Sat Jun 23, 2012, 07:53 AM

xchrom (90,516 posts)

There's A Reason Americans Pass By Homeless People In The Street Without A Second Glance

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-americans-justify-income-inequality-2012-6

Some people's willingness to accept income inequality has everything to do with their perception of choice, Pacific Standard's Tom Jacobs reports.

Psychologists Krishna Savani of Columbia Business School and Aneeta Rattan of Stanford University expand on the topic in a study published by Psychological Science:

"The concept of choice makes people less disturbed by facts about existing wealth inequality in the United States, more likely to underestimate the role of societal factors in individuals’ successes, less likely to support the redistribution of educational resources, and less likely to support raising taxes on the rich—even if doing so would help resolve a budget deficit crisis.
Thinking in terms of choice, we argue, activates the belief that life outcomes stem from personal agency, not societal factors, and thereby leads people to justify wealth inequality."

In layman's terms, we make peace with the idea that some people are destitute and others are well-off because of personal choices, rather than any possible chinks in our economical and societal armor.

*** our belief in 'personal agency' has become something more like a superstition.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-americans-justify-income-inequality-2012-6#ixzz1ycHmanTq

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169 replies	Author	Time	Post
There's A Reason Americans Pass By Homeless People In The Street Without A Second Glance (Original post)	xchrom	Jun 2012	OP
"people are destitute and others are well-off because of personal choices" is RW mentality.	DCBob	Jun 2012	#1
Yes, it says in the Bible	dotymed	Jun 2012	#44
it also says that the rain falls on the just and unjust-	Bluerthanblue	Jun 2012	#47
I'm reminded of a statement from the German philosopher and polymath	coalition_unwilling	Jun 2012	#67
thanks-	Bluerthanblue	Jun 2012	#82
It also says in the Bible that we are to take care of the poor, homeless,	Zoeisright	Jun 2012	#90
There was a best-selling book a few years ago called "The Secret" that espoused the	TheDebbieDee	Jun 2012	#99
You are so right about that, and it's something people are almost conditioned to ignore.	Raksha	Jun 2012	#139
I am sorry that	dotymed	Jun 2012	#160
"People are destitute and others are well-off because of God's will" is also	coalition_unwilling	Jun 2012	#62
And many of them, if not most of them, use the "god's will" argument to justify	Arkansas Granny	Jun 2012	#71
Not to re-fight the 30 Years' War, but the difference between Protestant and Roman Catholic	coalition_unwilling	Jun 2012	#77
Been Saying That For Years	liberalmike27	Jun 2012	#68
Sometimes I believe we barely have any free will choices in life at all.	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#2
I think the truth of the matter./...	sendero	Jun 2012	#3
I don't quite agree that it somewhere in the middle	mazzarro	Jun 2012	#15
Even the ability to focus and "work hard"	pscot	Jun 2012	#23
Good point.	Turbineguy	Jun 2012	#31
not to mention that the table of "choices" itself is laid by larger forces.	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#115
Life is a lot like...	meaculpa2011	Jun 2012	#26
And, most often	dotymed	Jun 2012	#55
I would..	sendero	Jun 2012	#56
free will	Brainstormy	Jun 2012	#19
Well put. I hope you get a chance to read the wonderful novel by Tom Wolfe "A Man	coalition_unwilling	Jun 2012	#69
I Think You're Right	liberalmike27	Jun 2012	#83
It reminds me of "shunning"	Cerridwen	Jun 2012	#4
Yes. I always stop and give the homeless money, even when they are obviously drunks.	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#21
I used to keep a handful of change	pscot	Jun 2012	#27
Exactly! And thank you for doing that. :)	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#28
I'm the same way, whatever the reason they are down and out, the fact is that	smirkymonkey	Jun 2012	#30
"just down on their luck"...	BrendaBrick	Jun 2012	#100
"My first instinct is to feel compassion"	Cerridwen	Jun 2012	#37
You may be liberal,	dotymed	Jun 2012	#58
:) Thank you n/t	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#92
My sister fed the homeless man on the city grate each morning on her way to work.	CarmanK	Jun 2012	#156
Homelessness is our answer to mental healthcare.	raouldukelives	Jun 2012	#5
We created some very bad institutions when we did try to take care of them.	dkf	Jun 2012	#7
We used to deliver babies with hands that had been in a cadaver and not washed. Mothers died.	jtuck004	Jun 2012	#153
I still remember the DU post about giving incapacitated women birth control so they can't get	dkf	Jun 2012	#161
Evil is never going away, but that's no reason to throw the hands up in the air. n/t	jtuck004	Jun 2012	#162
+1000 and the prisons n/t	clang1	Jun 2012	#16
