How much do you ACTUALLY care about people who’re worse off, financially?

23 comments

1. If you’re not going to help – by contributing to food banks, giving your castoffs to charity, buying a children in need badge or whatever – I’d honestly rather you didn’t care. At least you’re honest about it rather than the bleeding hearts who expect their arse kissing for any and every favour.

   Here’s the deal – you leave us alone, we’ll leave your alone and we’ll all just get on with our lives without the hassle of being looked down on or reminded that compassion is a choice.

2. excluding stuff thats out of peoples control, like severe disabilities. I could not give 2 shits. most of it is down to choices and personal responsibility

3. there’s some who’res in this house

4. I only actually really care fully about my family. I cannot save the world. I don’t feel bad for them as it’s not me that put them in a bad situation. I have empathy to a degree but I am too busy in life to give it much though. It’s not selfish, it’s just life.

5. *works for a sector that has hoovered in over £450billion of public money over a decade, 80% of which was ‘misappropriated’ into bonuses and speculative fuckery*

   “Why are the peasants getting so uppity? Fucking oiks.”

6. I do care, but feel largely powerless to do anything about it.

   So end up feeling angry/depressed.

   TBH, I think it’d be better to try and stop caring as much.

7. i’ve said it for years, the vast majority don’t give a fuck, the only reason we are hearing about it now is because its starting to make an impact on ”us”, the social climbers who probably came from a shitty housing estate and now live in a new build estate, with your Audi in the drive and your good lady’s school run SUV in the double garage.

   *likewise the majority never gave a fuck about BLM and they don’t give a fuck about LGB whatever.

8. I care locally and I do worry for my children in the future. I think it’s very hard and whilst some people don’t help themselves, plenty are pushed into poverty by the powers that be and the corporate world.

9. I worked in one of the poorest parts of the UK and it was tragic. Every family I met had some level of trauma. There was a family made up of a grandmother who was a murdered sex worker, a mother who was probably a sex worker and an addict and a dad who drank 30 odd bottles of blue WKD a day. Their kids were a mess and social services were involved heavily.

   People really looked down on the dad but in the time I knew them he left the mum to become a single dad and really tried to sort his shit out. This was all with much less support than was available in the past.

   Now away from the personal tragedy of the family I understand that all of their kids are going to grow up and probably be involved in crime of some sort. Having getter social security means I have nicer roads, less antisocial behaviour and better communities.

10. I don’t care anymore than I care about people in Yemen tbh. It’s shit, and my preference would be for it to be better, but I don’t ‘physically’ care.

11. I care. Mainly because as someone on ‘decent’ money I can see how things are tight and tough even for me – but it just means cutting back on fun stuff or saving less. For people on UC etc I can’t imagine how they’re coping when the amount they get often won’t cover even the essentials and imagine money is a constant worry.

    Also I’d like to add with the amount of 0 hour contracts (for carers etc), income can be unstable, fluctuate and leave people needing in-work benefits. Also, carers can work 7am-6pm and only get paid half of it as the travel from client a to b isn’t covered, but they physically wouldn’t have been able to be working somewhere else in that time.

12. Well all I do is consider how well off I am and I probably could do more to help others but at the end of the day that is my choice. I personally think we all should do what we can to help those who fall on hard times regardless of if it was self inflicted or not because we would appreciate it if we were in their shoes.

    I think it’s important for us to put into perspective of how much we as individuals can do.

13. It varies, I lived in house shares for a long time and have seen some people totally game the system and I’ve seen incredibly hardworking people struggling to make ends meet, I prioritise based on those who help themselves the most. I think what makes things slightly different to me is that I don’t feel a huge amount of affinity for my nationality so a hard working Pole struggling to make ends meet is a higher priority than a British addict.

    Having travelled a bit I’ve seen tons of people happily working shitty jobs in developing countries and TBH I would rather help them than someone who’s struggling in the UK. The self serving idea of making my local community better doesn’t really strike a chord to me as my community isn’t really based on location.

14. I think about this a lot and I can’t help feel bad for people that have ended up in bad situations. Mostly single parents.

    Having children myself, it’s really hard having kids on your own. Especially when you’re doing a school run and it’s pouring with rain or you’re feeling ill. Not to mention the costs of childcare. I‘m very lucky that I have my wife and we do it all together.

    I’m not wealthy by any means but living comfortably and will try to help out if I can. Not giving money but by having their kids if they need to do overtime or by fixing stuff for some of the other single parents at school to save them handyman bills etc.

    I draw the line at people that smoke though. If they can afford to smoke, especially around children. I have zero sympathy for any situation they are in.

15. Lots, not least because (unless you’re genuinely of independent means) it could be you. Disability, partner leaves unexpectedly, industry collapse, floods, anything could be round the corner.

    No-one goes through life on no mistakes. Plenty of people go through life on easy mode.

16. I don’t care.

    I pay my fair share of taxes.

    What I do care about, is that money isn’t getting where it is supposed to go to help those families/people.

17. I care ALOT I buy extra shopping and give to food banks. I donate to charity. What I don’t care for is those absolute cuntbags complaining how much they need help from the government as their mortgage on their 500k new build house is going up by. 500 quid a month then go out and get a new Range Rover on lease.

18. Like most people I live in my own bubble and don’t think about other peoples lives until I am in a situation were I have to. However, I do care and wish we lived in a fairer society.

19. I’m really surprised by all the people on this thread who do not care about other people… How sad.

20. If I’m honest I didn’t care before my child was born. Since he’s been born, I have gotten into the habit of making donations to the local food bank. They are not overly generous by any means but I try and donate a few times a year.

    But whether I actually care is still a bit debatable.

21. Depends if it’s their fault or not.

    I have a friend worrying he wont be able to pay his mortgage (the biggest he could get), and two car loans, I told him to get rid of a car, the look on his face was like I’d told him to cut a leg off.

22. I feel bad but am afraid of getting conned. For instance I used to give a homeless man with no money (what he told me) a few quid now and then. Until I found out he wasn’t actually homeless and was claiming all sorts of benefits. When I asked him he just laughed at me.

23. You’re suggesting from compassion fatigue. It’s a completely normal human reaction to being surrounded by overwhelming. It’s what causes burnout in people who work in professional like nursing and social work.

    Give yourself some space. Caring isn’t something you need to actively monitor ‘am I doing this enough?’ every minute of the day. Do what little bit you can, when you can to address the needs around you. That includes your own. If everyone did that, we would make a lot more progress on the problems of the world. We all deal with this together or it doesn’t get dealt with.