Why are people on welfare or government assistance looked down on.?

Question

Everyone in their life time receives help or assistance from someone or something before in one form or another. so why does society look or treat people on welfare any differently. even the ones who are not a long term user of the system.

Answer 1

Thx for asking this question I would like to see what sort of replies you'll get...  

Answer 2

Yes, everyone needs help from time to time. But, when you see particular groups that receive a disproportionate amount of the benefits, it is no longer fathomable that this is a random "cross cut" of society that simply needs a leg up, but rather, this is a group that views welfare as an alternative to working and supporting themselves.

And when the rest of society must shoulder the burdens of paying for such entitlement programs, they become somewhat perturbed, and will look on with disdain at any group that parasites the system.

Answer 3

people judge. They ASSume everyone who is on welfare is a lazy bum who is s******g the system. they dont' care that there are people who legit need it. There are people who do not want to help those in need. it comes down to greed. There are people who do s***w the system. My bro does so i know it happens and those people make everyone look bad. People auto assume that those on welfare sit home draw thousands of $ a month, drive new cars,  have big screen TV's , all do drugs, all of them live like kings and none of them ever work. MOST people on welfare that can work will work IF they can do it and get ahead. most can't get ahead. Most people don't understand that a person on welfare can work 2 jobs and by the time they pay daycare, insurance, fuel, rent, food, etc. they are in the hole. Here where I live,  a full time job at $8.00 a hour (min. wage is $.6.50) is $320 a week. pre taxes. daycare is $200 a week.. for 2 kids it's $300 a week. people just hear "welfare" and ASSume "lazy bum". they don't take into account anything like that or that a lot of welfare "bums" are disabled, elderly, single parents who wouldn't be on welfare if the fathers would do their part and pay child support.

There are people here on YA that have said "there is no reason why everyone who wants to better themselves can't go to college".. the cheapest college around here community college associate degree is $40,000 a year tuition only plus books, fees. maximum grants is $4000 a year. that's $36000 a year in loans. unless you go into nursing, you still can't get a job. To get a job here in this area would take a masters degree, that's a cost of $150,000 in loans. How can a single parent or a person who needs food stamps or assistance afford to pay that back. they can't. and as much as I want to finish college, i don't have $3000 to pack up and move and start all over.

it basically comes down to the fact that it's very easy to judge someone when you have never walked in their shoes. I learned the hard way though to never say "it won't happen to me" cause never is a LONG time and who knows..tomorrow your house could burn and your job get sent overseas and you get cancer and all your life savings get wiped out to pay the bill..and then you need assistance. then you get to listen to everyone call you a lazy bum for needing assistance

Answer 4

I don't think short time assistance received is looked down on. It is the ones that live years off of it and don't do anything to change it. They continue having kids they can't afford and spending what money they do have on unecessary things like lottery tickets, booze etc.

Answer 5

Because people are ignorant and don't think about things before they say them.  They just assume everyone is lazy and will abuse the system.  I am on welfare and it would be impossible for me to work, especially to work enough to support myself.  I am a single mom, a full time college student with great grades, and I am in a fulltime unpaid internship.  That is a lot on my plate.  So the only extra time I have for my son is on Saturday and Sunday, which I still have homework to do.  I feel bad, but I know the internship will get me a real job to finish school by myself.  But still people call me a lazy, stupid s**t.  Somehow being on welfare makes me all of those things.  Its really sad.

Answer 6

Because welfare is the same joke medicare is.  If the people who needed welfare could get it and it could be a stepping stone to a better life that would be nice.  But there is so much fraud both with the managers and the recipients that people are disgusted.  Paying people for more children and then having them have them?  Denying them birth control or abortion options?  Giving special care to alphabet kids so mothers are coaching their kids to act abc?  Case workers signing up their family and friends as clients?  Let me count the ways this system is broken and a cause for scorn. A woman I worked with who chose to work even tho she had gotten welfare, said that between the payments and the medical and the transportation vouchers and food stamps she was making more on welfare then she was at the job we were on which was civil service and not a bad one.  But she did not want her kids to grow up in the projects or on welfare and fought her way to the job and to a subsidized house.  I knew another mother on welfare who also took in laundry on the down low to put aside what she could for her two kids for college.  They both went, my one GF is a lawyer and her brother is in a good white collar job as well.  But these are the exceptions and they don't come from the welfare system encouraging it, they come from personal determination to move on.   One generatio on welfare is one thing but three generations on welfare, the gramma babysitting the grand child while her daughter is "out"........what kind of respect does that deserve?

Answer 7

I think that people only look down on those who are perfectly capable of supporting themselves, but don't.  Those who truly need the assistance for valid reasons should absolutely not be looked down on.

Answer 8

I love my friend to death, but her dad can work, so can her mom, but they don't want to pay child support.

My dad and mom are lawyers, and my dad and mom got money taken out of their pay checks because of my half sister, yet they they still worked. We are upper class, and you should see how harsh my mom is on poor, and lower middle class families.

Example:

I'm not allowed to eat, or shop at the mall, I'm not allowed to shop at Wal-Mart, I can't go over to my friend's house because she live in a trailer, and the worst is, when I went to a public school, she sent someone to follow me around to make sure I didn't get hurt because she thought people in public schools were dangerous.

At least poor people have freedom.

Answer 9

I think people look down because, the money comes out of their pay check and most people on welfare could really be working. Take my ex sister in law. Her whole life on welfare cause she is a drug addict, it is enough to p**s people off. So she can sit home doing drugs, while we work and pay her bills. However I believe that a single mom or dad that is alone with a bunch of kids can use the help. I don't mind that at all.  

Answer 10

because people are ignorant and don't know what they are talking about.

people don't know how it is until they are in the same situation.  

Answer 11

most people on welfare are on welfare because no other option is good enough to help them. The rich can't see this