Right. Here's the Disconnect:	Iggy	Jun 2012	#6
When is the last time you invited a homeless person to share your abode?	dkf	Jun 2012	#8
Yesterday.	sulphurdunn	Jun 2012	#10
That's dangerous. nt	Honeycombe8	Jun 2012	#13
Not really.	sulphurdunn	Jun 2012	#17
So the person made a choice to be homeless?	dkf	Jun 2012	#25
People in the grip of severe mental illness and/or addictions almost always make bad choices, due to	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#43
No	sulphurdunn	Jun 2012	#75
Some people have a regular, safe & comfortable place to sleep outside free from harassment...	Luminous Animal	Jun 2012	#102
I can support the thought it is dangerous to take home a homeless person.	airplaneman	Jun 2012	#143
That is pretty brave of you.	dkf	Jun 2012	#22
Homeless	JonLP24	Jun 2012	#40
If and only if the family is supportive. nt	raccoon	Jun 2012	#50
Agreed.	sulphurdunn	Jun 2012	#76
It's not just that they're homeless. I wouldn't invite ANY stranger into my home.	Honeycombe8	Jun 2012	#148
DKF, I'm curious, which of the traditionally Democratic positions do you embrace? r/o	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#29
Ditto. Inquiring minds would like to know. Thank you for putting into words	coalition_unwilling	Jun 2012	#73
You refer to "traditionally Democratic positions" and raise a good point especially with any	AnotherMcIntosh	Jun 2012	#107
You have a point there. I guess it's the Dream act etc. I'm thinking of.	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#110
none is the answer.	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#117
That's what I thought. Then why is a right-winger even here?	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#119
polite.	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#120
I don't understand what you mean.	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#122
the poster is polite; doesn't attack other posters or get into flame wars.	HiPointDem	Jun 2012	#124
Oh, okay! So it's not against the rules to do the right-wing thing if done politely, thanks! :)	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#133
Another side can sometimes make people deal with things their friends won't. That doesn't mean	jtuck004	Jun 2012	#154
Good luck with that one.	Rex	Jun 2012	#164
Difference:	Iggy	Jun 2012	#134
Never going to happen.	Rex	Jun 2012	#166
HA!	Rex	Jun 2012	#165
Or maybe it's because we expect someone else to take care of them.	dkf	Jun 2012	#9
That's right.	sulphurdunn	Jun 2012	#11
Most liberals that I know of, don't have a problem with that at all.	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#32
You just showed how you think OTHER people should take care of them	joeglow3	Jun 2012	#36
I don't agree. We as individuals are not trained to take care of mentally ill or	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#39
That is a great point	JonLP24	Jun 2012	#49
When I was a kid	sulphurdunn	Jun 2012	#132
I'd be happy to take my contribution	sulphurdunn	Jun 2012	#130
Of Course the Government	liberalmike27	Jun 2012	#94
The person you are addressing seems to espouse only right-wing talking points. If you look at the	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#95
Political celebrity?	Marr	Jun 2012	#96
Yes	liberalmike27	Jun 2012	#136
I call it personalizing, which amounts to the same thing.	Raksha	Jun 2012	#140
Yeah, right...	chervilant	Jun 2012	#12
Measurable IQ	liberalmike27	Jun 2012	#86
Thank you so much	chervilant	Jun 2012	#106
no kidding.	barbtries	Jun 2012	#14
Saw this artcle posted on Facebook this morning and shared it.	mmonk	Jun 2012	#18
autoxchrom DURec	KG	Jun 2012	#20
Our daily lives overtake our ability to look around.	turtlerescue1	Jun 2012	#24
+1	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#33
The people at the top get loopholes, the people at the bottom get vicious circles	ck4829	Jun 2012	#34
Truer words were never written!	turtlerescue1	Jun 2012	#89
I mostly ignore them because the majority are scamming	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#35
I'd like to see a link to your facts	SemperEadem	Jun 2012	#52
Personal experience	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#63
Personal experience	AlbertCat	Jun 2012	#70
Anecdotal evidence is 100% legitimate in my post	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#72
You seem really perturbed that some poor people might be getting a dollar	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#79
You seem pretty pertured that somebody is skeptical of alleged "homeless" people.	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#101
Your concern has been noted.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#103
As has yours.	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#112
My friends at DU know that I have worked	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#118
These are not poor people	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#126
And now you compare poor people to toilets.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#127
