So, I think there are absolutely libertarians who just think that poor people starving is less morally important than not taking money from people who earned it.
But there’s another libertarian belief which I want to articulate even though I think it’s profoundly mistaken, because I think its adherents are generally just as horrified as me by poverty, and as angry about poor people suffering, and that this is important to know if you want to convince them to stop being libertarians.
This belief goes, roughly, “for almost all of history, almost everyone was starving. Redistributing the wealth in 1200 Europe would achieve almost nothing for general prosperity, because there just wasn’t any wealth to distribute. Institutions matter a lot, and injustice matters a lot, but the main thing they matter for is making it possible in the first place to produce enough stuff that everyone doesn’t starve. Until you have that down, nothing you do about inequality will matter; and once you get that down, even if you do nothing about inequality, global poverty will go away.
And recently, we got really good at making stuff:
and this is finally, finally, driving down poverty:
Okay. Global poverty is falling, and there is reason to think it’s mostly falling because the amount of stuff we have went way, way up, not because we’ve gotten more equal about distributing stuff we have. But it would fall even faster if we also got better about distributing the stuff we have, right?
(this is where I disagree, actually; I think that it would, in fact, fall faster if we got better about redistributing stuff, and so we ought to do that.) They mostly think that the fastest way to end poverty is to keep that line pointed straight at the ceiling. And that anything we do which slows down that line, slows down the delightful, amazing, amazingly important collapse of global poverty that we’re witnessing right now. And often they feel like economies are fragile – that things we do which we think won’t affect the line much will actually affect the line a lot, and will take a while to be noticed.
So you get people who hate poverty, and want every poor person to have a phone and computer and food and shelter and safety and happiness, but who sincerely think that if we mess up our redistribution effort, we will fuck up the explosion of ability-to-produce-stuff which is currently taking giant bites out of global poverty.
If you want to argue with these people, I think it’s useful to be able to understand this view of the world. If you say to them “have you considered that a poor person having a sandwich is more important than a banker having a yacht” you won’t get anywhere, because they agree with you, they just think the giant poverty-destroying machine that is the global economy is more important than either, because it is delivering so many sandwiches to so many people and it is the only tool we have invented that does that. Instead, you want to argue either “the growth of the global economy is not actually reducing poverty, here’s why” or “we can reduce poverty in this way which I care about without reducing the growth of the global economy” or “this policy increases the growth of the global economy” or “I have another tool that is as good at sandwiches as the growth of the global economy”.
Having to remind myself of similar a lot for a while now, tbqh.
Affording food is thankfully not the problem these days. But, there are other ways to get hung up down the Hierarchy of Food Needs.
“Reliable, ongoing access” can get tricky thanks to a variety of disability stuff. And dealing with a condition which causes high energy needs–along with a lot of the kind of “chemical hunger” she talks about here–can also really complicate things.
(I’m sure I’ve talked about that some before, though the whole situation has gotten harder to deal with over time.)
So yeah, I get frustrated a lot at not being able to maintain as balanced a diet as I would like. And especially fight feeling guilty with needing to get energy needs met first bashing up against the ED stuff.
From that post looking at Hierarchy of Food Needs:
The idea is that, before we worry about nutrition (i.e., “instrumental food”) we’ve first got to HAVE food. Enough of it. Consistently. And it’s got to be acceptable to us (which, for some people, might mean not coming from the garbage, or meeting certain standards of preparation) and it’s got to taste reasonably good. A little variety is nice, too.
These are not silly little preferences that can be brushed off lightly — even “tasting good,” which seems to always be the first thing thrown out the window when someone decides to change their diet For Health Reasons.
A good reminder that these are, indeed, legitimate fundamental needs. No matter what may be complicating getting them met adequately and consistently. (ETA: Though, of course, also being poor can complicate pretty much all the others, exponentially.)
That also applies if the access problems are coming from disability. And, indeed, even if part/all of the problem is related to a condition where disordered eating behavior gets actively encouraged For Health Reasons. (Really not kidding.)
All of it doesn’t just apply to other people, either 😵
poor people on SNAP or other benefits do not need “healthy eating” rules imposed on them. restricting their food choices doesn’t make them healthier. when we limit what they can buy we limit their access to sufficient calories. “junk food” is dense with calories and provides efficient energy for the body. fruits and vegetables contribute little to meeting total energy needs and their nutritional content isn’t very beneficial when overall calorie intake is too low.
poor people don’t need food rules imposed from on high, they need ENOUGH food and they need regular access to it. i’m so done with these tepid takes (cc: pbs, npr and other liberal media) on getting poor people to eat “healthier” as though that were some kind of anti-oppressive stance… it’s not! are we willing to do what it takes to make all people food-secure, with regular access to enough food that they want and enjoy? that’s the only thing worth talking about
My whole household is activists, including my 65 year old parents. Here are some things I’ve picked up from listening to and observing them all:
-Social change is like those Japanese bamboo fountain things, the ones that make the donk noise. It builds up over time, drip by drip, with no recognizable effect, and then it hits a tipping point and a lot happens all at once. Where you are in that process is influenced by a chaos theory level of factors beyond your or anyone else’s control.
