20131205.0630

I made the comment on the social media feed of a coworker and friend that I would need more time to figure out what I need to say about the condemnations of Linda Tirado's "This Is Why Poor People's Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense."  I have taken some of that time, although probably not enough (the writing can always be made better), and I will not say there are not problems with the piece.  For example, Ryan Grim's defense of Tirado is a bit of an overstatement; I hold advanced degrees in language and do a damned lot of reading, and Tirado's distance from the experiences she depicts is not so clear as Grim asserts.  I do not ignore problems in writing, as I think I have demonstrated more than once recently, and several times earlier.  I do try to point out what is good amidst the problems, as I think I have also frequently demonstrated.

In her defense, Tirado does not propose to offer a flawless bit of writing (as though such a thing exists*); "There's no way to structure this coherently. They are random observations that might help explain the mental processes" is not exactly a claim to authoritative statements.  Too, the shift in tense that Grim references as being a point of contention for critics is a common occurrence in narratives, particularly first-person narratives, both among the well educated and the poorly taught; it is still an annoyance, and I tend to expect better from those who will describe themselves as essayists (as Tirado does in her byline), but confusion of verb tense does not undermine the fundamental message sent in her piece--which is well worth considering.

A number of things disturb me about some of the criticism aimed at Tirado.  One that strikes close to home is the idea that the poor cannot possibly display the benefits of education.  I have commented before about having taught students whose socioeconomic circumstances have been at best strained (a good example is here).  Yes, many of them faltered.  But many of them did remarkably well.  (And that leaves aside the issue of being able to articulate excellent ideas in idioms other than those "prescribed" by the not-as-real-as-people-want-to-believe "Standard" English.)  That they were poor did not mean that they were stupid or that they could not learn even while remaining poor.  To suggest that the socioeconomically disadvantaged cannot be smart or display what is typically associated with (but by no means equates to) intelligence is flatly fucking stupid.

Another earlier comment of mine that bears in on Tirado's commentary, here, points out that many of my students at my previous institution have become convinced of the futility of the attempt; I use the phrase "many report that they view themselves as belonging to a permanent underclass," which hardly bespeaks hope.  It is admittedly true that there are avenues out of poverty, and hard work in them is markedly helpful in pursuing said avenues.  But hard work alone will not suffice; it never has.**  The other things which enable a person to escape from poverty--whether individual,  generational, or systemic--have to be in place for the escape to be possible, and there are guards on the gates to work against that escape.  Having seen them at work, having seen people struggle and fail despite their efforts, I can well understand the claim (to which some reportedly object) that there seems no way out.  In this, as in many other things, exceptions argue in favor of the rule; the exceptions are remembered because they violate the normal pattern, which says bad things about the normal pattern and the complicity of us all in maintaining it--including through the reactionary condemnations of Tirado's piece.

*I anticipate that an objection to this statement will come in the form of reference to some religion's scriptures.  To them I reply, as I have within the context of my own faith before, that a perfect text would not need to go through revision.  Too, what does the term "perfect" mean (other than in reference to tenses of verbs)?

**Other factors significantly influence personal finance, and they do so to such an extent that they can undermine any amount of hard work.  Illness and accident happen even to the best, brightest, and most diligent, and for every Stephen Hawking who endures catastrophic conditions with solvency (although he, being highly placed at Cambridge, benefits from institutional health care, as many others do not), there are untold hundreds or thousands who, insured or not, see themselves and their families reduced to penury in attempts to heal themselves or, because they cannot work and dare not seek care, sit idly as all falls to ruin around them.  Layoffs and outsourcing strip jobs away from those who would happily work at them for forty years, and it is increasingly the case that those who are hired are not hired into positions that are eligible for benefits (even my own job says I do not have access to nice retirement plans, and with a child on the way, my ability to put money back is...limited).  Broader economic forces prevent people from being hired--and broader cultural forces prevent many others from getting jobs (about which more here).  And, sometimes, a person simply cannot find a way in because there is not one to be found.