The discussion of poverty

[malokvale77]

Poverty is now, not only mockable, but considered off topic on a democratic forum.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023204564

Good to know

[LWolf]

1. WTF nt

[OneGrassRoot]

2. I don't think it was deemed as off-topic because it related to poverty...

Instead, it may have been deemed to not have enough content to really understand the gist of your post (though I realize you said you were tired and would return).

Honestly, that's my biggest complaint with probably 25% of the posts in GD these days. It's too twitter-like.

I wanted to reply here because poverty is a subject I and others do try to introduce here more and more (and it is more well received than in years past because of the state of things now), and share my opinion about why it could have been locked.

I don't think it was against a discussion of poverty.

My two cents.

[liberal_at_heart]

32. There are lots of threads with little content that rise quickly to the top if it is a hot topic.

Poverty is not a hot topic. Those threads sink to the bottom just like threads on edcuation or threads about how the 1% control this country. These are topics most democrats would just rather sweep under the rug.

[OneGrassRoot]

34. Oh, I agree that it's not a hot topic...unfortunately...

I just doubt that it was viewed as being an OP about poverty, then deemed off topic and thus locked.

[magellan]

3. Poverty reflects badly on the administration

Cease and desist order.

[HappyMe]

11. Nah, that's not it.

If it doesn't involve Snowden, nobody gives a crap.

[Orrex]

5. Two things:

In my view, the phrase "hard scrapple" evokes an inedibly firm breakfast food, regardless of etymological justifications. When I read your OP, I had no idea what you were talking about.

Do you have reason to think that it was locked because it was about poverty? I don't see anything to indicate that clearly. However, locking an apparently random 20-word post with no context seems reasonable to me.


Still, I'd rather read 100 posts like that rather than a single post with a subject line of "Utterly amazing" and then nothing but an embedded YouTube video in the body of the post.

[cthulu2016]

6. I think the term is "Hard Scrabble"

But I understand why someone would hear it as hard-scrapple.

[winter is coming]

8. +1. I've always understood it to refer to poor land, and the sort of lifestyle

you'd likely have if you depended upon farming it.

[malokvale77]

13. Yes that is the meaning of hard-scrabble...

I'm referring to having to scrape (or depend upon scraps) to survive. My parents both understood it. One from the Midwest and one from the South.

[malokvale77]

9. I've known it as Hard-scrapple all my life.

Both oral and in print. That is the reason I said " if you understand". I wanted a discussion with those who understood the term.
I think one did.

[hrmjustin]

7. Poverty is not considered off topic in GD.

[RandiFan1290]

10. Start a thread about your world travels

or your wealthy connections and invites to the White House. They will let that crap stay.

[malokvale77]

14. LOL

I would but then I would be lying.

[FSogol]

12. hardscrabble

Definition of HARDSCRABBLE
1
a : being or relating to a place of barren or barely arable soil <a hardscrabble farm> <hardscrabble prairies>
b : getting a meager living from poor soil <a hardscrabble farmer>
2
: marked by poverty <a hardscrabble cotton town> <a hardscrabble childhood>




hardscrapple: The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary.

scrap·ple
: a seasoned mixture of ground meat (as pork) and cornmeal set in a mold and served sliced and fried

Word salad is better for you than scrapple, but I doubt anything got banned because it discussed poverty.

[malokvale77]

15. Not in modern dictionaries, true.

http://everything2.com/title/Hardscrapple

[FSogol]

16. LOL, sorry, but your link is hardly a dictionary. n/t

[malokvale77]

17. Didn't mean to imply it was...

It was just a reference to show that others are familiar with the term.

[FSogol]

18. Yes, you are not the only one to make that mistake.

[malokvale77]

19. One more link...

and I'll let this go. Sigh

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311260/literature

[FSogol]

20. I think the scrapple in that title is a joke. The character is named, "Ham."

Ham and Bud were two silent film actors.

[malokvale77]

21. I suppose my parents and grandparents...

meant it as a joke, also.

So, okay, extreme poverty is a joke and to be mocked.

[FSogol]

23. Where did I mock poverty?

I said you were wrong about a word and you showed that others used it wrong too. You posted a link to a silent film comedy using the same term. Maybe if you want to discuss poverty, you should start a thread that actually discusses poverty and not just pretend that people are laughing at it.

[Marrah_G]

22. Perhaps if you started a thread with a little more clarity it would have been different

I am sure I am not the only one who had no fucking clue what you were talking about.

Frankly it looked like PUI

[Pretzel_Warrior]

24. there was a lot you might have been thinking but didn't say.

I would not have assumed it was a thread about poverty in America based on your post title nor by the comments within your post.

So....perhaps you should elaborate your concerns about poverty. I seriously doubt that would be locked as unrelated to our general discussions on DU.

[SomethingFishy]

25. YOu see this thread?:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023206225

Where a nice portion of DU craps on a guy for not wanting to take a 30% pay cut... and where someone actually told me that $11 an hour is a decent wage.

This place is off the rails.

[malokvale77]

26. Pretty disgusting...

I've seen so many flippant responses to posts, suggesting such things as:

It's easy, just upgrade your car
It's simple, pay for his ID
Just get a better job
and my favorite - If you don't like it, move.

Before everyone asks for links - I'm paraphrasing

Anyway, thanks. You understand.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

27. no. this is still the same old DU. Look at all of the back and forth. plenty defending

livable wage, social justice, and excoriating the corps. I think you're just seeing what you want to see.

[SomethingFishy]

29. I said a nice portion of DU not half, not all, not 3/4's, I said a nice portion.

Maybe it's you who sees what you want to see.

To see any liberal defending $11 an hour as a livable wage is disgusting to me.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

30. you are entitled to your opinion and they are entitled to theirs. I was merely

commenting that DU is no more "off the rails" than they were 10 years ago. This kind of spirited debate and disagreement has been going on forever. It was most noticeable to me in primary season of 2004, but it is always here. It ebbs and flows.

[closeupready]

28. I wouldn't have understood what you wanted to talk about,

in that thread.

But separately, try to catch Frontline tonight - Bill Moyers is doing a documentary about two families in Milwaukee who are struggling with poverty. Apparently, it's an update from documentaries they did on the same families from 20 years ago (which, in turn, was updated 10 years ago).

[malokvale77]

31. I used a term from my childhood...

It has a clear meaning to me, hence my use of it. I thought others might recognize it. Those were the people I wanted a conversation with.
It has to do with "extreme poverty" not related to farming.

Yes, Bill Moyers gets it.

[liberal_at_heart]

33. kick just to keep the topic of poverty near the top.

Did you see the thread about a minimum guaranteed income? I thought that was an interesting idea? Probably won't go anywhere. Both parties have been bought by the 1%, but we the people must demand this kind of policy making. If they don't, vote them out. Let's stop listening to campaign promises and start paying attention to voting records. If they don't have a good voting record they should be voted out.

[malokvale77]

35. Thanks for the kick...

but as you can see, most here aren't interested.

Yes, I saw that thread and you're right, it probably won't go anywhere.

I will continue to help those I can with my very limited resources and capabilities. But I worry about where they will turn when I'm gone.

And now, if you will kindly excuse me, I have supper to prepare.

Thank you again l_a_h. You do have a liberal heart (and a most kind one too).