No, I'm comparing scam artists to toilets	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#129
Not in the least. But thank you	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#131
I donate to organizations that help the homeless	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#138
I see. So in your "personal experience"	Zoeisright	Jun 2012	#91
It's pretty easy to tell	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#98
You asserted "fact" and by doing so you are basing everyone's reality on your anecdotes	TheKentuckian	Jun 2012	#108
I asserted fact because it was factual. n/t	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#113
Did you follow the scammers home?	DocMac	Jun 2012	#145
Didn't need to. n/t	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#147
No, its a dishonest assertion with inadequite supporting evidence.	D23MIURG23	Jun 2012	#152
personal experience is opinion, not a measurable fact to anyone	SemperEadem	Jun 2012	#168
There are hundreds of thousands of homeless people in the United states.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#53
YTes, there are	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#64
And you know this for a fact how? nt	raccoon	Jun 2012	#54
See my response above.	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#65
I know for a fact you don't see half of the truly homeless-	Bluerthanblue	Jun 2012	#60
It's easy	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#66
it isn't easy-	Bluerthanblue	Jun 2012	#78
Before I put you on Full Ignore, I only wanted to applaud	coalition_unwilling	Jun 2012	#81
McDonald's coupons work, if you're afraid of addicts or scammers	mainer	Jun 2012	#85
bingo	GarroHorus	Jun 2012	#114
Sometimes homeless people piss me off...	kentuck	Jun 2012	#38
We may not be able to do much personally	treestar	Jun 2012	#41
Exactly.	newthinking	Jun 2012	#155
You're on your own, buddy!	AlbertCat	Jun 2012	#42
We are a very sick society right now. Let's hope we can heal ourselves.	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#45
Exactly.	jp11	Jun 2012	#74
Guilty consciences	LuvNewcastle	Jun 2012	#46
it is competely a puritanical mindset	SemperEadem	Jun 2012	#48
Hypervigilance. Thats how.	WingDinger	Jun 2012	#51
what choice do we have in the family we are born into?	Bluerthanblue	Jun 2012	#57
Awesome post. Wish I could DU Rec it. Can't rec it highly enough - n/t	coalition_unwilling	Jun 2012	#84
+1 Please consider making this an OP? Please? :)	LiberalLoner	Jun 2012	#97
I have nothing to add to that except "you're right"!	Raksha	Jun 2012	#141
I gave twenty dollars to a guy near a stoplight	GeorgeWW3	Jun 2012	#59
Of course, when these things happen to THEM, well "that's different".	NC_Nurse	Jun 2012	#61
Emphatic K&R! - n/t	coalition_unwilling	Jun 2012	#80
Don't randomly hand out dollar bills; give to a homeless shelter instead	mainer	Jun 2012	#87
fear, shame, guilt . . .	mzteris	Jun 2012	#88
I find it funny	UglyGreed	Jun 2012	#93
Yesterday saw a woman who appeared to be homeless hunting cans from the garbage at a store.	jwirr	Jun 2012	#104
How is your search going?	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#105
Still looking but they have put me on the waiting lists for all the low-income housing in the area	jwirr	Jun 2012	#109
Moving in with two kids sounds like taking on a lot. n/t	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#116
Yes, I love to baby sit but I want to have my own time also. Oh, well at least now I have an option.	jwirr	Jun 2012	#121
What did you finally think of the student idea?	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#123
I talked with my daughter and we realized that I would need to ask for too much for a student to	jwirr	Jun 2012	#146
I figure mostly what is going on is they can't look the homeless in the eye	TheKentuckian	Jun 2012	#111
K&R	DeSwiss	Jun 2012	#125
Whether we help a needy person or turn away is one of the real choices we really still have.	leveymg	Jun 2012	#128
It really is.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#135
Blessings. Made any headway on the summer program?	leveymg	Jun 2012	#142
School board lady blew me off but there are 4 others.	EFerrari	Jun 2012	#150
It's a psychological defense mechanism called the "Just World Theory".	Odin2005	Jun 2012	#137
I for one would rather be wrong and inadvertently give a scammer a few bucks	NYC Liberal	Jun 2012	#144
There are such things as 'forced' choices. Which end up not really being 'choices.'	freshwest	Jun 2012	#149
I'm not destitue	Phlem	Jun 2012	#151
This message was self-deleted by its author	trusty elf	Jun 2012	#157
I give the homeless clean blankets.	Spitfire of ATJ	Jun 2012	#158
k&r for reading later n/t	w0nderer	Jun 2012	#159
Willingness has nothing to do with it.	Rex	Jun 2012	#163
Denial. "Haha, that can't happen to me! I don't choose it!"	Fire Walk With Me	Jun 2012	#167
friggin "rugged individualism"	OneGrassRoot	Jun 2012	#169

