Columns May 16, 2012 at 4:00 am

Social Disservice

Comments

1
Then we could get rid of your cushy government job, with its excessive benefits package, absurd two-tiered annual pay increases based on time employed and cost of living, not to mention your big pay jumps for reclassification. Stereotypes are so true.
2
@1 So says an obese Rob McKenna fan.
3
Stop signing those forms for people that you know don't qualify. Jeeze.
4
Dude...a waterfront dive bar is NOT "a community health clinic".

5
And the guy who cleans the men's room is not "a provider".
6
IANON actually makes a pretty good fucking point. The social services and safety net are designed in such a way in this country as to discourage working. You'll notice that those with the most lackadaisical lifestyles are those at the very top and those near the bottom who happen to be able to profit from the myriad social services at their disposal.

Irresponsibility is enshrined in law, and it's not surprising either. On the one hand you have your typical slum-lord republican who loathes those he rents housing to; on the other, you have liberal elites so utterly detached and incommunicado with the very poor so as to legislate wrongly and obscenely.

Neither of these polar opposites are in a position to form well-conceived law on these matters.
7
The idea that people would forgo gainful employment in order to get a free flu shot or doctor visit would be laughable if it wasn't so stupid. Those of you who are scoffing at these services might remind yourselves that before Reagan and his Republican descendants dismantled the public health system, vaccinations were either free or very cheap. Whooping cough epidemic anyone? A society that doesn't guard the health of all of its members, including the poor is asking for trouble. Community Health Centers, such as those run by King County Public Health Department provide care for the working poor and the unemployed as well as those who do not have any insurance and are turned away by private physicians. The latter demographic includes a huge portion of workers under 30. They also provide services for people on Medicare and Medicaid who are often turned away by private providers.
8
IANON, if you're so envious of these folks, why don't you fake a disability, give up your income and live off welfare?
9
I can identify with anon here.

I think health services are an important feature of a strong society, but it also deeply bothers me when I see perfectly sane, average IQ humans making decisions which land them in the hospital or clinic or on food stamps that I and other responsible people are paying for.

And I'm not talking about those who have fallen on hard times, because that does happen and we aren't all blessed with families who can help us. And I'm not talking about the disabled or those in accidents or the elderly or the children who contract awful cancers that insurance might not want to cover. By all means, we must be understanding and compassionate towards those less fortunate than we.

But when normal people chronically live shitty, dangerous, lazy lives who knew long ago what their options in life were: what the fuck. Use your free services to get it together already.
10
Anon sounds like s/he had good intentions when starting this position. It's like writing a research paper, you start with a strong stand on something and then towards the end you change your mind (it happens all of the time). I think it's good anon spoke up about this problem because too many fat lazy Americans are really fucking it up for the rest of us who are working hard to hold this country together.

I hope you find a new more promising job soon anon, or maybe think of ways to possibly sway these people while you are stuck dealing with them. It's really just a sad situations all around, yuck.
11
@8 Where in any of this are you reading that IANON is in any way ENVIOUS?
12
I too used to feel the far left compassion and still do believe we need a safety net for those who unable to provide care for themselves. That said, I have an acquaintance who has been on disability and a variety of social support programs for the last 10 years.

Every time I speak to him there is yet another program he's taking advantage of and another reason he can't find a job "this month". This person takes drugs, sells medications given to him via his free health care and eats junk food at every meal. He's given up on getting a regular job - staying on public assistance now is his job and he sees it that way. This guy sleeps until 11AM, lives in section 8 housing, has several pets a car and all day long to watch TV and surf for internet porn. He has no intention of ever being a productive member of society and bitches about how the Republicans are "going to take things away from the poor people".

While this is likely true I can't help but think that he's sucking up the resources of people who are truly in need and he's a poster child of what's wrong with the current system. It's a complex problem and I don't know the answer.
13
@2 Thanks for beating me to it!

@3 Bingo!

