough light to make fancy little napkins without going blind, and there is no FedEx center or post office nearby for easy access to shipping. Little Bobby would have to take a two-hour bus ride (changing buses three times) to get to any houses with pools.

The coalminer's wife was already working to put food on the table (he was paying the rent). The DMV doesn't have a lot of turnover, nor do many of the other non-coal-mining jobs in their little town. Most people prefer working places where there's less chance of getting lung cancer.

Kerry's talked about jobs retraining programs Mr. Steelworker could use.

The libertarian myth of going it alone and pulling yourself up by the fingernails usually overlooks the support systems that are necessary for all but incredibly *exceptional* individuals to better themselves.