# Would Everyone Please Stop {Pretending they Grew up Poor? (rant)



## wokofshame

"things are so hard for us"
"those yuppies" "fucking yuppies"
"fuck them they're loaded"
"it's not easy this life" "we're so tuff"
"give me this" "i wish i was rich too"

Remind you of 80-90 % of "travelling kids" (summer soldiers)?
The only scene I know of where more people pretend they grew up poor is the hip hop scene, fitty and biggie and jeezy growing up selling crack so they could afford some recording time to lay down their lines.
I grew up with parents in debt, patched pants, and free school lunch. But I was never hungry and never was in need until i went out on my own. My grandfather is loaded from running his metalworking company and he always bailed my parents out, now I'm 23 and my parents make way better money and built their house bigger, my grandfather's business is going down the tubes because of Chinese imports but he's objectively a millionaire from running it for 50 years.
What I'm trying to say with this story is that life wouldnt be hard for me unless I Made It So. I got all the opportunity in the world and so do most of you. 
So please shut the fuck up about how poor you are. It's your choice. You could have a job and shit if you wanted to. Your parents are fucked? Google Stafford Student Loans, Pell Grants and Job Corps. Go to the Job Service office and the DHS and apply for everything.
Get some ingenuity and apply in multiple states or multiple identities.
Like me, you want more out of life. Or maybe you're just doing it because it's cool. But no-one owes you shit.
I'm sick of the toxic mixture of self-righteousness and self-pity that pervades our scene.Poor people in the USA just dont have it all that damn hard. People in Africa or Brazil or India do. Here, you can be a lazy ignorant drunk fuck with no work ethic and still have your own trailer and a cell phone.
There, life is actually a survival struggle. Trying to get food on your plate. Aint' no Food Stamps.
I plan to be fairly wealthy one day. How? Because when I put my mind to something I fucking work hard at it. And when I am i wont take no shit from oogles with 20$ of patches cursing me for not giving them change. Unless you're actually hungry i got no fucking pity. I'm saving it for your mom who you're such a dick to and never call.


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## cricketonthemove

:applaud:

Very, very well said.


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## Mouse

it's a big privilege of white middle class kids to CHOOSE to be poor. Aren't we lucky ?


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## wildboy860

We're all lucky to have our own options!!!


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## content2roam

I agree completely. I mean I grew up on welfare and all that shit struggling but why bring that up. I choose to travel..ive had jobs and enough to have a decent place and all that but I choose to live the way I do. The pity me stories are rediculous. If you survived then obviously it wasnt that bad. Everybody wants to one up everyone else...why? Why can't everyone just understand that other people struggled in the past and move on. Fuck the past and fuck the future..live in the present.


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## farmer john

content2roam said:


> . If you survived then obviously it wasnt that bad. Fuck the past and fuck the future..live in the present.



AMEN well said

bitching about the past isnt going to impress anyone and your pipe dreams arent going to either actually contributing will tho


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## hazmatMatthew666

dude, ya couldn't have put it better,i grew up with free lunch and patched clothes, i never bitched, complained or wanted, i hate these kids who are "tired of living in suburbia", fuck man. Now you got me ranting


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## joshbryan

excellent rant. i agree. i didn't grow up poor, but I've seen poor (mainly outside america). some of the poorest people in the world have made my day. hundreds of times. "blessed are the poor" Jesus (he'd hop trains with us. and supply the wine)


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## dirtyfacedan

Great thread MURT. I/we (all of us) have seen some fucked up shit, and yes, been through tough times...but still, we, most of us, have it pretty good. I have had the benefit and gained some insight from living in many homes as a child, with many families. I wouldn't trade that for the world. I have seen a lot of people complain, when they have little reason to do so. I try to make it conscious effort not to bitch, nor go into the gory details about my upbringing like I used to. It's all in the past. All the choices I make now are MY CHOICES. I don't need some fuck telling me i'm a (insert pigeon hole statement) because i don't ride trains, nor squat, nor whatever as much as i used to these days. This is where I am in MY LIFE, and doing the things I WANT. WE are responsible for OUR actions, and OUR outcomes! We reap what we sew. 

Your a rich man already MURT, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!


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## Dameon

Poor me...I grew up so poor my parents only got me a Razr and couldn't afford an iPhone. So I ran away to live on the streets where life is so hard! I have to walk all the way to the nearest bum feed half a mile away to get food, or ask people for their leftovers!

