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PaperclipPerfector  11d ago (text post)   24672 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 20, 2025

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Was I a parasite during covid? I worked for a company that did HVAC basically only for restaurants, and took a furlough because unemployment would be better than the very limited hours available. I don't think I was- I think I got my fair share after the government tried to take it from me.

Is a trust fund kids a parasite? I don't think they are, I think they're a bribe for their (grand)parents to work hard and build wealth.

Are retirees at the normal age parasites, with medicare and social security and a 401k/IRA? What about, say, someone who worked a blue collar job for the railroad and accepted terrible hours in exchange for early retirement? I think both of these examples are more or less fair but can easily get excessive.

t leads me, specifically, to ask: HOW MANY PEOPLE DO WE HAVE IN THIS COUNTRY PULLING THESE KINDS OF SHENANIGANS. There have to be known strategies that are shared amongst groups on how to follow these paths, exploit edge cases, take advantage of lax enforcement, or otherwise slip into niches that allow you to live 'above your means' for some period of time if not indefinitely. On the individual level its rational. On the population level, the equilibrium can get dangerously unsustainable. Have we crossed that tipping point? I don't know. Feels like it to me.

A lot. There's entire communities living off of disability fraud, welfare abuse(haredi jews and FLDS with a side of ghetto blacks- but for the latter group, the women most actually work and the men mostly don't get welfare), professional indebtedness, and charitable scams. Talk to people who work in a collections department for securitized debt- they'll have some stories. I think it's important to note that these people, mostly, have very low per capita consumption- that is, their standards of living aren't that great. The examples you've picked are the exception. Trying to wrest trivial benefits from poor people is, at some point, just not really worth it anymore.

I think we should integrate over a person's life. You took a brief break in working due to the reckless actions of EcoHealth Alliance. That shouldn't negate the entirety of the rest of your life.

Otherwise every full time student or sick person taking a break to recover is a parasite. That seems too harsh to always be judging on an instantaneous basis. We need integrals, not derivatives for this measurement.

There's this right-wing idea that you can't really store value long term -- that is, unless you're working right now, you're a parasite on those who are. By that, anyone retired is a parasite, as are trust fund kids. It's a pretty harsh view of the world, though, and leads logically to putting old people on ice floes. But if you accept stored value, you can come up with better answers for the question.

I think it's important to note that these people, mostly, have very low per capita consumption- that is, their standards of living aren't that great.

They really don't have low consumption, and per-household is probably the better measure. Their housing and utilities are paid for by the state, sometimes in some VERY high cost of living areas like Manhattan. Their kids are taken care of by the state, and they pay no taxes to offset this. Their food is paid for by the state. Often enough they even have the latest tech gadgets, though I have no idea how they pull that off.

they even have the latest tech gadgets, though I have no idea how they pull that off

Under the table cash work. Or straight up black market work. Selling tax free single cigarettes, weed, whatever. Double dipping government benefits and some irregular work.

Add debt(often on very bad terms).

Was I a parasite during covid? I worked for a company that did HVAC basically only for restaurants, and took a furlough because unemployment would be better than the very limited hours available.

We were all kinda parasites, except (contingent on which state you were in) there was no actual choice to do otherwise.

I actually worked through Covid, and it was a rough time money-wise but my boss ALSO saw fit to give me an 'unearned' bonus for sticking it out, which I have been eternally grateful for and have tried to pay back in terms of loyalty and continued productive work.

As with many things, I wonder if programs like the PPP loans (which got AGGRESSIVELY exploited) alerted many 'normal' people to how easy it is to squeeze benefits from the government if you're willing to lie a little. And so in the wake of Covid, as with many things, the standard for 'normal' behavior were shifted in ways that have NOT 'reverted' even as the rules returned to normal.

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