Words matter.

You aren’t writing an academic paper. Always use simple direct language.

  • Help the poor
  • Healthcare for everyone
  • Good treatment at work.

Don’t use complex words.

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    They got me! I have to admit, “welfare” leaves a bad taste in my mouth where “helping the poor” sounds fair enough. I grew up under Reagan, heard the bullshit, know it’s bullshit, I get it.

    And you know damned well what those words really mean. Welfare = black, poor people = whites. (That’s from a GenX perspective.)

    • Hegar@fedia.io
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      2 days ago

      Welfare = black, poor people = whites.

      Ding ding ding! We have a winner.

    • dufkm@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      So weird. As a Scandinavian, “welfare” to me means schools, healthcare, elderly care, sick pay, paid parental leave etc., paid for by the shared burden of taxes for the benefit of everyone.

      It is a word with entirely positive connotations for me.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Our famous and revered constitution actually says in its thesis statement that one of the purposes of our government is to provide for the general welfare

    • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      To me the negative connotation of “welfare” is, Kafkaesque bureaucracy used to gate access. Actually being on it feels more like you are playing a fucked up game than receiving assistance.

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        People acting like gaming welfare is easy. Fuck me, it’s a full-time job getting anything at all.

        For example: Been thinking about trying to get some food stamps. Wife works, I’m unemployed, maybe get a little of the tax money back from when I was making bank? Maybe get a pittance of unemployment? I can scarcely imagine navigating all the bullshit if I wasn’t technically capable. Kafkaesque bureaucracy indeed.

        • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          I got fired from a job, rather unjustly, and attempted to file for unemployment.

          It made no sense, I could not navigate my states website (which didn’t want to play well with Linux anyway), so I gave up. Which is the point.

          One time an employer fired me and refused to pay me after discovering I was trans, and it literally took 6 months to get that check. The system is designed to fuck people.

        • ...m...@ttrpg.network
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          2 days ago

          …i’ve claimed unemployment benefits a couple of times in the past four decades and the administrative burden was onerous-enough to substantially disrupt my liberty to look for work, the release of benefits delayed until i’d already found work the better part of a year later, and the benefits such a token pittance as to be eclipsed by interest on credit i used to make ends meet in the interim…

          …i supect their fraud-prevention programs cost more to administer than the actual benefits they’re supposedly protecting…

      • Artisian@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I hear this, and also some flavor of people gaming the system.

        I don’t like that I hear these things. But something definitely weaseled its way in.