Help the poor ?

[.... callchet ....]

Why is health-care take such a low position. Why was it necessary to take democracy to Iraq while we have millions over here that suffer because they can't get health care. Is that what democracy is about ? Let a group influenced by lobbyists make decisions for you so that it can be legal to deny health care.

[sojourner]

1. we don't help the poor - we let them live, kind of, and pat ourselves on the back

in terms of human psychology it's a great source for downward social comparison. makes the rest of us feel pretty darn good that we're better off than that.

also makes us feel so warm and fuzzy when we can support a mission here or an outreach there, or give a few bucks to that panhandler.

why, if we didn't have the poor, how would we get to feel good about ourselves?

[drmeow]

2. There are many, many, many other sources

of downward social comparison. If there were no poor, we would find other sources of downward comparison. We already do.