I hope you'll give me change when you're rich, Murt.


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## kolte

> I grew up with parents in debt, patched pants, and free school lunch. But I was never hungry and never was in need until i went out on my own. My grandfather is loaded from running his metalworking company and he always bailed my parents out, now I'm 23 and my parents make way better money and built their house bigger, my grandfather's business is going down the tubes because of Chinese imports but he's objectively a millionaire from running it for 50 years.
> What I'm trying to say with this story is that life wouldnt be hard for me unless I Made It So. I got all the opportunity in the world and so do most of you.


 
The fact that your circustances were bareable, and your Grandfather had money, leaves you with little right to judge people who may have experienced significantly more difficult and desperate conditions as children. 

It's unfair to expect a child or even a teenager, to utilize the oppritunities availible to them, if they have no encuragement from any of the adults around them, who are supposed to be their role models.


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## lowerarchy

Hey Murt, good rant. 

People like to pretend they are/were poor for a number of reasons:

1. Every interesting cultural artifact in the world comes from poverty. Rich people contribute nothing, when was the last time you heard "oh shit you gotta hear this track it's the newest thing from Belvedere California!"
2. Every cool anecdote must involve being poor. Otherwise, all stories sound like this, "I had an intractable problem with my wife who was bored with life but I flew her to Monaco in my jet and we spent $100,000 on roulette and went to the opera so now everything's fine." No challenge to overcome? No story to tell!
3. Everything was better in the past, no exceptions. That's why norms have such fond memories of their "poor student days," even though when they were living them they hated it, but now they look back at all the ramen they ate and think they were poor but they probably weren't.


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## Monkeywrench

Word.


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## wizehop

I'm with Murt on this, although I think everyone is...?

Poor or not, why the fuck does it matter...


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## carnytrash

kolte said:


> The fact that your circustances were bareable, and your Grandfather had money, leaves you with little right to judge people who may have experienced significantly more difficult and desperate conditions as children.
> 
> It's unfair to expect a child or even a teenager, to utilize the oppritunities availible to them, if they have no encuragement from any of the adults around them, who are supposed to be their role models.



As much as I enjoyed the rant, I have to agree with this point as well. A lot of people have passed judgment on me and seem to be under the impression I'm a trust-fund baby and my dad is loaded enough to give me whatever I want. If that was true, I wouldn't have been struggling for survival over the past 10 years, half of which I spent bouncing around the concrete jungle of Philly. Certainly I wouldn't have ended up back in Jersey with nothing more than the essentials for living. 

That's just the way things are tho, and I take them for what they are worth, without feeling the need to be holier than thou. There's no point to that, b/c I know there are people worse off than I am, so I come to appreciate all the little things that mean the world to me. In the end, that's all any of us really have.


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## seasonchange

it's probably safe to say that most of us were raised in middle america, yes, but i don't really care about backgrounds much either way. i'd say that voluntary poverty sort of evens out the playing field as you get older. 
so yes, i could've finished high school with a diploma. i probably could've had a car at some point in my teenage years. i had a cell phone in high school. being raised in the midwest (and the united states in general) means i've been given all sorts of opportunities growing up. the door to a "successful" future, has at times, been wide open, beckoning.
but somewhere along the line, years ago, i grew restless and resentful of the so-called-values that had been instilled in me growing up. i didn't want the life my parents lead. i didn't want their 9 to 5s, arguments, mortgages, regrets. settling down, to me, has always been synonymous with giving up.
basically, what i'm saying is, embrace your past. even if you were "privileged," "lucky." you can run from it, you probably won't escape it. you might. but it will always be the place you started. what matters is, you're here now.
so get real, get in touch with yourself (past, present, and all) and embrace your fucking future.
+ + + + +
i've got a few lofty goals laid out for myself, but i've seen in my own past that where there's a focused and hard set will, there will be the drive to pave the way. i know that whatever i set my mind to, i will manifest in time.
+ + + + +
sad truth: laziness will continue to pervade our scene as long as there are kids who have yet to find a reason for living beyond getting fucked up every day, all day.