@9: I know. While it is indeed, a blessing to be able to utilize social services that one qualifies for when facing hard times, these services are only meant to be temporary help, like unemployment checks. Well said.
@10: I guess it's true: "the road to hell is paved with good intentions..."
@11: I hear you, Jack.

Okay. I'm done yakking.
14
The solution here is clearly a monumental pile of COCAINE and a couple of 40's of MALT LIQUOR a day for at least 30 days straight.

Your "problem" will vanish.
15
Oh, and I also suggest you might consider getting "into it" with some psycho woman packin' heat on a bus, the outcome will make your gripe seem trivial.
16
So true I anon. You feed pigeons and tomorrow they'll be back for more. How many millions were wasted on a shit stained piece of garbage like John T Wiiliams? You think he had any intention of doing anything but drinking T-Bird and using the sidewalk for toilet? You should be happy you evolved. It's healthy. A lefty outlook at middle age is a sign of mental illness or a deeply juvenile understanding of human nature.
17
@16: Really didn't need to bring up Williams. Regardless of any of his choices or services he used or anything ever at all (short of threatening to kill someone), he did not deserve to be shot to death by a Seattle policeman. They are also paid for by tax dollars, and I also find this a gross misuse of my money.

You can state a point of view without frothing at the mouth, you know.

18
@17 - #16 is exactly correct, an Pioneer Square is jam packed with booze swilling John T. Williams clones, which is why the way you know you're their is that it smells like a SEWER 10 blocks out... The alleys smell like pee, every few feet a turd - or maybe it's just a bum that looks and smells like a turd... You love it so much, #17, rent an apartment down there.
19
I heart you Arthur; always keeping it topical and making sure it never gets too real.
20
#16 & #18...what the fuck? You guys now believe you're entitled to judge who should live and who should die?

The real shit stains are running our financial system. They're the ones who cause the stench of waste to fill the air.

21
i once heard a lyric from an ole jane's addiction tune that went like this: "some people should die, that's just common knowledge". essentially perry said in one sentence what a bunch of blowhards on here couldn't achieve in paragraphs of mental masturbation. sheesh man, some of these comments remind me of cheesy english lit 101 bs.
22
#3 FTW
23
Anon sounds like a plant for entitled white asshats who work for the Romney campaign, are trying to justify their latent racism/classism, or some of both.

If you had actually worked with people who are out of work, as I have for 17 years, you'd know how it breaks people. No one wants to feel degraded or judged by asshats like anon(and trust me, anon, they know how superior you feel. You don't hide that any better there than here).

You don't belong in the public sector: it's not a fit for your values. Go get a job elsewhere. And when that falls through, I sincerely hope that someone like me willl be there to help you, rather thn someone like you. Actually, at this rate, I hope anybody's there at all.
24
Anon sounds like a plant for entitled white asshats who work for the Romney campaign, are trying to justify their latent racism/classism, or some of both.

If you had actually worked with people who are out of work, as I have for 17 years, you'd know how it breaks people. No one wants to feel degraded or judged by asshats like anon(and trust me, anon, they know how superior you feel. You don't hide that any better there than here).

You don't belong in the public sector: it's not a fit for your values. Go get a job elsewhere. And when that falls through, I sincerely hope that someone like me willl be there to help you, rather thn someone like you. Actually, at this rate, I hope anybody's there at all.
25
Tragic. For every truly needy case (and yes there are many in this economy) there are so many like the aforementioned "woodcarver" who was paid by us to drink himself to death and expose himself to women downtown. We need to bring back shame in our society. We should all just start spitting on these people when we walk by them.
26
Let me just say as someone who has been "invisbily" disabled for close to two years, having some asshat tell you "but you don't look sick" is about the last thing you need to deal with when every day is a struggle.

Not everyone who is sick is in a wheelchair or wearing a split. Was my uncle any less dying of cancer just because he went for a hike a month before he died? I bet he even laid around watching tv all day!

