PixlBit

I agree, brother.  

Who in hell is this Jezebel? 

Poor is just poor,James. lol. I don't think it's a race thing. It's a harsh reality for way too many Americans of all colors. Also,we've all faced discrmination in one way or another. Trolls simply troll anyone they can! Of course you're intelligent so you know that. Just wait though. Someone will take this blog wrong. lol. Maybe we'll see cameos from Twinkie and Mackey?

Man, it's like hell trying to follow any comments on that page.  It's a freaking nightmare.  Comments and replies to them are all over the place.  

Well, that's Jezebel for you. lol. I doubt my comment will even be approved. (Unless the author gets some other repliers in on roasting me,heh.)

With a name like Jezebel what do you expect lol. I'm white, poor, and live in a crappy (I love it!) apartment. So add me to the list. Great response Ben. Do you have a link so I can read this blog?

Sure,Aaron. Here's the article in question. The picture used is pretty vomit inducing as well. lol. I want to punch every yuppy in that photograph.

who is jezebel anyway. i followed the link, read all was there and I still don't who this "Jezebel" is...

Jez is the name of the site,bro. lol. Now I feel like an idiot explaining it on account I assume you were being sarcastic. lol.

Black opresssion is rife in America (from my limited experience of going there) but as you state Ben many whites, hispanics, asian and European folks suffer too. Its like telling a homeless person who lives in a plastic box that the fella down the alley way has to make do with cardboard. I really do like the American people, the ones I have met are friendly and hardworking (though I'm sure there are numerous examples of the opposite there as well) but as you say fighting amongst your selves is something that keeps your gaze from the real issues. Britain isn't the best for racial tensions but systems were set up to give everyone the right to medical care and a decent education, I suppose the country is just too damn small to shoehorn the sheer number of one particular demographic into a massive camping site, most of the well of in the UK have some form of poverty just down the road (particularly in the cities). The problem is this complaining (from the writer of said article) doesn't stir the emotions of horror into someone like your self who struggles on a day to day basis, infact it probably inspires the response of 'well thats tragic and all but I'm sorry, I'm too busy trying to balance the unfortunate hand I ve been played to do too much about it'. Black opression needs to be changed, prisons in teh states are dominated by the black community, a black person in the US courts has much less chance of getting a fair deal and education for young black people can be full of unescessary hurdles but ultimately that doesn't make people like your self 'lucky' it just means that others are even 'less fortunate'. doesn't have the same ring to it though does it!

Anyway my rant is at an end, thanks again for the stimulating read to go woth my early morning coffee!

I agree 100%. I'm not saying racism,sexism, and the horrible other "isms" don't exist, Adam. On the contrary, they run amok in many places, even in supposed "civilized" western countries. It's also not good our prisons are mostly corporate owned. Aka, our justice system will pass ridiculous laws just to keep people (as well as revenue and a cheap labor force) flowing through our penitentiaries. The rich can afford good lawyers and early releases whereas everyone else rots.

I just kind of despise the fact there's the assumption white people live like the caricatures in "Full House" and everything is so easy for us. Hell, I've been homeless and frisked by cops. Before getting my disability money I was a regular at the soup kitchen. I bet if I wore nicer designer clothes and lived in an actual two-story house everyone in my vicinity would treat me much better. Classism is just as inhumane and deplorable as racism.

That woman who wrote the article is blind. She's probably not seen many places beyond a college campus and her own suburb. At the very least that's the impression she gives me.

 Ben, I must agree. A LOT of people live on less than a dollar a day, so having over 700 dollars a month is a luxury to many people. You have water supplied to you, and food is relatively easy to come by. Your life expectancy isn't 15, your health care, while certainly flawed, is actually there. The government gives things like food stamps to the unemployed, it helps get them back in the work force, and it helps them reverse their situation. While there are things like loans that hold us back, I honestly think if you can play video games, you really can't complain. Also, I believe that financially, in terms of health care and education, Australia is far superior to a good portion of America.

Sadly, too many people in America stay on government money forever and have no desire to reverse they're situation by getting in the workforce.  I can understand people with some kind of disability, but people that don't have a damn thing wrong with them and aren't active in looking for work, is freaking sad. 