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## coolguyeagle76'

im poor, i eat poor food, i do poor things, when will people respect my life style, i mean my poorness. i mean im not from like, you know, a rich place but my soul is rich and stuff. trains trains brains trains canes. i write poor poetry on my mac, but like, can i still be poor if i have a mac??!!! answer these questions ether people. i cannot go on, i am hungry with poorness and there is no pooridge in my squat house.


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## Medusa

Yeah, I'm really fed up with all the ignorance and desperate acts to fit in that I witness while traveling. High school's over. All I'm concerned with is people being honest and not pretending to be something they're not. I really don't give a damn about whether you were rich or poor as long as you have a good head on your shoulders...


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## Nelco

I'm not going to spend time reading the rest of this.
I'm was born a broke nigger.
Had plenty of money for five years of my life..and shared it and still lived like a scrub..and decided I prefer being financialy powerless.
It doesn't really matter though.
Stereo types are mindless systematic, ways of categorization of humans.
Circumstance and choice are the only realistic deciding factors, with stuff like this.
I'm not big on being a hater personaly.


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## Crocodile

Poverty does exist in America in a substantial way, and just because a lot of white, middle class kids make up the majority of traveling kids doesn't invalidate the fact that there are people who have definitely grown up in poverty. 

I agree with your post for the most part, and I wish people would stop pretending they came from the shit end of the stick, particularly because that erases the stories of those who have had hard lives. If you hear a million kids saying they grew up poor and that they didn't quite "choose" this "lifestyle"" then the ones that have had that background are not going to be heard or believed. I grew up in a strange situation myself, on WIC and in deep debt, in a working-class suburb, and I actually went hungry quite a few times. Luckily, my high school was mixed income, so I graduated with a good education and I've even completed a semester of college. Right now I'm working on getting disability for some mental issues that I have (as a result of growing up in an abusive environment, a head injury, and my genes) and so it's very very difficult for me to hold a job. But nonetheless, I won't knock any one else that travels that had it better than me, as long as they're honest. Where you come from is not your fault. It's what you do with your life that matters, as banal of a phrase as that is. 

I think class matters not because being poor makes you "better" but just because it's a category of culture that influences one's personhood. But I highly doubt that this attitude will change much in the traveling world.


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## CXR1037

One of the best posts on StP ever.


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## content2roam

No matter what there is always someone that had it worse then you. You dont get any points or respect for trying to one up everyones stories. Life is hard...people struggle...everyone has struggled. Thats what life is. And traveling everyone struggles. So why cant we all just get along and realize some people choose to travel and some are running from bad situations


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## Deleted member 2626

Yep I chose it, it didn't choose me. I got some stuff from my rents for years I'm nineteen and i kinda shied awaynfrom takin shit and handouts


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## dahllia

MURT said:


> "Here, you can be a lazy ignorant drunk fuck with no work ethic and still have your own trailer and a cell phone.".



man i cant tell you how many times ive gotten pissed about how fucking lazy some americans are. Portland Oregon is the worst, the fucking dumbass homebum adults AND kids there are so lazy they wonnt even look for work they just demand "house keys not hand cuffs" from the governement.

life is fucking easy for me on the streets traveling and i love it and im out here because i want to be not because i have to be and no one in america HAS to be on the streets theyre just to damn lazy to get off their ass and go do somthing about their misery.

i make so much money everyday no matter where i go (usually) 
and if i dont. i never EVER go hungry because theres always at least one person out there willing to buy me food if they dont give change or cash

saying life is "so hard on the streets wahhh" is bullshit. your an idiot if you think that and your lazy.
theres a SHIT TON of money and WAY TO much food in america for that to be true
shiiit i dont know about you others but im a BIG MONEY BUM BITCHES. i ball every day.


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## dahllia

dahllia said:


> man i cant tell you how many times ive gotten pissed about how fucking lazy some americans are. Portland Oregon is the worst, the fucking dumbass homebum adults AND kids there are so lazy they wonnt even look for work they just demand "house keys not hand cuffs" from the governement.


 

i wanted to add...
when i said look for work i also wanted to say 
look for work or save any kind of money they get and not spend it on alcohol or drugs (if theyre serious about wanting to get a place)

but i havent figured out the edit thing yet


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## Beegod Santana

I blame the schools.


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## EphemeralStick

very well put sir. i say, fuck it, im alive and what can be better than that?
i chose this for myself and im quite content with where i am. 
excellent post.