Btw, I'd be very interested to know how these unqualified people are getting all of these social services? Because I've been living off of what would have been a very modest down payment on a home if I hadn't lost my job due to illness 15 months ago and the money is almost out. You'd think I'd be a shoe in but I wasn't.
27
@1 - That's hillarious!
28
@21: *unconscious ("Some people should die. That's just unconscious knowledge.") Love Jane's, not saying I'm sure they got this one right. Not in this wealthy-ass country.

But, yeah, I don't think there's anything enviable about mooching free stuff out of laziness.
29
sweet_g @26 I took me three years and a strongly worded letter from my doctor before I got my disability. Hang in there it is a long, painful process, but eventually justice will prevail.

I, too, have an 'invisible' disability. Tell your doctors what a hard time you are having and ask them to write a letter, not just a report, but a letter saying that you can't work. In my case my doctor volunteered, and the judge's reaction amazed me. Once he read it there was no question in his mind that I needed to be on disability.

Hang in there!
30
It's called confirmation bias, look it up. It's why the police think everyone's a criminal because that's who they deal with every day.

I'm glad you grew up a little and realized that life is messy but fuck off with your new Tea Party outlook just because you've sampled some bad eggs.

Social services help us all. They keep people at the bottom from needing to turn to criminal activity to live. They actually do help people get back on their feet. Social medicine keeps everybody healthy, not just those who depend on it.

Compare it to the drug war, where making addiction a criminal activity has only wasted money, increased violence and criminal activity, and has only made things worse.

Yes, a certain portion of our population are undesirable and gross but in a nation of millions, they are statistically insignificant yet need to be helped, if only to selfishly help ourselves from having to deal with them in a more severe way.
31
I know a man who made faking a back injury his full time job. He wore a brace, always outside his clothing. His hobbling made compelling street theater. Real tears streamed down his cheeks when he told his story to anyone who would slow down enough to listen. He also wore a big silver crucifix around his neck. He was killed in the woods cutting firewood for enough cash to buy hay for his horse.

I know a fellow who is bipolar, a former professional hockey player. (He lasted about a month.) His full time job is to make it through each day without freaking out and killing somebody, which somehow, he manages. But I have the feeling that much of the time it's a close call. He walks around all day muttering to himself nonsensically. He wears hockey shorts over white thermal long underwear and house slippers. He's tall and scary skinny. He isn't faking.

I know a woman who is on oxygen (from years of smoking like an old tractor) and God knows what else. She has cats. And yes, she is very fat. She also smells like something that has been dead for a couple of weeks. Sometimes she hangs outside the doors of stores on the public sidewalk and yells at people. If she didn't smell so bad, it might be great fun, but people often do turn and not go into the stores she haunts. Eventually this comes to the attention of the store owners and a public employee (this one with a nightstick and a gun) has to come and move her along. He probably hates his job, too.

I know this one guy who is a former professional football player. (He lasted more than a month.) He ran for governor here in a Washington a short time back. He is a multi-millionaire and a strong advocate for getting rid of social safety net programs. He says that helping the poor only hurts everybody else. He's not dangerous, cheesy or smelly. But he did receive $273,000 in direct cash payments in federal agriculture price supports between 1995 and 2010 from the federal government. That's an average of $18,200 per year. Cash. Didn't even have to limp.

"In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught 'em
And that ladder of law has no top and no bottom
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin' that way witout warnin'
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished
And handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now's the time for your tears."

Whatever. I fink dis IANON is fraudy.

32
Profile of # 15 & #16:
Little pissy white men, probably no taller than 5'7' (at best),
Most likely secretly suffer from penis envy
Strive to or own a BMW or car beyond their means, just to be seen in it.
Wanna be hipsters who try to gain attentions and or what you perceive as power by slamming the disenfranchised.
You're socially awkward and compensate by trying to show people how "smart" you think you are and you love to stir controversy to distract from yourself.
Most assuredly racist (and your attempt to deny would prove my point further).
You resent others because you publicly don't have the cajones to set healthy boundaries for yourselves.

