"That was then. This is now."
Only people not touched by the "then" say that. The rest know "then" is never really past, it's prologue.
" Growing up in a poor and crime ridden community. "
Let's take that one apart, shall we:
- "Deciding not to becoming a criminal.": turning down easy money when desperate is harder than you think. And when police department profile or have money incentive to ticket/jail poor people (whom happen to usually be dark) on the flimsiest excuses to supplement slashed budgets, it's way harder to stay clean.
- "Get a decent job." And what if there isn't any in the hood? Not all inner cities have massive effective cheap transport system. And if there is, good luck getting it over the 100+ applicants in front of you also looking for that job.
- "Move out of the terrible community.": That takes both money and willingness to leave behind current family. Not an option available to everyone.
- "That story literally happens for millions of people": is that true? Quote a report or anything to back that up. I'm sure it happens eventually over time, but no due to personal willpower or moral character but out of sheer desperation.
"That's the great thing about the United State. Oppurtunity for status groth for everyone. More so today than in the past."
That's mostly a well constructed myth popularised by The American Dream, which is in fact, a dream only for most people. The ONLY reason poor people ain't flooding Western European countries (or New Zealand, Canada and Australia) looking for a better life (you know, the ones that always rank above the US in pretty much everything including quality of life) is because they're closed to mass migration (unskilled poor one). Recent multiculturalism experiment is exactly that: recent. And it's already backfiring big time in Europe.
Seriously, there's more poverty and shattered dreams in the US than you can begin to imagine. Only reason those people don't go back is because it's the lesser evil. And recently they ARE going back (Mexican migration is actually decreasing due to more people realising they're better off back home).
Not saying hard work is not needed, but don't buy into the it's all that's needed, and that anyone can indeed do what you or somebody else can do.
reply
share