Media Lumps The Poor
I heard something on ABC’s nightly newscast that nearly made me drive off the road. The network is doing a two-part piece on the very real epidemic of child abuse in The United States.
In the third or fourth sentence of the report, the script said that drug abuse, domestic trouble, AND POVERTY were reasons for 2,900 dead children in America.
Now wait just a minute…
Poverty? If poverty is really one of the causes of child abuse, my father, and thousands upon thousands of other children who grew up in the depression should have experienced rampant child abuse.
Keep poverty out of the equation. Being poor does not make you decapitate your child, drown your child, or leave your child in a closet. There are dozens of agencies that can make sure you have something to feed your child, clothes for them, and even medical care.
Delete poverty. Add stupidity, callous attitudes that even wild animals do not show to their young, meth-rotten brains that are so paranoid they cannot function, unwillingness to ask for help because of pride or fear, and just plain mean people. Sick people.
People who need to be locked up. And kept locked away. Or executed.
Poverty my eye. I have seen countless families who have been strengthened by adversity, their personality annealed by the trials.
I know of someone who only owned the clothes on His back, and He loved children, and had some very strong warnings for those who would hurt them.
Dave, regardless of what we think about it, the facts are the facts. While low socioeconomic status does not cause child abuse, there is a very clear association between the two…just as there is an association between abuse and premature birth, and abuse and presence of a male not related to the child. Perhaps increased levels of child abuse among poverty stricken families represent poor parenting skills and coping abilities the same way that inability to cope with educational and job structures makes these families remain impoverished over time.
Maybe a nice story on the POLICE getting beat up last night. What is the world coming to. They were trying not to be charged with OVER REACTING and see what happened. Let the Police do their job.
Thanks for your article on the Bibles at Karns. Again I copied and pasted so will reread from my e-mail later today.
Good blog! And I would like to share with my friends.