Response to xchrom (Original post)

Sat Jun 23, 2012, 08:09 AM

DCBob (14,765 posts)

1. "people are destitute and others are well-off because of personal choices" is RW mentality.

Last edited Sat Jun 23, 2012, 11:29 AM USA/ET - Edit history (1)

Although it may be true in some situations most often people end up poor and destitute due to the environment they were born into and opportunities not available to them.

There's A Reason Americans Pass By Homeless People In The Street Without A Second Glance

1. "people are destitute and others are well-off because of personal choices" is RW mentality.

44. Yes, it says in the Bible

47. it also says that the rain falls on the just and unjust-

67. I'm reminded of a statement from the German philosopher and polymath

82. thanks-

90. It also says in the Bible that we are to take care of the poor, homeless,

99. There was a best-selling book a few years ago called "The Secret" that espoused the

139. You are so right about that, and it's something people are almost conditioned to ignore.

160. I am sorry that

62. "People are destitute and others are well-off because of God's will" is also

71. And many of them, if not most of them, use the "god's will" argument to justify

77. Not to re-fight the 30 Years' War, but the difference between Protestant and Roman Catholic

68. Been Saying That For Years

2. Sometimes I believe we barely have any free will choices in life at all.

3. I think the truth of the matter./...

15. I don't quite agree that it somewhere in the middle

23. Even the ability to focus and "work hard"

31. Good point.

115. not to mention that the table of "choices" itself is laid by larger forces.

26. Life is a lot like...

55. And, most often

56. I would..

19. free will

69. Well put. I hope you get a chance to read the wonderful novel by Tom Wolfe "A Man

83. I Think You're Right

4. It reminds me of "shunning"

21. Yes. I always stop and give the homeless money, even when they are obviously drunks.

27. I used to keep a handful of change

28. Exactly! And thank you for doing that. :)

30. I'm the same way, whatever the reason they are down and out, the fact is that

100. "just down on their luck"...

37. "My first instinct is to feel compassion"

58. You may be liberal,

92. :) Thank you n/t

156. My sister fed the homeless man on the city grate each morning on her way to work.

5. Homelessness is our answer to mental healthcare.

7. We created some very bad institutions when we did try to take care of them.

153. We used to deliver babies with hands that had been in a cadaver and not washed. Mothers died.

161. I still remember the DU post about giving incapacitated women birth control so they can't get

162. Evil is never going away, but that's no reason to throw the hands up in the air. n/t

16. +1000 and the prisons n/t

6. Right. Here's the Disconnect:

8. When is the last time you invited a homeless person to share your abode?

10. Yesterday.

13. That's dangerous. nt

17. Not really.

25. So the person made a choice to be homeless?

43. People in the grip of severe mental illness and/or addictions almost always make bad choices, due to

75. No

102. Some people have a regular, safe & comfortable place to sleep outside free from harassment...

143. I can support the thought it is dangerous to take home a homeless person.

22. That is pretty brave of you.

40. Homeless

50. If and only if the family is supportive. nt

76. Agreed.

148. It's not just that they're homeless. I wouldn't invite ANY stranger into my home.

29. DKF, I'm curious, which of the traditionally Democratic positions do you embrace? r/o

73. Ditto. Inquiring minds would like to know. Thank you for putting into words

107. You refer to "traditionally Democratic positions" and raise a good point especially with any

110. You have a point there. I guess it's the Dream act etc. I'm thinking of.

117. none is the answer.

119. That's what I thought. Then why is a right-winger even here?

120. polite.

122. I don't understand what you mean.

124. the poster is polite; doesn't attack other posters or get into flame wars.

133. Oh, okay! So it's not against the rules to do the right-wing thing if done politely, thanks! :)

154. Another side can sometimes make people deal with things their friends won't. That doesn't mean

164. Good luck with that one.

134. Difference:

166. Never going to happen.

165. HA!

9. Or maybe it's because we expect someone else to take care of them.

11. That's right.

32. Most liberals that I know of, don't have a problem with that at all.

36. You just showed how you think OTHER people should take care of them

39. I don't agree. We as individuals are not trained to take care of mentally ill or

49. That is a great point

132. When I was a kid

130. I'd be happy to take my contribution