Australia does have a lot going for it....... except fees at Fremantle port, those robbing bastards made me pay nearly a thousand dollars to simply get my stuff off the boat and put it in a warehouse! Still I now have TV and X box!

Dude, compared to poor people in 3rd world countries I live like a friggin prince. I be BIG PIMPIN! lol. I'm not denying that.

 However, based on the US economy and the prices in my country I am in fact impoverished. No, I no longer live on the street, go to soup kitchens, or sleep on the flea infested carpet of the local mission but there was a time I actually did those things. You could also argue I was privelaged just to have access to a local soup kitchen and a local homeless shelter (Yes, I was) but that doesn't dismiss the fact it was a dark and scary point in my life. (Almost stepping on a heroin syringe is never fun nor is running into a mere boy carrying "real heat" stuffed into the back of his jeans)

 But yeah, we could totally learn something beneficial from Australian and Canadian healthcare & higher education. I'm sure your systems have their flaws but almost ANYTHING is better than U.S. healthcare and U.S. college loan prices!

 That sucks Ben. By American standards, you're right, that is shitty. By Africans standards, you're pretty fucking godly. Well, you're pretty fucking Godly to me, but that's for other reasons ;)

 @jgusw: That is the problem with that system. Peopla adapt and can live off of that income, and they don't feel the need to make any more. I make $470 a fortnight, and I live comfortably, and don't really see a need to increase my income. I have adjusted to that. I think some things should be restricted to them until they get a job and support the economy. For instance: No XBOX. You want to do nothing? No games for you. You want to sit on your ass all day? Fine, no tv. You're not allowed to buy one. And if you live on your own, you should have to share a house with other poor fuckers who live alone... unless you are disabled. We need to give them some incentive to change their lives, or they never will.

I wish I could go to Africa on my disability money. lol. I bet I'd be able to buy a mansion and have my teeth capped with gold and diamonds! I'd start making music videos and would insist on gorgeous "ebon skinned fly honnies" being my personal entourage. Of course the U.S. would be quick to cut my disability cash if I became an African citizen. What douche-bags! (I'm joking! Except about the fly honey entourage. I really want that!)

Blake is also right about adapting based on income. I can do some pretty amazing stuff with $730.00 a month. Granted, I can't live it up like celebs (or even middle class surburban peeps) but I can squeeze some happiness out of a shriveled lemon.

Yep. It's all about those steam sales :) And F2P games... and your neighbors wifi! And yeah... I want to go to europe on my student income... I could make a fuckton. 

"Rollin in digital fictional bitches,wifi,and steam games,yo!" (Pops out ridiculous made up gangsta signs with meh hands) Blam, represent!

 Rolling deep in digital fiction
So that I can ignore my daily restrictions
It's now bordering on addiction
So food is on my list of ommissions
I have to steal my neighbor's connection
So I can indulge in online obsessions
And show my bulge some tender affection
Without giving up my games. Yo. 

That sir was beautiful lyrical perfection. You made me shed tears of joy! My work here is done. You have the juice now,Blake!

Go figure a website from Gawker Media creating the online version of tabloid articles. Although they're fun/entertaining to read once in a while, yet they're definitely not to be taken seriously.

Only thing that scares me is some people take these sensationalist,snarky,and ill informed articles seriously! In my opinion most of these features read as if they were written be privileged pompous prats isolated from most of the hardships the rest of us face on a daily basis. That by itself proves "privilege" most be real at least to some degree. lol

Fact is, we as a nation are being shafter too hard to be thinking tribalistically.

I think that we're somewhat brainwashed to be overly opinionated. Granted, it's good to stand strong on certain issues but we end up arguing over petty semantics while letting broad sweeping generalizations fly with rapid ad hominems. That's what I cannot stand about the far left and the far right. All they do is sling slurs and wallow in the mud as opposed to working on viable solutions to our most pressing problems.

I do believe in civil rights and equality yet I also believe we're "politically correct" to the point of being neutured. lol. If we tell dirty jokes suddenly we're rape apologists,misogynists,sluts,perverts, or racists. Noone even takes the time to know someone before metaphorically or literally stoning them to death.