You can now return to watching Fight Club and ESPN. I won't bother reading your dumb ass comebacks. It's nice to have the power of last last cyber word. And why waste time reading anymore of your remedial thoughts.
33
@32 Not one correct assumption for the lefty "whitey" hater. I'm 5'11", decently endowed, drive a big old American car because I hate status symbols, and I hate sports (or any type of macho bullshit) Thanks for playing :)
34
A fake IA. Hmph, who knew?
35
The people who agree with Anon seem to miss the fact that s/he is contributing a great deal to the problem s/he complains about.
36
@25: No, but you should post a shot of yourself so I know where to spit my loogies. Silly ITG.
37
When big business and the department of defense git off of my teet then I'll start worrying about the few lazy welfare bums.
Work in health care too and this does not describe most people on welfare.
38
@32, not even close. 6 feet, well hung, and not into BMWs. Watched "Fight Club" when it came out, can't stand sports.

Now please, socratic, get back to making my espresso, or else I might not drop a quarter in your tip jar. Yes, I'll take that cinnamon roll heated.
39
It never ceases to amaze me how much people in our society love vilifying the poor. The poor have no power and they are not the problem. The uber wealthy corporations raking in billions of profit on the backs of their employees (wage theft, anyone?), the politicians destroying our country's social safety net to provide tax cuts to the uber wealthy and have a bloated defense budget, legislation that more and more punishes the poor while allowing the wealthy to never have to pay for their crimes against society, and all of the lies told in the name of the American dream and how anyone can be rich if they just try hard enough are the problem. It's really easy to claim that the poor are lazy. I don't give a shit how many people you don't think are deserving of benefits are receiving them. In the big picture they're fraud equals pennies compared to the rampant fraud of our financial institutions, politicians, corporations, and 1% of this country. Everyone bashes the poor because they are an easy target. Get fucking real.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/na…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-eh…
40
This ad smells fake to me. Half of people seeking public assistance are defrauding the government? I doubt that. This reads like something written by a person who imagines what goes on, according to their Fox news point of view. Of course, the agenda here is to imply that people on welfare are lazy bums who are stealing our tax money, which is why I don't believe it. Just a little too Rush Limbaugh for my tastes.

But say its true. Tell me, Social Disservice, how do you feel about the fact that the Oil Industry gets a 4 Billion dollar subsidy from us tax payers, every year? Don't see you complaining about that. Or how about the tax breaks GM got last year where they paid zero taxes and actually got a refund from the IRS? Does that upset you? I can guarantee you that those fattys at don't suck up tax dollars like giant corporations. Do you like that Mitt Romney paid less in taxes than you did last year? If so, I'm sure he'd appreciate your vote so he can cut taxes on the Rich even more.
41
This ad smells fake to me. Half of people seeking public assistance are defrauding the government? I doubt that. This reads like something written by a person who imagines what goes on, according to their Fox news point of view. Of course, the agenda here is to imply that people on welfare are lazy bums who are stealing our tax money, which is why I don't believe it. Just a little too Rush Limbaugh for my tastes.

