People of WalMart

[JWBear]

Poverty does not always mean the person must dress poorly or have poor hygiene. My father grew up on a farm during the depression in conditions of poverty that would be inconceivable to those Walmart shoppers. His parents had 8 children, half of whom died in childhood. He never lived in a house with electricity or plumbing until he and my mother married. My grandparents continued to live without electricity and plumbing until 1950, when my father built them a new house "in town". Looking at old family pictures you see my father and his siblings in clean mended clothes. My Grandmother was always in nice crisp dresses; and I am quite sure she would be horrified to see any of her family going out in public dressed slovenly.

Likewise, I've seen people with tons of money who dress like some of the people in those pictures.

Poverty and the lack of care in your appearance are two separate things.

[Andrew]

Apparently I must spread some Mojo around before giving it to JWBear again.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by JWBear

Poverty does not always mean the person must dress poorly or have poor hygiene. ...He never lived in a house with electricity or plumbing until he and my mother married.... Poverty and the lack of care in your appearance are two separate things.

Similarly, my mother grew up in a house without bathrooms, and she didn't have one until she left home. She got two dresses a year growing up, and her mother always kept them neat and clean.

But times are different now than they were in 1950. The mass-manufacturing of clothing and food has left many of us without the skills they had in the depression. Are you able to grow your own food? Are you able to sew your own clothing? Could you go completely off the grid? If you could, that's awesome, and I kind of envy you.

I'm not saying the dude with the completely ripped shirt falls in this category - yeah, obviously that's some sort of statement. There are some obviously ridiculous photos. But I'm not seeing a lot of poor hygiene in those pictures. I'm seeing some slovenly dress, but what's the problem here?

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

Similarly, my mother grew up in a house without bathrooms, and she didn't have one until she left home. She got two dresses a year growing up, and her mother always kept them neat and clean.

But times are different now than they were in 1950. The mass-manufacturing of clothing and food has left many of us without the skills they had in the depression. Are you able to grow your own food? Are you able to sew your own clothing? Could you go completely off the grid? If you could, that's awesome, and I kind of envy you.

I'm not saying the dude with the completely ripped shirt falls in this category - yeah, obviously that's some sort of statement. There are some obviously ridiculous photos. But I'm not seeing a lot of poor hygiene in those pictures. I'm seeing some slovenly dress, but what's the problem here?

No, I can not make my own clothes from scratch... But I can (and do) repair the ones I have.

My whole point was to say that you can not assume someone is poor just because they dress badly - or that all poor people necessarily dress that way.

[Gemini Cricket]

A couple of things:

1. Isn't saying "aw, look at those poor people" as much of a judgment as saying "omg, look at what those people are wearing"?

2. Everything can be analyzed until all of the humor is sucked out of it. And if we try to find meaning, hidden depth in every single thing then the life can be sucked out of us too.

3. I think it's okay to laugh at someone else as long as that laugh doesn't turn into harsh, solidified, unmoved judgment and heartlessness.

4. I have learned that when my happy mood changes because of someone else's point of view that it has more to do with me and my insecurities than the other person.

5. Would I laugh at the People of Castro Street where different gay men and women were highlighted based upon stereotypes? Well, it would depend upon if it was funny or not. This is why South Park gets kudos from me time and time again, their shït is funny.