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## Nelco

I blame corperations and "government"..which i consider the coperations too...and that i don't give a shit about anything but simple life.


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## keg

this place is called squat the planet.i live in hawaii there are no trains.but i have been living free and homeless for 20 plus years.can i still sit here in the library and look at this pretty site?


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## finn

I think the point of this is that the only people fooled will be the people who want to be fooled, and everyone else will just be annoyed. For instance if I said I grew up in the woods, and didn't have any woods skills, I would look like an ass. And though its not true all of the time, people who grew up poor tend to be able to improvise pretty well, since they had to figure stuff out on their own, or to tough things out, or a combination of the two. Its nice to know if someone will be a help to you before you travel with them, instead of being misled by a wannabe.

I'm not poor anymore, I admit that, but squatting and working full time for a few years does that to you.


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## content2roam

dahllia said:


> i make so much money everyday no matter where i go (usually)
> and if i dont. i never EVER go hungry because theres always at least one person out there willing to buy me food if they dont give change or cash



If you go hungry then you arent even trying..i believe that. I admit i dont get money everyday but dumpsters are alwasys around..so im never hungry..


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## Deleted member 2626

Everybody has the right
Mind here, live like ya want


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## allday

i simply refuse to work till i die for some bullshit paycheck. to hell w that, most of my greatest memories are from trains, tent cities, bridges, vans...you get it. i stumbled upon this lifestyle when i became "homeless"(where i lay my head or pass out is home) walking around with my pack and dont plan on changing it any time soon.


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## CXR1037

Beegod Santana said:


> I blame the schools.


 
this all over


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## GCM

im glad to see im not alone on this. i chose to cut off my priveleges and handouts which some others say is foolish and ignorant, but i dont give a fuck anymore. the only way i can learn anything is through my own experiences and choices, good or bad, wise or foolish. great post btw


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## beat_tramp

I feel you.But Ive become a bitter classist over the years due to having grown up in a struggling single parent broken home (working class to be cliche and cool sounding about it) and it seeming to be a contributor to me having been feeling the pangs of rejection ever since I was a little kid having grown up in a mostly upper middle class town.Then being the black sheep of an upper middle class (moms side of the - ) family - being rejected by society and your family for being lower class can have quite an effect on a guy like me.But I totally agree with you.I knew deep down I was full of shit when I would piss and moan when people wouldnt cater to my socially parasitic existence.But I still have very little tolerance for people - especially if they portray a rocknroll or counterculture existence - carrying any sort of typical self-centered snootiness that goes along with being privilidged and shallow.


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## Matt aka Sparks

"Don't tell me where you've been, show me where your going." 

The same pissed off feeling you get when ya hear people talking about how hard they had it growing up, or how poor they where, or how many food boxes they lived off a month, is the same feeling I get anytime I hear people telling war stories. I mean don't get me wrong I like hearing tales from past adventures and what not, but I am so not impressed hearing about how many drugs you've done, how many crimes you committed, how many times you've been stranded, just how fucking cool you are, or any of that shit. If any of the shit people say is true it will show through their actions and doesn't need to be said in the first place right? Fuck what ya heard, being poor isn't cool. And pretending to be poor is even less cool.


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## LovelyAcorns

Would everybody please stop with the "I hate when people claim to be X. I mean, I'm X but...". Reminds me of the whole "How many punk points do I get for claiming I don't believe in punk points?" mentality.

You've managed to prove yourself more elite than the elitists. Congratulations.


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## shwillyhaaa

life is what you make it man... and youd think that living in this lifestyle meant that you didnt wish to have those things. but as it is, no ones ever fucking happy with what theyve chosen in life


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## Missy

I come from a well off family and the first 18 years of my life were great, at 18 it was strongly implied that it's time to go make a life. I was never poor till I was on my own, now I have found a nitch of work that allows me to do it for half the year then fuck off and ride trains in the summer with cash in my pocket.

That's the way to go if you ask me and you want to do it long term, 6 month on, 6 month off.


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## stove

ah fuck it I dont have anything to say that others haven't.


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## IIIbonesIII

even better than prentending to be broke and from poverty when youre rich and from suburbia is pretending to be redneck too.