But say its true. Tell me, Social Disservice, how do you feel about the fact that the Oil Industry gets a 4 Billion dollar subsidy from us tax payers, every year? Don't see you complaining about that. Or how about the tax breaks GM got last year where they paid zero taxes and actually got a refund from the IRS? Does that upset you? I can guarantee you that those fattys at the welfare office don't suck up tax dollars like giant corporations. Do you like that Mitt Romney paid less in taxes than you did last year? If so, I'm sure he'd appreciate your vote so he can cut taxes on the Rich even more.
42
Correction: it was GE not GM that paid no taxes in 2010.
43
Pffft. So you met the amateurs, so what? You want to see some *real* people living off of government largesse, become a military contractor.
44
It's a lifestyle that has been encouraged, promoted and supported by "food" producers. Think about it. If the people you see learned to make healthy choices, who benefits? They and the tax paying public do. Who looses? Corporations. There's no money in reform. Read last weeks Newsweek, the one with the fat baby on it for an eye opener.
45
Anon here (yes, for real). I assure you the column is not fake. I also assure you I do not sign that paperwork unless people truly do have a disability as opposed to just being disinterested in work. Unfortunately, many other care providers DO sign off and enable these folks to game the system, as it were. As far as my "government job," this is a non-profit facility, and I am paid far less than someone in a comparable position in the government or private sector. I DID start this job because I wanted to assist underserved populations. Unfortunately, experience has shown me that for every patient legitimately seeking disability, there is another one whose bad health and lack of employment is solely based on lack of ownership and lifestyle choices.
46
Get out of social services then. Yes, you will meet people who are gaming the system. But are you sure they're gaming the system, or have they been in the system that those are the only skills they've honed? I work at a mental health facility, and there is STIFF competition for the vocational rehabilitation jobs that come up at our facility. I get frustrated with some residents, but honestly, at the end of the day, I know they'd take my life, in my own home with a husband and a good family support system in a heartbeat and never look back if it was offered to them.
47
I don't understand what kind of a job you have. You work at some sort of doctor's office that only serves poor people applying for disability?
48
Just so idiot number one knows People who work in Community Health make shoot for pay work horrible hours are on call all the time, rarely get a raise and have to have a masters degree so up to their fucking throats in student loan debt, What the fuck do you do for a living, or are you on of the patients.
49
@cletus fuck you man. I have a "government" job where I am routinely accused of having limousines and shit. I have a masters degree and been in the job for 3 years. I make 44k a year and we don't get raises or overtime pay. The only real benefit is a fair number of vacation days, but it's not worth the 30-50k more my colleagues on the private side make per year.

There's no money to be made in government work, except for those at the very top. A vast majority of government workers - especially professionals like myself - do so because we think it's the right or fair thing to do. Not because it's cushy, easy, or well paying.
50
@48 & 49 - No kidding. #1 is aware of that in and states as much in their post as they are ridiculing stereotypes. :-p
51
As fake as Ronald Reagan's Cadillac-driving "welfare queen."
52
I'm right there with you! I got a degree in psyc, b/c I too was about as far to the left as you can get. I thought I wanted to help people until I actually worked in a residential facility. My job title was "residential counselor", but it should've been "babysitter" or even "warden". My clients were supposedly in a rehab program, but let me tell you- there was not much rehabilitation going on there. Most of my clients really belonged in a long-term care facility and not a short-term rehab program.
53
Methinks, the herd needs thinning as the parasite/human carrying capacity of the planet is being exceeded! Spitting on the disaffected lighting them on fire or cutting food/health benefits is just a tear in the ocean. We need a really efficient superbug to take down about 2/3 of the population without regards to credit scores,phone types or ability to communicate with "God" With a world in balance there would be no need for the bullshit comments 1-52
54
51 -- To be fair, there are welfare queens driving expensive cars. They're in the military industrial complex, the prison industrial complex, Big Oil, Big Pharma, and any other massively profitable private business that we nonetheless subsidize because it makes millions for the politicians-as-investors bending the laws in their own favor.
55
Fake.
56
"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." ~Malcolm X
57
"... get a job so I don't have to support you and your kids with MY tax dollars!" You kinda summed it up for everyone (and gave yourself away) with that phrase. You got yours, everybody else, go get your own, but leave me out of it. So much for community. So much for it taking a village. And I thought one of the tenets of working in healthcare was being nonjudgmental, as well as making no assumptions about your clients. But at least you must be very thorough and very committed to your job, having time to monitor both what your clients are doing at home as well as while they are visiting your clinic. AND you even took the extra time to try to educate the rest of us, although you spared us any of the complexities that might be involved with the problems of your clients as individuals a/o as a societal group. You even took extra time in the comments to explain to us that on the job you make especially good choices, as I'm sure you do in your personal life; powerful choices even, ones that determine who "deserves" help, and who is just personally screwing you out of tax dollars that you'd prefer to go to, let's see, oh yeah, you. Don't know your title, but healthcare worker doesn't seem to fit.

