Alexis BushnellRE: https://toot.wales/@NationCymru/116356570808819506
Genuine question: why is the immediate response to this "they're all fakers" and not "gee, we went /are going through a mass disabling event"...
The Goldfish@alexisbushnell Exactly, plus the boomer generation are getting older and there's a lot of them. 1 in 20 doesn't seem that many to me and certainly not evidence of misuse.
@goldfish yep, another great point.
Alfred Chow - Maker of Things@alexisbushnell
My feeling is that the people who say that are exactly the kind of people who would act fraudulently, and cheat the system, if they could. So they expect that everyone else must also be doing that.
Also, they are so greedy that they can't have some other people getting something that they can't get for themselves.
Yes, it is hypocritical.
"If I could fraudulently have that benefit, I would, but I can't, so those who do have it must be cheating me out of it somehow!"
@Maker_of_Things urgh that is very true. Also I guess it gives politicians a reason to waste more money stopping people getting the support they need...
Simon Brooke@Maker_of_Things @alexisbushnell I can't believe this is true. That would imply a majority -- or at least an electorally significant minority -- of people were greedy and selfish, but in my everyday life I meet very few people who are either of those things.
I think that the tiny minority of greedy and selfish people tend to accumulate wealth and therefore become powerful, and that's why politicians follow them -- because we allow unlimited political donations.
@simon_brooke
Yes, that's the point. A vast majority of people don't have an issue with it, but the small number of people who write headlines and control the power and economy, do.
So they say it, and some of their readership believe it.
Andy Dearden@simon_brooke @Maker_of_Things @alexisbushnell but our education system and news media tell us we are all homo-economicus self-intereested, rational value maximisers. So we have a tendency to adopt that behaviour, because we would not want to feel stupid. #DoughnutEconomics book for details.
fak@alexisbushnell oh, that's easy. A population who is focused on looking at each other with suspicion isn't looking up at the bigger picture and who controls it. If there aren't enough spaces then that is something to be solved by creating more, not by having people police and judge each other.
@fak you hit the nail on the head!