Yet another schmuck thinks he understands poverty but doesn't.

[knitter4democracy]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=4298321

This article was posted at a knitting board I hang out on (Ravelry's Big Issues Debate forum), and everyone was horrified by this guy's hubris.

The jist of it is, a young white guy right out of college decides to see if he can work himself up from being homeless, starting with only $25 and a few belongings. He declares it a success when he's got $5K and an apartment and decent job ten months later.

Here's the thing, though: he's healthy, he's got a college education and so has skills that come in handy (especially on kissing up to authority and critical thinking and listening skills), and he leaves after 10 months because of a family illness. If he really had wanted to learn what it was like, he would've kept going through the family illness.

There's so much wrong about what this guy did. One Raveler called him a poverty tourist, and I think it's about right.