Reply #5: That attitude is EXACTLY true [View All]

and very SADLY so. :-( There is a feeling that those who are poor should further be punished or don't deserve to be taken care of. This same idea I have also heard expressed about those who get pregnant from premarital sex. "They (of course Women!) made a mistake, so now they must "pay" for it." That is, we will FORCE them to bring an unwanted pregnancy to term and further let them suffer since we won't provide them healthcare or financial support. ("Barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen"...moreover out in the streets and isn't this how it is in Mexico? - women with their children begging for scraps in the streets?) They don't seem to understand the concept of blessing and their thinking is rooted in the belief system that people are sinful, bad, and deserve punitive treatement.

George Lakoff in his book "Don't Think Like an Elephant" expounds on the belief system of the "strict punishing father model" that instructs the actions of the conservative right and how progressives can counteract this with expressions of belief system around the nurturing parent model (this all ties in to my mind with core belief systems about an ALL MALE god and the worship of patriarchy, so evidenced by the B*co administration and the rise of corporatism and the overbloated righteously punitive judgemental belief systems. If people truly believed and embraced that the Divine Energy was both male AND female, the whole world would change).

Lakoff excerpts (well worth the read) here:

http://www.apolloalliance.org/docUploads/fullexcerpt%2Epdf

or in html:

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:k2Bh0tmuLcAJ:www.apolloalliance.org/document.cfm%3FdocumentID%3D51+%22George+Lakoff%22+elephant&hl=en

on edit: typo