-Workaholism is the drug of choice for most activists, and it is counter productive as hell. It’s hard to resist, because what you are doing is important, time sensitive, and urgent. And the culture of activism is infected with this macho bullshit about pushing non stop. Well news flash m’dears, there will never come a time when there are not more important, urgent, time sensitive battles than any one person can address. Strategically, an activist can accomplish much more by insisting on a sustainable work-life balance and fighting on for decades than by burning themself out all at once. Rest. Play. Relax. Self-care, y’all. *Do it.*
-Trying to make your organization or movement completely ideologically pure makes you smaller, more isolated, and less effective.
-When you start organizing a group of people, the first ones to jump at the chance for leadership are not usually good leaders. What you want are the people who wait a little, think it through, see where it’s going. Also the people who already have the respect of their peers on account of being solid folks.
-Maintaining ethics and integrity can be a pain in the ass, especially when struggling against those who have neither, but it is *vital*. Any short term advantage you can gain through skeezy tactics is overshadowed by the trust and respect you lose, among your allies as well as your opponents.
-People’s politics and their personal decency don’t always match up in a logical way. You will meet people whose politics are straight fucked up, but who somehow still treat everyone they interact with directly well. You will also meet people who say and seem to believe all the right things, and are *assholes*. Handled right, the former can be hugely tactically useful as points of contact, and potentially teachable. The latter will join your organizations and proceed to shit right in the bed.
-The best way to support intense struggles against oppression far away in from a position of solidarity, with your feet firmly planted in struggles close to home. Ignoring local oppression because other people have it worse doesn’t help anybody. It’s a win for Team Oppression.
-Guilt, fear, and worry are not useful. Don’t beat yourself up for having these feelings, but know you are not in any way *obliged* to feel them. Acknowledge them, then let them go. Calm thinking and reasonable self confidence make you more effective.
-Don’t cut out people who are only capable of making smaller efforts and commitments in the struggle. That’s just throwing away resource. The idea that low effort contributions siphon away energy and make people less likely to be active is a myth. Low effort contributions make people feel involved, and more, not less, likely to participate in other ways.
-Running organizations in a democratic way is a giant pain in the ass. There will be drama and delays. There will be dumb decisions. Still 100% worth it.
-Organizing and activism are learned skills. There is a lot of history and a lot to be learned from it, there are people who have been doing this shit for ages and know how to make it work. Seek out good information. There’s no need to slow yourself down by reinventing the wheel.
-The impulse to give up on a flawed organization or movement, tear it down and start over is counterproductive 9 times out of 10. If you wait to get it perfect, you’ll never get anything done.
One drop raises the sea.
Or in this case, tips the bamboo slightly more towards a ‘thunk’
I have some reservations about some of these but lots of basic good advice in there too
About being the kind of person who constantly gets controlled and bullied by other people
And spending so much time wondering why you, specifically, are different, or what you’re doing differently from other people, and how to make it better
And why you can’t be funny without people hating you for it, or smart, or anything, and hyper analyzing yourself for reasons why
And then ultimately the reason is because “you’re not allowed to be anything”
It’s not because you did jokes wrong but because you’re not allowed to be funny at all
Or smart
Or insightful
You’re supposed to shut up and disappear
That’s what bullying is about
It’s not about real things, or about your self-improvement
It’s about teaching you to efface yourself so that it takes less effort for other people to silence you when they see fit
And even if it’s hard the only thing to do is just be funny and smart and wonderful anyway
Even if you know people will never stop hurting you or trying to stop you from being anything
Because being free is important
And because you know better now
You know that following the rules doesn’t stop people from hurting you, it just makes it easier for them to do it to you
I promise you it’s worth it to keep trying to Be
Because the alternative is being small, and limited, and afraid, and no less of a target for it anyway, and that’s a raw deal and you don’t have to fucking agree to it
A GOOD ROMANCE STARTS WITH A GOOD FRIENDSHIP. A GOOD ROMANCE STARTS WITH A GOOD FRIENDSHIP. A GOOD ROMANCE STARTS WITH A GOOD FRIENDSHIP. A GOOD ROMANCE STARTS WITH A GOOD FRIENDSHIP. A GOOD ROMANCE STARTS WITH A GOOD FRIENDSHIP.
a bad romance starts with “ra ra ah ah ah. ro ma, ro ma ma ga ga, ooh la la”
a medium romance starts with your partner possessing Whoopi Goldberg
I hate when people try to shock me by showing me “the secrets THEY don’t want you to know about how x is made!” Like yes I’m still going to eat the hotdog if all I have is $3 and I can get a hotdog and drink combo at Costco for $1.25 I’ll eat that damn hotdog buttholes and all I gotta fuckin live
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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