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## Earth

Yeah, it's all just a pose.... Man - I set someone up with the perfect situation as far as what they told me they wanted to do (dog rescue, gardening, lDIY lifestyle, odging for travelers) in a wonky enough neighborhood where pretty much anything goes, and within like a month - all bets were off... Funny how its easy to talk the talk, but when it comes time to actually doing it - putting in work - thats when you see someones true colors. I don't know, but from what I've seen, when you are truly down and out - one is greatful for anything good which comes their way. Thats how I know if someone is legit or not - how they respond when when a random act of kindness comes their way. But then again, there are some seriously troubled individuals out there too - who just want nothing out of life....


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## Earth

Then there's this whole flying sign's thing - where it gets harder to tell who's legit from who's just being lazy (and ruining it for those who really could use the handout). I go by if the person seems happy. They get nothing. But a 1000 yard stare - or someone who looks like they have the gun in mouth blues - they might get something out of me. All these wanna be travelers - it's easy to do it when you got no commitments and / or your parents are helping you along. But let me tell you this: those who come from nothing - and are purely about being on the road or the tracks or the gutters. abandoned buildings, etc - be it by choice or no other option - now those foks will always have my respect and support.


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## Dameon

I like how the people with good attitudes who are smiling at you get nothing, while the homebums sitting there being depressed and depressing apparently are worth something. I smile and wave and sometimes dance a little while I'm flying a sign because there's enough people out there pretending their lives are terrible and giving the "1000 yard stare" because that's what they think will make them money. It's easy to put on a depressed look, and homebums love to do it so they can get lots of cash. I've seen homebums go from practically in tears on the on-ramp to laughing all the way to the liquor store. Maybe you should think more about giving money to the people that are trying to make you feel a little bit happier even though they're doing something depressing. Trust me, it's all pretty much going to booze and drugs anyway; especially if you give it to homebums. It's not like homebums need the money for anything BUT booze; they know where all the feeds are, they're either staying at the mission or have a good campsite. And who has the most opportunity to get a job...a homebum, or a traveler?


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## Earth

Dameon, you are right with everything you say - but on the other hand I'm not going to give cash to someone just flying a sign because they see it as easy money. This past winter, there was a cat walking around with a shovel looking to make some cash by shoveling. If I see him around this up-coming winter, I'll definately pay him to put some work in. I guess maybe thats my problem - I can't get into the something for nothing gig... Yeah, you are right - there is nothing wrong with smiling while looking for a handout. Youre also right about the homebums too, but I still help those cats - and the homless vets out too - anytime I see them. I'll have to rethink everything here - because now you've got me thinking a little differently - and that's a good thing.


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## Dameon

By all means...put people to work. Anybody that's got two good arms and two good legs and won't work if it's offered to them is obviously not worth giving money to. If I'm holding a sign and somebody offers me cash to do some work for them, I'll jump right in immediately. I'd rather do some work for a twenty dollar bill and feel like I have some self respect than get it handed to me while I'm holding a sign.

Also, remember that the disabled guys standing (or sitting) out there are almost definitely getting a disability check...especially vets. Not to mention free housing, medical benefits, and food stamps. Sometimes, it's the people who look like they need it the least who need it the most. But definitely put 'em to work if they can work.


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## SmilinSteph

Definitely agree!


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## Wolf

Dameon said:


> By all means...put people to work. Anybody that's got two good arms and two good legs and won't work if it's offered to them is obviously not worth giving money to. If I'm holding a sign and somebody offers me cash to do some work for them, I'll jump right in immediately. I'd rather do some work for a twenty dollar bill and feel like I have some self respect than get it handed to me while I'm holding a sign.
> 
> Also, remember that the disabled guys standing (or sitting) out there are almost definitely getting a disability check...especially vets. Not to mention free housing, medical benefits, and food stamps. Sometimes, it's the people who look like they need it the least who need it the most. But definitely put 'em to work if they can work.


 
I fully agree with you on that. More is accomplished that way anyhow and it's better to help someone out with something then just take their money. I do see performing as work as well, they also seem to get less money around my town. There is this guy who always sits around at a save mart and plays music, I have never seen him get any money at all from anyone else. Normally I don't have cash to give him, but at the least I'll watch him play. And if someone gives me a nice conversation and a smile I'm more likely to give them money, and if they just ask for it and I have it to give, I'll give it, but not without introducing myself and getting to know the person a little bit. I can't remember the people who just ask me for cash then walk away, but I will always remember the people who wouldn't ask for anything but compliment me and make conversation. And the homeless lads in Modesto who helped ME out with beer money without asking.

