Still "Liking" and "Sharing" Without Thinking

Facebook is an online landfill, and sadly, some of the garbage may be dumped by your friends.


A couple days ago, a friend posted a meme on his FB page.  It was the image of a hard-hat worker covered in dirt, standing by a manhole.  The text offered thanks to Florida, Kentucky and Missouri (a redneck trifecta) for requiring drug tests for welfare recipients, and asked why it's "OK to drug-test people who work for their money, but not OK for those who don't?  If you can afford to buy drugs and extra illegal things (wha'?), then you can afford to buy your own groceries."

The post ended with the typical FB command to "re-post if you agree."  And my friend did exactly that, adding the screaming comment, "TOTALLY AGREE!!"

This is the zombie lie Reagan told 35 years ago with his "Welfare queen" story, and too many people still believe it -- that public assistance provides a luxurious existence and poor people are just running a con on society that costs the rest of us a ton.

Those who believe that lie are so freaked out about it that they insist on humiliating the poor and punishing them for their poorness.  In their minds, if you accept public assistance you better not have any money at all.  You better not have any "extras" -- no phone, no car, no movies, no new shirt, no lobster, and, god forbid, no drugs or alcohol.  Bread and water only, and get a job, ya bum!

Dear friend, if you and I indulge in a little beer and a little smoke, we've earned it, we're entitled.  But you think if the poor person does, he's scamming, he's not entitled.  The poor man must suffer sincerely and soberly.  No laughing allowed.  And if the poor man tests positive for some drug or alcohol, you'd like to sentence him to starvation.

When you like and share and re-post to the whole wide world on Facebook, you might want to consider where the post came from in the first place, because you are associating yourself with that source.  The meme my friend re-posted came from one Lars Larson.  No, I never heard of him either, but after a quick search I now know that Lars Larson is a far-right, ultra-conservative radio talk-show host (Another one!  Boring!) from Oregon.  On his home page, he poses pompously with a cigar, ala Rush Limbaugh, and urges us to "remember the Benghazi 4."  Benghazi!!  Larson is a paranoid, conspiracy-theory nutcase, in the style of that spectacular asshole, Alex Jones.  I bet this is all news to my friend.  Is Lars Larson really your kinda guy?

You might also want to consider the content of the post and decide if it's a valid point or just a reactionary bumper-sticker viewpoint.  You can't buy drugs or alcohol with a government SNAP/EBT card (food stamps), so they can't use "our" money for it.  There is no evidence of widespread substance abuse among those receiving food assistance benefits.  It's a favorite conservative myth, like voter fraud.  Drug-testing the poor accomplishes exactly what, then?  It's a punishment in search of a problem.

For the record, a little quick research shows that the national average EBT benefit is $133 per month.  That's $4.43 per day.  Hoo-boy, that's livin' large, isn't it?  No, it isn't.  And the idea that the cost of providing subsistence care for the poor is horribly expensive is a crock.  The average American taxpayer pays $36 a year to fund the SNAP, SCHIP (school lunch) and WIC (food for women, infants and children) programs.  That's $3 a month, ten cents a day.  If you get angry over that pittance to help the least fortunate among us, you're hard enough to be a real Republican.  And if you're still worried about drug users on the dole, let's say that ten percent of all EBT recipients are hopeless drug addicts.  Those drugged-out losers cost you a penny a day, $3.65 a year.  BFD!  Instead of making these poor folks jump through hoops, instead of threatening to cut off their food, how about trying to help them?    

In contrast, the average American family pays $2436 per year in business subsidies and grants, corporate tax incentives, and other state and local business incentives.  Who's the real Welfare queen?

I hope my post-happy, research-challenged dear friend might dig a little deeper in the future.

As rehabilitation, I sentence him to click the links and read these three posts:

http://bustergammons.blogspot.com/2012/12/protecting-us-from-3-or-4-really-stupid.html

http://bustergammons.blogspot.com/2013/04/thank-you-for-your-service-to-our.html

http://bustergammons.blogspot.com/2015/04/too-much-time-on-their-hands.html

I also sentence him to enter "Facebook" in the Buster's Blog search window and read everything that pops up.