Perhaps considering your exemplary discipline, fiscal conservatism, and your vast experience with the underclasses, you could expand your career into politics. You'd have so much more authority to make both assumptions and decisions about what others need and deserve. And oh gosh, with those good intentions, wow. That should easily put you over the top.

What's the unemployment rate right now? And how much higher is it when the numbers include those (like your fat slob clients) who have given up seeking employment? Oh well. If you take my career advice, it won't really matter anyway.
58
I bet a lot of you guys who wrote a long insulting rant at anon went to bed with an underseving sense of self-satisfaction. When you wake up, you return to a pretty tough life, where society and the rest of the world doesn't conform to your needs and expectations.

But hopefully, with some more whining and waiting, the world will realize you guys were right all along. But most likely, you'll be waiting for that day in an unemployment line, because there will be a hard-working indvidual like myself who worked himself towards the top 1% and fired your lazy ass.

later douchbags

59
The system IS set up in a way that inadvertently punishes the legitimately disabled and/or legitimately needy for earning money.

My closest relative has a debilitating health condition, and requires frequent surgeries and a heap of prescriptions, just to live. She knits constantly to help cope with the physical pain and boredom, and sells as many little knitted pieces as she's allowed to each month. But if she were to earn beyond her income limit ($200/month? $400/month?), she'd lose the medical coverage that keeps her alive.

This is a real shame, because she's incredibly smart (a former scientist), and could likely find more disability-accommodating odd jobs to earn more money. But doing so would cost her the otherwise prohibitively expensive medical care that she needs, so she stays within her income limits.

Similarly, when I went through a brief period of unemployment last year, I worked as much as I could. This reduced my unemployment checks so significantly that it was outright punishing. I still worked and reported my earnings, because I was too restless to just stay home, and staying active helped me land good work again. But the "punishing people for working" is a big behavioral engineering flaw in our existing social programs.
60
I'm a doc working at an underserved clinic in DC (NOT funded by the government) and I couldn't agree more.

The whiny liberals on here who are outraged by his comments obviously do not work in fields that help others (barista doesn't count).

You'll actually find that most people who truly work with the "disadvantaged" are repulsed by the infantilism, laziness and sense of entitlement that is rotting the culture. Doesn't fit the liberal narrative but it's the truth.

What's missing in these communities is opportunity, not assistance, cliche as that is. And guess what - it's the white liberals who suck up all the opportunity. They got their tribe, the ghetto's got its tribe, and so on. I challenge anyone who's ever worked in a jail or in the hood for any length of time to defend the proposition that that population needs more "government assistance". Sheesh.

We have created millions of people who can't do a damn thing for themselves.

61
The "get a job" rhetoric is pretty pointless and insulting when a lot of people are trying to get jobs and can't find them.
62
@ 60 I have worked with the disadvantaged and in a prison and yes, I believe we need more government assistance. The answers are so easy for you and ianon who clearly have no real understanding of how difficult it is to find a job with benefits that would allow you to skip visits to clinics like yours where the patients are clearly seen as less than deserving of decent treatment. When you are at the bottom it is hard to pull yourself up with so many stepping on the hand you stretch out for help.
63
@62 Thank You.

The rest of you fuckers?
TRY WALKING IN THOSE SHOES.
64
Yes, there are a few people scamming the system. But, that does not delegitimize the many people who need benefits. Also, as others have pointed out, try finding a job which can support a family (and provide health insurance) in this economy. If you can't be compassionate, don't work with the disadvantaged. Seriously, because they deserve better treatment than what you are providing them.

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