Sarah Kendzior: Poverty Not a Crime or Flaw
on Monday, July 9, 2018Sarah Kendzior Money Quote saying somehow we allow those who have suffered bad luck to live in poverty to be seen as flawed and those who are lucky financially are thought to possess strength of character. Sarah Kendzior said:
“When wealth is passed off as merit, bad luck is seen as bad character. This is how ideologues justify punishing the sick and the poor. But poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw. Stigmatise those who let people die, not those who struggle to live” — Sarah Kendzior
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In this quote, journalist and author Sarah Kendzior is criticizing the tendency to blame people experiencing poverty or illness for their circumstances.
She argues that in societies where wealth is misperceived as solely reflecting individual merit or work ethic, those facing “bad luck” through no fault of their own can have their character unfairly impugned. Kendzior suggests this flawed ideology leads some to justify punishing or withholding support from the poor and sick.
However, she asserts that poverty itself does not amount to a moral failing or criminal act. Rather than stigmatizing vulnerable populations struggling with life’s hardships through no choice of their own, Kendzior believes the appropriate targets of critique are those with power who allow people to come to harm by failing to help those in need according to her perspective expressed in this quote.