If you have energy and a functioning body, then there is no point in wasting it begging if you can be using it earning and livening the atmosphere. A kind attitude and a smile can change a persons perspective.


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## headwound

I grew up in an upper middle class family, always had food and for the most part whatever the hell I wanted. I just decided to challenge myself and do something different. I think I've made a good life decision when I started traveling.


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## Earth

man, this is one good thread... thanks for not beating me up too bad, I'm having a bad day in a bad life, and may have come across as a jerk earlier. Everybody is making excellent points here. I guess my problem is with those who consume but give nothing back if that makes and sense (in reference to what I posted earlier)and hell yeah, performing is definately considered work, as is those who are active in the ecology movement - be it river clean-ups (thats my gig) or anything which makes our planet a better place. Much respect to all here........


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## Dameon

Don't think you ever came across as a jerk...and everybody that's not an idiot has a problem with people that consume and give back.


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## L.C.

I hate fn yuppies. ya i'm earning my psych degree, after 12-13yrs on the road[off and on]. i have an open mind and a kind heart so i'm not a drone thats been brainwashed to fuck. i understand much besides ignorance. if your taling about being ignorant you should have titled this thread 'ignorant' people'. i hate cops being called because i walked through your neighborhood i didn't fit that yuppie scumbag piece of shits income bracket or demographic. its bad enough cops profile. don't get me wrong, i don't expect them to kick-down, but really? seriosly? honest? nofaken? for real for real? there laws and tax dollers, and influance fucked my life up since i was 10. thats a bunch of shitty stories i'm not going to get into. the system they created and sustain continues aviscious cycle. buy an x-box or change the channel, there ain't no real world out here. call your rich parents to bail you out . i ain't got none. thanx


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## venusinpisces

Dameon said:


> Also, remember that the disabled guys standing (or sitting) out there are almost definitely getting a disability check...especially vets. Not to mention free housing, medical benefits, and food stamps. .


This is just not true. If you get SSI then you are immediately cut off of food stamps, at least in CA. And you don't get free housing either. Bums may get cheap government subsidized housing but they will never have more than a few hundred a month to live on after rent is paid. As for whether people spend their money on alcohol, why does that matter? Even though it's really unhealthy, alcohol is sometimes the only thing that keeps someone's brain chemistry stabilized enough to function on a basic level. I used to smoke weed every day to deal with depression and, honestly, I was a lot easier to be around high than when I was sober. I'm not currently using at anywhere near that level, but only because of years of experimenting with finding the right food and supplements in order to wean myself off it. So I'm not going to judge someone who is just trying to survive without being miserable, especially if they're poor and uneducated about holistic health. Most people just tell bums to get on the right psych meds but how is that any better? Those drugs typically cause a lot more cognitive damage than alcohol does, as well as diabetes, high blood pressure and all kind of other problems. Psych drugs also shut off the creative process entirely so forget about it if you're an artist. Veterans, particularly, need something to cope with trauma issues, and so does virtually anyone else who has lived outside with no other options for any length of time. Also, not everyone asking for money spends it on drugs. For the last couple years I was traveling I spent all the money people gave me almost exclusively on either food or basic gear like good shoes or a sleeping bag.

One idea that has been really useful for me in thinking about these issues is that right brained people are, according to numerous studies, more likely to end up in jail, psych wards and homeless shelters. This is because of their having chaotic neural patterns that make it hard for them to function in highly structured environments that emphasize left brain, analytic logic. What's interesting is that right brain dominance is also typically found in artists as well as some risk-taking scientists. So, I think what this indicates is that our society is structured incorrectly, so that huge numbers of right brained people, who account for about 10% of the population, will inevitably end up living in hardship and poverty. Why is it that indigenous cultures never had what people now would think of as "homelessness"? Probably because their communities allowed for enough deviation in cultural standards that creative thinkers could find their niche. What is necessary is finding a way to recreate those cultural niches instead of trying to blame people who are already living in difficult circumstances. The closest I've ever seen to a cultural system that could allow for autonomous, creative thought is permaculture but that's a whole other subject.


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## venusinpisces

Oh, and another crucial point is that people with right brained dominance also have much higher rates of drug addiction compared to the rest of the population. So many things fell into place when I read about those studies.


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