Comic Strips

Somehow people get shamed for taking advantage of government aid programs, but when corporations take advantage of favourable tax schemes this is just "good business practices." Did anyone ever say "oh no, only truly struggling businesses apply for subsidies!" Ridiculous. If someone offers you a dollar, you take the dollar.

You are paying for it. It's there for you to use when you need it. Would you be squeamish about submitting an insurance claim? It's the exact same fucking thing, except it is being stigmatized by idiots who want to collapse society so they can profit off of poverty.

Exactly, it's a good thing that a food bank can prevent someone from going truly destitute in order to feed themselves. It prevents the emergency.

Well maybe not always prevents, but it helps ensure you don't fall below the floor of standards

It’s a side effect of how the owner class has convinced so much of the working class that their true enemy is other working class and/or poor people. It’s like the evolved form of voting against your own interests to hurt the “right” people. I typically see it two ways: first, avoid getting WeLfArE because that makes you as bad as those bad people (insert mental caricature of single mom welfare queen, almost certainly a minority). Second, take the government money and either act like you aren’t or that you are one of the rare unicorns that actually deserves their benefits.

You paid taxes with it. I don't know why people would feel bad about applying for welfare benefits and food stamps if they have worked before. Are there those that abuse the system? Sure, but their number pale in comparison to those who genuinely need them. Most people who had been on social welfare do get out of it. Though I have a fairly cynical view, I still think most people do not like to stay in the rut and strive to work hard to move up in their stations. I don't know about the US but in the UK the vast majority of welfare go to pensioner, disabled and children. Only a smaller percentage of the welfare go to the unemployed despite the anti-poor propaganda.

I think one of the reasons for people feeling awkward to ask for welfare on a personal level is because as a society, we have been conditioned to please the wider society and should derive our sense of worth and happiness by working and grinding. Of course, you want to help society, and of course you can't always rely on generosity alone, but there is unhealthy level of stigma of not working and looking bad in front of others-- most of whom just go on with their own lives not thinking about you when they go to bed. But we don't realise that at all the grinding, working and trying to look productive to please others is only benefiting the billionaires whom we are ultimately working for.