  Lastly I wish modern radical feminists would "rage" over something truly worth it. I read recently an Iranian actress is getting 90 lashes for playing a part in a movie yet places like Kotaku are bitching about "big ol titties" and "underlying-subliminal-pedophilia" in Dragon's Crown! (Okay,Gawker did eventually blurb about it. Y'know after a gazillion other places did. But who is stepping in to do something about it? Damn it, I wish I had more power in these matters right now! I feel useless.)

Sorry, Gigantor.....I just flew off the handle there. lol.

I'm a history buff and I try to show people how the republicans are doing everything they can to bring this country back to the year 1900. No minimum wage, no FDA, no OCA, let the rich do as they please and stomp the working class poor into the ground. Then people who consider themselves republicans but are not even close to being rich want to start quoting Ayn Rand and the perks of social Darwinism. Its a pipe dream fantasy, the american dream is that, nothing more than a dream, a pretty piece of propaganda to make poor people think they actually have a chance in a rigged system.

 As you mentioned its the classic divide and conquore tactic, its never really been about black vs white, its alway been about rich vs poor. Anyone who wants to argue that needs to go read some books on European history, rich white people oppressing poor white people.

I cannot understand how the Republicans have slipped into such negative extremes. Then again, I'm not much more fond of Democrats either. (It's been my impression Dems talk a good game about civil rights,benefits,equality, and pro-choice but then they fold under the pressures of big companies and big banks like every other bribed politician.) Still, I rather have a Democrat in office then a radical tea-party nut job. (Not to say there are not good Republicans. It's just the tea-party portion of them are friggin nuts)

But yeah, in my opinion it's less of a matter of "white privilege" and more of a matter of "rich privilege". Historically "white privilege" was actually a thing (In some places) but now with a dwindling middle class and most people being broke with an elite few being 1%-ers it's safe to say classism is the new destroyer of human-beings. Everyone I know of every ethnicity is overworked and underpaid.

What's sad is we do outnumber our oppression. The problem is we get hung up on bickering amongst ourselves over the stupidest shit.

Even though I've seen both sides of the money spectrum,I can relate to what you mean. I've never been wealthy,but have lived on meager means before. The time of my life that put it into perspective was when I went into the Navy. You meet people from all over the country,from all walks of life. Some college educated,some not. Some rich,some poor. We found we had more in common than we ever knew. Being stuck out at sea with people can do that. The thing that did puzzle me was the attitudes of some younger black guys. These were dudes who came from really tough backgrounds. Some had lived in gang-ridden areas. The smart guys saw the Navy as a way out of that crap. Others missed it so much they could hardly bear it. Like being in a war zone and surviving it was a badge of honor. Maybe so...but not a great way to live. This country is going through a big change in demographics. Rich white men don't always get their way now. It makes them crazy that they can't buy elections and make poor folks think they care. Romney's defeat was a resounding sign that the times have changed. People are not such sheep they buy into the propaganda as much anymore.

I'm glad Romney didn't win. Granted, I don't see Obama as perfect either but at least when he's held up next to Mitt, he's angelic by comparison. lol. The problem I have with Barrack is he seems to want his nose in everyone's business and really hasn't championed us as much as he said he would. Aka, he promised he'd crack down on corrupt banking and corrupt businesses but then ended up giving all those assholes bail-out money. It also seems as if we're very close to a military-state. Hell,our privacy is already being threatened by survelliance drones.  Still, under Romney we would have suffered MUCH more. I don't know how Romney believed the crap coming out of his own mouth and I have the partial hypothesis he was a satirical "joke canidate". (Which would imply the election was rigged.)

But you're right. Being "rich & white" doesn't equate to an automatic win anymore and being poor & white is just as difficult as being poor and non-white. (Even more difficult in certain situations)

It's sad when "being middle class" is the new American dream. I know when I used to visit my grand-parents they seemed "wealthy" to me just because they had a two story house, two vehicles, and a garage in suburbia. Keep in mind I was a kid living out of a trailer at that time.