They seem to think everything just comes easy, everything is obtainable. I was just reading a thread on reddit about a woman who screams non stop at her son and takes all her frustrations out on him and all of reddit are like “She needs to get therapy, for a long time, maybe years, maybe permanently.” Like, what the hell? Who on earth could even afford that? Do they all just have endless money? Even if you live in a country with socialised healthcare you normally have to spend ages on a waiting list for a short course of therapy. Who are all these millionaires who think everyone can just be in therapy permanently? Whenever anyone has a problem the reddit answer is always “Therapy, now!” With no thought at all about whether the person can access or pay for that.
I’ve noticed this with other things on reddit too. There was once a reddit thread where people were asking why poor people buy takeaway food and how they can’t be poor if they buy it. I spoke on there about how I’d been in a situation where I was living in a bedsit, had run out of money, only had a few pounds left. There was no money left on my gas or electric meter. I could either put my last few pounds on the meter, or I could buy food, but then with no gas or electric I wouldn’t be able to cook any food. So my only option was to buy some cheap ready cooked food like chips from the fish and chip shop. Some really rude redditors refused to believe this, saying no-one is ever in that situation. They are so dissociated from reality they really don’t even believe people can be so poor they have to choose between utilities or food.
I’ve see other threads where someone posts photos of a medical condition they have, asking what it could be. When told to go to the doctor they say they have no medical insurance, no money to pay, etc and the others are like “Just go, this could be serious.” Like OK, just materialise money out of thin air then. It’s like they think everyone actually has an emergency fund but just doesn’t want to dip into it. It makes me think there’s no hope for humanity, when so many people are like this, not even wanting to believe how poor other people are, there will never be enough appetite for change to actually change things.
You’re reading the literally worst possible interpretation of the things they say and ironically aren’t stopping to think about being in their situation.
They’re not giving you a command, they’re saying you should seek therapy if you have the option to. These people are probably well aware therapy is expensive. They just prefer to offer an option as opposed to saying “Well gee that fucking sucks guess you have to let it get worse huh?” Is there anything they could say that would make you happy? Even if they start quoting Marx, it won’t meaningfully improve your life.
Well if they said those exact words then they’re inconsiderate assholes. But even in your own example you could have bought canned soup and had enough for 3-4 meals as opposed to just dinner. I’m not going to deny your experience, but I think it’s far more likely they were suggesting to buy ready-to-eat groceries rather than believing no one is poor.
Don’t confuse your anger at your situation with anger at well-meaning but ultimately unhelpful people. People are a lot more aware of things then you give them credit for. They just find it better to offer a potential solution rather than accept someone is genuinely fucked.
Never do they say “seek therapy if you have the option to.” They actually say things like “Therapy, NOW.” And don’t seem at all aware that it’s unaffordable for many people. When informed that it’s unaffordable, they insist a reshuffling of priorities will provide the money rather than accepting that some people don’t have disposable income. In fact today one redditor told someone with a problem, “therapy, regardless of anything else.” Regardless of whether or not you can afford it then.
An average can of soup is like £1.70. So I certainly wouldn’t have gotten 3-4 meals for the price of a bag of chips, and would also have had to have eaten the soup cold without utilities.
My cancer treatment has also caused me to develop multiple severe food intolerances to the point there are very few things I can safely eat, and soup is a no-go for me, but you sound like one of the people who thinks poor people shouldn’t be allowed food intolerances and should just eat whatever is cheapest no matter how violently ill it will make them.
And they did, in fact, call me a liar and say “Nobody lives like that,” when I spoke about having to choose between utilities or food. What ready to eat groceries was I supposed to buy without utilities? Even a ready made sandwich was the same price as a bag of chips. Maybe something is lost in translation. When I say chips I mean these: https://i0.wp.com/metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/chips_flickr_gary-tanner-e1424258208729.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=644%2C538&ssl=1
So yeah I would rather have one hot meal than one can of cold soup that will make me ill. And sorry for preferring hot food in the middle of winter when I couldn’t afford central heating.
You are very much denying my experience, and these people were not well-meaning. If even people here think this way, then we truly have no hope of a communist future.