For those who don't want to read the article, it lists "20 things the rich do every day" in an attempt to shame poor people and blame them for their socioeconomic situation.
This post is a direct response to that article, where I will be responding to each of the 20 "things" that he shames poor people for not doing with what I think are pretty common sense responses (although apparently they're not all that common sense since neither the writer of the original article nor Dave Ramsey seem to understand them).
Also, please note that these comments are in direct response to "statistics" from the original article: I'm not trying to create generalizations, I'm responding to the generalizations that the original article makes. I honestly don't think in the kind of binaries that he uses, but I am writing using the same binaries so I can address what he says. So if you're wealthy and reading this, please don't be offended: I'm not bashing rich people, I'm simply responding to the suggestions about "rich" and "poor" that the article makes using the same language. I'm not actually agreeing with the binary divide he makes between "rich people" and "poor people."
Anyway, here we go:
1) He kind of cheated here and put 2 things under one point. Either that or he can't count. But anyways: poor people eat more junk food calories than rich people because junk food is cheaper than healthy alternatives and they can't afford to eat the healthier alternatives that rich people can. If they had the money to buy healthier food, they probably would.
Also, rich people do gamble: it's called the stock market. But I assume the article's
2) Poor people aren't as hyper focused on a single goal because the goals of "being able to pay this month's rent" and "being able to eat" are things that require a lot of their attention. Because these various essential goals are taken care of for rich people already, they can then dedicate more attention to "some single goal."
3) Poor people exercise less because they have more physically demanding jobs that leave their bodies exhausted and unable to exercise, while rich people typically have jobs with little to no physical labor. They also have less time because they often have to work multiple jobs. Also, they can't afford gym memberships.
4) Poor people don't listen to audio books during their commute to work because many of them don't have vehicles, and therefore don't have the luxury of a car radio that allows them to listen to audio books on the way. They either walk or bus to work, and cannot "listen to audio books during their commute." Alternately, they may just prefer music (and suggesting that an audio book has more cultural value than music is a rather offensive suggestion).
5) Fewer poor people make to-do lists because, once again, they spend a lot more time worrying about the essentials, and don't have time for the elaborate social activities that would require a to-do list to manage. When they work multiple jobs and spend their spare time trying to prevent things from falling apart, they don't typically have time (or, you know, money) for country club meetings and fancy dinners and other things that rich people require "to-do" lists to manage.
6) Fewer poor people "make" their children read non-fiction books (yes, the word "make" was actually in the original article), because they actually let their children make thier own decisions and become their own people instead of forcing them to do things. Based on this article's statistics, poor people seem less concerned about forcing their children into some sort of mold that will make them look good, and more concerned about actually letting them develop into their own human beings, which I'd say is a good thing.
7) Fewer poor people "make" their children volunteer because, once again, they let their children make their own decisions. Also, their children are more likely to have to work part-time jobs to save for college, so they don't have time to volunteer.
8) I don't even know what to say about Happy Birthday calls, because this is a non-issue and I don't know why it's in the original article...
9) Poor people are less likely to write down their goals because they don't typically have the education, contacts or experience to have the same kind of long-term goals that rich people do, so they have no reason to write their goals down. Rich people actually have the resources to achieve big goals: poor people don't have these resources, so they can't have the same kind of goals, and therefore don't have the opportunity to "write down their goals."
10) More wealthy people read for education or career reasons daily because more rich people are educated and have careers that can actually benefit from reading, while poor people don't have careers that would benefit from reading. Also, since rich people are apparently (according to these statistics) so busy reading non-fiction and career books, they clearly have lost the ability to read novels, which is actually a pretty awesome thing that it appears poor people still have the ability to do.
11) I think this one is actually a good thing: more poor people say what is on their mind. So they're not repressed Neo-Victorians who keep their emotions bottled up. I'm starting to actually really like this article's "poor people."
12) Fewer poor people network because they don't have people with whom they can network. They don't have clients and business contacts because they didn't have a chance to go to college, so if they wanted to network, they don't really have the opportunity. Even if they did, they wouldn't be able to afford the social activities that networking frequently requires.
13) Fewer rich people watch TV because they have access to things like cocktail parties, fancy dinners, golf clubs, events such as concerts and plays and other activities that they can do instead of watching TV. Since poor people can't afford this sort of recreational event, they are stuck watching TV.
14) This is essentially the same as the last one. Reality TV is also frequently available on channels that poor people can afford, since they can't afford specialty channels like HBO where the "more sophisticated" television is aired.
15) Fewer poor people wake up well before work starts because they frequently work multiple jobs, split shifts and night shifts that require them to sleep on a different schedule.
16) Fewer poor people teach their children "daily success habits" because "daily success habits" is an incredibly objective term, and based on the rest of the article I assume that the author is refering to things such as reading audio books and exercising. In which case, the reason they can't teach these things to their children is the same reason they can't do these things: they're too expensive.
17) Fewer poor people believe good habits create luck because apparently rich people don't understand what the term "luck" means. Since luck refers to chance and things out of someone's control, it is by nature something you cannot create: therefore, by understanding this, more poor people actually understand what luck is.
18) Once again, you can't create luck. A car tire blowing up or you breaking your leg is not something that is determined by your habits, it's something out of your control. So if more rich people think you can create luck, then more rich people don't understand how life works.
19) More wealthy people can afford to take courses and invest the time and money in educational self-improvement, while poor people can't afford it.
20) This statistic is out of line with the others: it says more wealthy people love to read, but the article also says that more wealthy people have to force their children to read, suggesting the opposite. But anyway, if more rich people love to read, that also suggests that rich people have more time to read, and also have fewer distractions and stress factors that would distract them from trying to read.
Anyway, that was my response to the article. I hope you enjoyed it/gained something from it.
It amazes me how many people have trouble understanding that a lot of the things poor people don't do, is because as the term suggests, they are POOR and can't afford those things.
ReplyDeleteI love how you've shown that the majority of the points in that article can be rebutted with just that single statement :)
Seems like the author of the original article failed to consider that wealthy persons do the majority of those things because they are wealthy, and instead made it same like doing those things are the reason they became wealthy. They got the cause and effect mixed up. Think you made a good argument!
ReplyDelete